'Argo Gede' train skids in Purwakarta

PURWAKARTA, West Java: The executive Argo Gede train, heading for Jakarta from Bandung in West Java, skidded off the tracks near Cilame, Purwakarta regency at about 5:50 p.m. on Friday, blocking railway traffic in both direction.

"The locomotive and two subsequent coaches skidded at Cilame. We have yet to identify the cause of the incident," Zaenal Abidin, a spokesman for state-owned railway operator Pt Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), said Friday evening.

No injuries were reported in the incident, which forced the company to cancel two subsequent trips from Jakarta to Bandung.

Zaenal said the company was not able to provide the exact time when the railway service in the area would return to normal, saying that it would take quite some time to remove the train and repair the tracks.

"We need to deploy the Kumbokarno lifting equipment from the Jatinegara railway station in East Jakarta to the site of the incident," he said.

"We don't know yet when the railway service will return back to normal. Currently, we have provided buses to transport the passengers to their destination (in Jakarta)," he added. -- JP