500 Million Journeys and the Responsibility of Maintaining Public Trust

Amid growing rail passenger numbers, KAI is strengthening its safety systems to ensure every journey remains safe and reliable. Jakarta (ANTARA) - PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) is bolstering its operational and safety systems through a comprehensive technical assessment with TÜV Rheinland, a global independent body in Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC). This step is taken as public mobility continues to rise and the railway network expands to various regions. The activity is packaged as the Workshop Executive Session: Technical Audit & Comprehensive RAMS Assessment Project for Rolling Stock, Infrastructure, Operations and Safety – RAMS Knowledge Sharing KAI, held at the Ballroom of Jakarta Railway Center on Thursday (23/4). KAI’s Director of Portfolio Management and Information Technology, I Gede Darmayusa, stated that KAI is currently in a growth phase with increasingly broad and complex operational scales. “When more than 500 million journeys occur in one year, the system must operate with precision. Every process needs to be measured, integrated, and able to respond to risks quickly,” said I Gede Darmayusa. In the first quarter of 2026, the KAI Group served 128,055,072 customers. Annually, passenger volume has increased from 154.5 million in 2021 to 503.6 million by the end of 2025. These figures indicate continuously rising operational intensity across the entire network. I Gede emphasised that public trust rests on the consistency of the systems operating behind every journey. “Public trust arises from systems that run disciplined and whose performance can be monitored. Therefore, strengthening is carried out from the maintenance of facilities, infrastructure, to data-based operations management,” he asserted. Currently, KAI manages nearly 11,000 assets, with about 35% of them entering a rejuvenation phase in the coming years, as well as a rail network spanning 8,178 kilometres. This scale requires a thorough evaluation to keep all processes under clear control. In this assessment, TÜV Rheinland uses the RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety) approach, combining historical data analysis with physical inspections of field assets, from rail tracks to bridges. TÜV Rheinland’s Project Manager, Brian Wong, explained that this approach provides a comprehensive overview of system performance. “The RAMS approach helps identify potential risks early and provides data-based recommendations that can be immediately implemented to maintain system reliability,” Brian clarified. As a global company established in 1872 and headquartered in Cologne, Germany, TÜV Rheinland operates in more than 50 countries with tens of thousands of experts. Experience across sectors, from energy, manufacturing, transportation to technology, enriches the perspective in the assessment process. KAI also prioritises safety aspects, including level crossings, as a focus in this evaluation. These efforts are directed at maintaining the downward trend in operational disruptions and ensuring every journey proceeds with maintained safety levels. “Mobility growth must be accompanied by increasingly robust systems. KAI ensures every journey runs under measured and accountable control,” concluded I Gede Darmayusa.