Govt moves to put trains on right track

Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following a series of accidents and years of poor performance, the government has appointed an acting chief commissioner to state railway company PT Kereta Api (KA), and forced two directors to step down.

The Transportation Ministry's recently appointed director general for air transportation, Budhi M. Suyitno, was sworn in Thursday as acting KA chief commissioner to replace Soemino E. Putra, who has resigned.

Citing the best interests of the company, the ministry also forced technical director Sujudi Soemadilaga and human resources director Amien Abdurachman to step down, and instructed president director Ronny Wahyudi to fill the posts on an interim basis until new directors had been appointed.

"We are appointing a temporary chief commissioner as we need more time to select a permanent chief commissioner. There are rules that we must adhere to," said the ministry's secretary, Said Didu, during Thursday's ceremony.

Said said that the restructuring of PT KA's management was essential to improving railway infrastructure and human resources, and rehabilitating the company's image. It would also help the state firm cope with competition from the private sector in the future.

Citing an Ernst & Young audit conducted in 2002, Didu said that about 27 percent of the rail system's tracks were more than 70 years old, while about 30 percent were between 10 and 20 years old.

"PT KA is extremely good at preserving things," he joked.

"We also know that PT KA has been suffering losses. I can understand how stressful it must be for the company directors each time pay day comes around," he added.

Transportation Minister Hatta Jassa said last month that the company was losing some Rp 250 million per day, or Rp 7.5 billion per month, on its Greater Jakarta services alone, due in part to the thousands of fare-dodgers riding the trains every day -- many even on the roofs of trains.

Besides causing losses, the high incidence of fare dodging had sparked safety and security fears among members of the general public.

Responding to this, Budhi said that ensuring safety would be his foremost priority.

"To be honest, I don't know much about the railway world. But given the numerous accidents we have had, safety will be my main focus," he told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony.

Late last month, a Serayu passenger train derailed in the West Java town of Garut, injuring 70 people and temporarily closing the southern rail line from Jakarta to Kroya in Central Java.

Following his appointment as director general for air transportation, Budhi introduced a rating system for airlines, with the results being published regularly.

This drew fierce criticism from the airlines, which argued that the criteria employed were defective.