Antara News, Tuesday, October 26, 2010 16:56 WIB
Purwakarta,
West Java (ANTARA News) - Bandung-based Indonesian Railway Company (PT KAI)
workers on Tuesday kept attempting to clean the landslide materials burying the
Ciganea-Sukatani rail track.
PT KAI`s
spokesman, Sugeng Priyono, said here Tuesday that the landslide materials still
buried 50-meter-long section of the rail track following several hours of heavy
rainfalls on Monday.
The
landslide with the height of three up to five meters hit the rail track of
Pasiripis block in Mekargalih village, Jatiluhur sub-district, at about 05.00
pm on Monday.
"This
landslide is worse than the one happening last Thursday," he said adding
that the latest landslide disrupted the flows of Argo Parahyangan train serving
Bandung-Jakarta routes.
In
cleaning the landslide materials and halting potential landslides of the hill
near the rail tracks, PT KAI`s workers used a backhoe, he said.
Sugeng
Priyono said the Monday landslide of the 30-meter-high hill happened following
torrential rainfalls. This could likely be caused by the unstable soil.
The PT
KAI workers would be placed in the Pasiripis block to watch the condition of
vulnerable rail track and help train drivers because the landslides frequently
hit the curving rail track, he said.
A local
resident named Yahya said the Monday landslide hit the 50-meter-long sections
of Pasiripis block`s rail track about 15 minutes after a passenger train passed
on its way to Bandung.
"The
landslide occurred after torrential rain showered the area for several
hours," Yahya said.
On
Monday, Serpong-Tanahabang commuter train services were also suspended after a
flash flood inundated certain rail tracks at Palmerah Railway Station in
Central Jakarta.
The
Jakarta-based PT KAI`s spokesman, Meteta Rijarulhaq, said the train services
were stopped since 4.45 pm local time after a 30-centimeter-high flood
submerged the tracks.
The
extreme weather phenomena have been hitting various parts of Indonesia, causing
such natural disasters as flash floods, landslides, and forest fires.
The most
deadly flash floods occurred in Wasior town, West Papua province, on October 3
and 4, killing at least 150 people.
On
Sumatra Island, a few hundreds of hot spots were detected before being doused
by rainfalls last week.
As a
result of the hot spots, caused by forest and bush fires in various parts of
the island, the skies of certain parts of Riau and Riau Islands provinces were
blanketed by haze.
The haze
of forest and bush fires also affected Singapore and Malaysia.
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