Padang (02/12) – In order to reduce the number of accidents at railroad crossings in the West Sumatra region, the Directorate General of Railways through the Directorate of Railways Safety and Railways Engineering Office for the West Sumatra Region held a Coordination Meeting on the National Railway Safety Movement Plan in West Sumatra Province on Thursday (02/12).

"We carry out this activity in West Sumatra because the accident rate in West Sumatra is the highest in Indonesia, so we make West Sumatra a pilot project for national railway safety," said Director of Railways Safety, Edi Nursalam at the opening of the coordination meeting.

The number of accident rates in the West Sumatra region throughout 2021 reached 30 cases, which was dominated by the occurrence of trains tempered by cars at level crossings without gates. Thus, socialization activities and this national movement are needed to reduce this number.

“We have a very serious challenge, namely instilling public behavior to be aware of safety at railroad crossings. This knowledge and awareness of safety itself must be owned by every community in West Sumatra," continued Edi Nursalam.

As a follow-up, at the end of 2021 to 2022, the Directorate of Railways Safety has compiled a safety improvement program in the West Sumatra Region. The safety improvement program includes the installation of doorstops and an early warning system at several unofficial crossings, the construction of a frontage or collector road at 3 railway crossing points, as well as the construction of stakes as barriers to community activities by rail.

The plan for this safety handling activity has been budgeted by Railways Engineering Office for the Western Sumatra Region of Rp. 250 billion with a multi-year contract or MYC scheme and SBSN funding sources. It is planned that in 2022, all of these safety activity plans will run in tandem with various railway improvement programs in the West Sumatra region.

The Regional Government also strongly supports this activity as stated by the Governor of West Sumatra Mahyeldi Ansharullah in his speech.
“I fully support this activity, in fact, I hope it can be implemented soon because I want my community to be safe from accidents. I ordered all regional officials, especially the sub-district heads and village heads, to be able to socialize that railroad crossings must be sterile and free from community activities.”

Mahyeldi also hopes that the trains in West Sumatra can be like other areas that are comfortable, hassle-free, cheap, and have minimal accidents. This is expected to encourage the economy and accessibility of the people of West Sumatra, and accelerate economic growth, especially after Covid-19.

In addition to the Governor of West Sumatra, this activity also received full support from the Forkopimda of West Sumatra, the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI), the Indonesian Railways Society (Maska), and cultural leaders of West Sumatra. All parties hope that this activity can reduce the number of accidents which is quite high.

“We are very happy because our program has been well received by the West Sumatra Regional Government. We hope that the safety program will run smoothly and the public can understand the importance of safety at railroad crossings so that they do not carry out any activities and comply with the regulations that have been made," concluded Edi Nursalam (spn).