Frequent accidents at railway level crossings reflect the government’s failure to ensure public safety.
RECURRENCE of level crossing accidents points to the government’s failure in carrying out its basic duty to protect public safety. The government has been aware of thousands of dangerous crossing railroad crossings but very slow to improve them. As a result, railways became deadly roads that continue to claim victims.
As recently as early May this year, four people died at a rail crossing in Grobogan, Central Java. Several days earlier, 16 female passengers perished and more than 90 were injured in a train accident in Bekasi, West Java. The Grobogan incident occurred at an illegal crossing with minimal security. Ironically, the one in Bekasi was a designated crossing but its operation was left to local residents.
Data from the Directorate-General of Railroads as per April 30, 2026, recorded 4,046 rail crossings on active railway tracks throughout Indonesia. 1,903 of them are unmanned. The government and Kereta Api Indonesia have also mapped 1,810 crossings as high-risk points, meaning that the government has known about the vulnerable locations and their dangers but has not taken actions to address them.
The Railroad Law requires road and railway intersections to be not on the same ground level but via overpasses or underpasses, orders to shut down illegal crossings and to implement security measures at authorized crossings. This stipulation is re-enforced by the Road Traffic and Transportation Law that obligates road users to stop when the alarm ring or the barrier begin to close.
The problem is not the lack of regulations but rather the government’s weak commitment to enforce them. From a state capacity perspective, a government’s quality is not determined by the number of regulations, but by its ability to execute them effectively. The government established safety standards but failed to provide adequate funding, oversight and coordination. Hence gaps occur, and train safety regulations exist only on paper.
These gaps then are filled in by concerned residents or those who seek to make money from these shortcuts. In many areas, people man crossings with minimal equipment. This condition once again exposes the government’s failure to offer most fundamental safety services. Transportation safety, which should have been an essential public service, instead has been left to rely on public initiative.
The poor coordination between the central and regional governments exacerbates the situation. National roads are under the jurisdiction of the central government, meanwhile regional roads are the regional governments’ responsibility. However, both parties often do their own thing. Many regions lack either budget or political will to shut down the crossings.
Only after the Bekasi and Grobogan tragedies, did the government begin to get more serious. President Prabowo Subianto has earmarked Rp4 trillion (US$231 million) to improve safety at 1,800 level crossings in Java through the year 2026. This initiative should be lauded. However, responses that always come after mounting casualties demonstrate a reactive, not preventive, nature of public policies.
Public safety must not be preceded by tragedies first. As long as the government delays improvements and leaves level crossing safety to emergency mechanisms, casualties are not just a possibility but also a matter of time.
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