The GM Marka community, a group of reformed young train enthusiasts, have been hard at work promoting the benefits of train travel and the proper way to behave while commuting in Jakarta.

The group, established August last year, has around 70 members across Java, 50 based in Jakarta.

"Quite a large number of GM Marka members used to misbehave on trains, even break the law, by refusing to purchase tickets, hitch-hiking on train roofs and even by throwing stones at moving carriages," 14-year-old founder of GM Marka (Gerakan Muda Penggemar Kereta Api) Gemilang Pratama Adi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"But now their attitudes have changed, and we try to remind our family and friends how to make the trip more enjoyable for everyone using the trains," said Gemilang, popularly known by his friends as Gilang.

For Gilang, his love for trains began as a two-year-old during his family trips from Yogyakarta to Jakarta.

Trains have always been a part of life for Gilang. He used to ride one to elementary school every day and lived five minutes from Bojong Gede train station in Bogor.

Bojong Gede has become one key venue for GM Marka, who have launched public education campaigns to inform groups of local youths about the dangers of certain activities.

"We post stickers and hand out brochures about the dangers of throwing rocks at trains or riding on carriage roofs."

GM Marka has also run programs aimed at cleaning up train carriages at depots, such as at Bukit Duri in South Jakarta, and also regularly seeks out photographs of various train models.

"Train carriages often become a source of vandalism, and we think it is important to help clean them up," said Gilang. Unfortunately for the group, obtaining a permit from the depot head and collecting members takes time, so the cleaning activity only takes place every five months.

Gilang said acts of vandalism, including stone-throwing, was to some extent motivated by commuter frustration at being unable to board a train. Other motivating factors included the unfriendly gestures sometimes offered by train guards and past traumatic experiences, such as train accidents.

"People really want to get on the train, but cannot because of the price, and have subsequently developed a hostility toward the service, particularly the air-conditioned varieties."

Gilang said he too had once experienced poor treatment at the hands of train guards.

"I had paid the fare and was about to take a photo of a train in Cakung station, when a security officer rushed toward me and threatened to kill me.

"This is ridiculous. In Japan, train photography is encouraged because the activity creates a sense of identity for the people commuting every day."

He acknowledged that changing the attitude of train vandals would not be an easy task.

"If we discover that a member has begun vandalizing again, he has to pay Rp 20,000 as a penalty and sign a letter promising not to commit further acts. Otherwise, he is expelled from the community."

The 14-year-old junior high school student said trains had something of a future in this city. "An increasing number of people are becoming fed up with traffic jams on the streets."

GM Marka has a network spanning from Jakarta, Bogor, Bekasi, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Malang and is also linked to rail communities in Japan.

It is currently focusing its activities on an up-coming launch of a new train connecting Jakarta and Sukabumi, West Java.

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