Governor orders subway train redesign, because he thought it looked like a cricket
Jakarta's 9.6 million people will soon welcome the city's first subway train system -- but not before the trains get a design overhaul.
The reason? Governors thought the train looked "too much like a cricket."
The city's acting governor Sumarsono was reportedly dissatisfied with the insect-like face of the train.
"When the contractors presented the design, around 90 percent of the people in the meeting said, 'How did we end up with this design?' No one remembered approving it," he was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe.
Here's the design that bugged Sumarsono:
Japanese corporation Nippon Sharyo and Sumitomo Corporation was contracted in 2015 to supply 96 train cars for Jakarta's first mass rapid transit (MRT) line.
The company manufactures train cars for the Amtrak and Los Angeles County Metro Rail, as well as trains for subways and light rail in Asian cities such as Singapore and Manila.
Nippon Sharyo has submitted a revised design:
Documents obtained by Kompas revealed that the design change will cost Jakarta an estimated $64 million in additional costs, adding to the $1.7 billion budget for the train line.
The subway line, which is expected to alleviate Jakarta's gridlock, is expected to be completed in March 2019.
I am an intern with Mashable Asia, focusing on viral news, lifestyle news and feature news in the region.
