MTI Community Organization Urges Railroad Crossings to Be Equipped with Barriers

 Chairman of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) Haris Muhammadun urges that all level crossings for railways be immediately equipped with barriers and personnel. This statement was made on Wednesday (29/4/2026), following a train accident in the Bekasi area two days earlier.

Haris stated that, based on existing regulations, level crossings should have been completely eliminated. This was reported by Kompas during a dialogue on the Kompas Petang program, which discussed the evaluation of railway transportation safety.

"Actually, we already know that based on the Railway Law Number 23 of 2007, the issue of level crossings should no longer exist, as mandated by that law," said Haris Muhammadun, Chairman of MTI.

He explained that if level crossings still exist, adequate safety support facilities must be provided. Haris emphasized the need for early warning devices for road users crossing the tracks.

"That means, if they still exist, they must be equipped with adequate facilities, namely barriers, an early warning system, and also personnel stationed there," he added.

Although the obligation to build grade-separated crossings such as flyovers or underpasses requires significant costs, MTI believes the government must still fulfill the mandate of the law.

"But the main point is that it is a mandate that must be completed," Haris Muhammadun stressed.

Regarding the accident involving the KA Argo Bromo Anggrek and a KRL commuter train, which was preceded by a stalled taxi incident, Haris sees a strong correlation between the events. He called for a thorough investigation into the cause of the system failure in the electric vehicle.

"Yes, of course they are related. Because when there is a system failure in an electric vehicle, it needs to be investigated whether this failure was caused by human error from a driver who is familiar or unfamiliar with operating that type of car," said Haris Muhammadun.

Further investigation is needed to determine whether the technical problem originated from the vehicle unit itself or from the crossing infrastructure. Haris also highlighted the importance of standard procedures for relevant agencies when a system failure occurs on the railway line.

"It must be traced whether it was human error, or from the electric vehicle itself, or possibly from the infrastructure side, namely the crossing. There are many factors that could cause this," Haris Muhammadun asserted.

Haris questioned what concrete actions officers should take when there is a power failure directly on the tracks. According to him, operational safety mechanisms must activate immediately when a disruption occurs.

"For example, if there is a power system failure at a level crossing, what is the proper course of action? This is another thing that must be addressed," said Haris Muhammadun.

The signaling system and safety protection are considered the main keys in mitigating accidents when there is an obstruction on the railway track. Haris called for an evaluation of the performance of the automatic protection systems on existing train operations.

"The next thing is, when there is already a disruption at a level crossing, the system that should work is the signaling system or the safety protection from the railway operation itself. This second system also needs to be examined," said Haris Muhammadun.

MTI confirmed that the series of events in Bekasi were systemically interconnected. The presence of an obstacle on the track should have been detected by the train's safety system.

"Yes, that's correct. Because if one system fails — for example, if there is currently an evacuation or a crowd — it means there is an obstacle in the movement of the train," said Haris Muhammadun.

For comparison, Haris mentioned the technology on the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, which already has an automatic obstacle detection feature. He hopes that similar operational standards can be applied or improved on regular train lines through the KNKT (National Transportation Safety Committee) investigation.

"Let's say there's a monitor lizard in their path, and it immediately stops, there's automation, there's an alert. Well, this should be because it hasn't been upgraded, so the SOP is standard, and that's what should be investigated further," said Haris Muhammadun.