PT KA to add trains to two lines

Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/12/2008 11:17 AM

State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api (PT KA) will increase the frequency of electric trains running between Jakarta and Bekasi in West Java and Serpong in Banten, an official said Friday.

As part of the plan, the company has ordered new air-conditioned cars from Japan.

"We will have 16 cars coming from Japan in June or July to add to our air-conditioned economy trains," PT KA Jakarta spokesman Akhmad Sujadi said.

He said the additional cars would allow the company to run 12 trains daily to both Bekasi and Serpong.

There are currently six to eight daily trains on those lines.

PT KA plans to replace all non-AC economy carriages with AC economy carriages by 2010. Once the conversion is complete, the cheapest fare for Greater Jakarta passengers will be Rp 6,000 (63 US cents). The current ticket price for non-AC lines is Rp 2,000.

PT KA runs AC economy trains between Jakarta and Bekasi, Serpong, Depok and Bogor.

Akhmad said PT KA was optimistic passengers would gradually shift to AC trains because the price was reasonable.

"The train routes are longer than most buses," he said.

"We've seen a shift in passenger preference. The AC trains used to have only 10 percent of total passengers, but now it has 20 percent. That's a significant increase," Akhmad said.

In 2007, the railway company served 118 million passengers or an average of 380,000 passengers per day, excluding Sundays. Of these, 60 percent traveled on the Bogor line, 26 percent on the Bekasi line, 11 percent on the Serpong line and 3 percent on the Tangerang line.

"This year, we aim to get 120 million passengers and we expect to be serving 1.5 million passengers per day by 2014 (about 4.7 million a year without Sundays)," he said.

PT KA will continue to provide a non-AC train for Bogor fruit vendors who commute to Jakarta early in the morning.

"They may not feel comfortable carrying their produce on AC trains. We'll accommodate their needs," he said.

According to Akhmad, the revitalization is in line with safety improvement programs.

"The air-conditioned cars can be closed. There is a guard to secure the carriage doors and passengers can sit comfortably," he said, adding people often broke the doors of non-AC trains.

The AC cars from Japan are used, with each costing between Rp 800 million and Rp 1 billion.

"We can't afford to buy new ones because they cost between Rp 10 and 11 billion each," he said.

The company currently has 500 cars, including 180 non-AC cars, serving Jakarta and its outlying areas.

"We still have to replace another 100 cars by 2010," Akhmad said.

He said the Ciliwung circle line carried only 500 passengers per day, even though its maximum capacity is 400 passengers per journey.

"The low capacity is due to the lack of connections to other modes of transportation. Passengers who get off at Duri station, for example, find it difficult to switch to other transportation. The transportation agency should help us out with the stations," he said.

Head of the transportation agency, Nurachman, said his agency had already helped by building busway shelters at several stations, such as Manggarai and Senen.

"Jatinegara will also be connected to the busway when the new lanes are operational. We can't build any connecting shelters in Duri because the road is too narrow, but we've provided a busway shelter in Roxy," he said.