• Concrete balls deter train surfers in Indonesia

    Adi Weda / EPA

    Passengers taking a nap on the roof of a commuter train in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 19.

    Romeo Gacad / AFP - Getty Images

    A train loaded with passengers heads to central Jakarta during rush hour on Jan. 18.

    AP reports from Jakarta, Indonesia:  Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from illegally riding the roofs of trains — hosing down the scofflaws with red paint, threatening them with dogs and appealing for help from religious leaders.

    Now the authorities have an intimidating and possibly even deadly new tactic: Suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls to rake over the top of trains as they pull out of stations, or when they go through rail crossings.

    Authorities hope the balls — which could deliver serious blows to the head — will be enough to deter defiant roof riders.

    Adek Berry / AFP - Getty Images

    A worker installs an iron support with hanging concrete balls, located across a rail road track in Bekasi district east of Jakarta on Jan. 18, 2012 to deter train surfers.

    2 comments

    I saw a coyote do that once, think his name was Wyle E.

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  • Subway trains crash in Shanghai

    Reuters

    Rescue workers evacuate people from a damaged subway train car after collision near Yu Yuan Garden station in Shanghai September 27. Two subway trains collided in central Shanghai on Tuesday injuring more than 200 passengers, three critically, prompting renewed public anger just two months after a deadly crash between two high-speed trains.

    AFP - Getty Images

    Rescuers evacuate passengers after a subway train collision in Shanghai on September 27. A crash between two metro trains in the Chinese city of Shanghai injured more than 40 people, most of them lightly, as more than 500 passengers have been evacuated from the trains after the collision.

    Reuters

    Rescue workers evacuate an injured man from a train after a subway train collision near Yu Yuan Garden station in Shanghai on September 27. Two subway trains collided in central Shanghai on Tuesday injuring more than 200 passengers, three critically, prompting renewed public anger just two months after a deadly crash between two high-speed trains

    Carlos Barria / Reuters

    Rescue workers evacuate an injured woman outside Yu Yuan Garden station after a subway train collision in Shanghai September 27, 2011. A subway train rear-ended another on Tuesday afternoon in Shanghai, leaving some passengers injured, the subway operator said. Equipment failures were believed to have caused the crash on the Line 10 subway, Xinhua News Agency Reported.

     From msnbc.com news services:

    SHANGHAI — A Shanghai subway train rear-ended another Tuesday, injuring more than 210 people in the latest trouble for the rapidly expanded transportation system in China's commercial center.

    The crash on line 10, one of the city's newest subways, occurred after Shanghai Shentong Metro Group blogged that the line was having delays due to equipment problems.

    The Shanghai Metro said on the Weibo microblogging site that one of its trains suffered equipment failure at 2:10 p.m. local time (2:10 a.m. EDT), which then led station officers to manually direct approaching trains.

    The collision occurred near the Yu Yuan station in central Shanghai at 2:51 p.m., according to Shanghai Metro's statements on Weibo.

    For the full story click here.

  • Train leaves Rio Tinto Iron Ore port

    By Mish Whalen

    We posted a photo on April 20th showing a train loaded with iron ore traveling through Australia's Pilbarra region and I just came across some photos of trains leaving, that I couldnt resist adding because the lighting was so beautiful. Read more about the iron ore port here.

    Daniel Munoz/ Reuters

    A train leaves the Rio Tinto Parker point iron ore facility in Dampier at the Pilbarra region in Western Australia on April 20, 2011.

    Daniel Munoz / Reuters

    A train leaves the Rio Tinto Parker point iron ore facility in Dampier at the Pilbarra region in Western Australia.

    Daniel Munoz/ Reuters

    A train leaves the Rio Tinto Parker point iron ore facility in Dampier at the Pilbarra region in Western Australia.

    

  • Julian Stratenschulte / EPA

    A man dressed in a lion costume to amuse his grandchildren waits for their arrival at a platform in the main train station in Essen, Germany, Dec. 20, 2010. Thousands of travellers are still facing chaotic disruption, as heavy snows and sub-zero temperatures continued to affect much of Europe.

    Train roar: Lion waits for his grandchildren at platform

    By Elena Grothe

    I wonder if this is a holiday tradition.