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tones thrown at moving trains within state railway operator PT KAI'€™s Operational Region (Daop) V/Purwokerto in Central Java have caused damages and injured passengers, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Daop V/Purwokerto spokesman Surono said rock throwing was quite common, as 24 cases were recorded from February to October along with three incidents of sabotage.

'€œThat'€™s the data we received. The number of cases may be higher because some of them have gone unreported,'€ he said in Purwokerto, Central Java.

So far, no rock throwers have been arrested, but three passengers have suffered injuries after being struck by rocks that were thrown through train windows.

Hurled stones have damaged as many as 1,032 windows of trains owned by Daop V/Purwokerto over the past nine months, 32 of them on executive trains and 1,000 windows on business and economy class trains.

Cases have been reported in other operational regions as well.

'€œWe have so far spent Rp 200 million [US$17,977] replacing damaged windows,'€ Surono said.

'€œThe amount excludes potential losses from trains not being used while undergoing repairs.'€

A glass pane of an executive train costs Rp 1 million, while that of a business or economy train costs between Rp 300,000 and Rp 400,000.

The glass pane of an executive train is costlier because it is thicker and uses two layers of film.

The highest number of rock throwing incidents recorded in the Purwokerto operational
region were in Cilacap regency, with 10 cases, followed by Kebumen regency (six cases), Banyumas regency (four cases), Brebes regency (three cases) and Tegal regency (one case).

The three most prone areas in Cilacap were the railway line between Gandrungmangu and Sidareja stations, Jeruklegi and Kawunganten stations and the line between Gumilir and Cilacap stations.

In Kebumen, the railway stretches which are commonly barraged are located between Ijo and Kutowinangun stations, while in Brebes regency, between Kretak and Prupuk stations.

Meanwhile, three cases of railway sabotage had been recorded, taking the form of blocking railway switches and placing obstructions on tracks.

In May, vagrants blocked a railway switch at Kutoarjo train station by using stones and wood.

In September, a pile of rocks and logs was placed on the tracks in Gandrungmangu, Cilacap, and was run over by a train serving the Bandung-Surabaya route.

Earlier in October in Karanganyar, Kebumen, a 30-cm diameter rock was placed on the tracks and was run over by the Lodaya train serving Surakarta and Bandung.

All the acts of sabotage did not cause any harm.

'€œWe hope every corner of society will play an active role in eliminating stone throwing and sabotage because disruption to train services and threats to passenger safety will have a negative impact on the national transportation system,'€ said Surono.