Central Java's north coast railway line expected to reopen today
Central Java's north coast railway line expected to reopen today
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The state-owned rail company, PT Kereta Api Indonesian (KAI), had
completed on Monday more than 60 percent of the repair work on
damaged tracks in Batang regency, Central Java, officials said.
The main Jakarta-Semarang-Surabaya railroad along the north
coast of Central Java is expected to begin returning to normal by
not later than Tuesday evening, they added.
"If there is no more rain tonight (Monday night), the repair
work will be completed tomorrow (Tuesday)," Makbul Sujudi, head
of KAI operations region IV in Semarang, said at Kuripan railway
station in Batang.
However, the newly-appointed KAI president director Omar Berto
said that it would take at least three days counting from Monday
to repair the tracks seriously damaged by the flash floods which
were triggered by torrential rains on Saturday and Sunday.
He said his men had been working hard to build emergency
bridges to replace the collapsed ones so that trains would be
able to resume serving the north coast line from Surabaya to
Jakarta and vice versa.
KAI Head of Human Relations Gatot Wibowo said the damage to
the tracks had caused potential losses of Rp 3.5 billion to the
company as all traffic on the line had been halted since Sunday
night.
With a two-kilometer section of track having been cut, all
executive and economy class trains serving the Jakarta-Semarang-
Surabaya route, which runs along the north coast, had to be
rerouted to the south coast line via Tegal, Prupuk, Purwokerto
and Yogyakarta.
Makbul said the flash floods swept away the soil in at least
15 locations in Batang, leaving the 25-meter long track hanging
between four and five meters above the ground.
The most serious damage to the tracks was found between two
bridges over the Kali Urang and Kali Boyo rivers, where pillars
supporting the tracks collapsed after being swept away by the
floods, he said.
Meanwhile, the KAI director of operations region III in
Cirebon, Bidjak Filasdjati, and the station master of the city's
railway station, Suhartono, said all trains that were rerouted to
the north coast line arrived in Surabaya or Jakarta around six
hours behind schedule.
Bidjak denied that the business class Cirebon Express from
Cirebon to Jakarta had been canceled.
He said his office has anticipated possible damage to the
railroad in Cirebon caused by the continuing rains and flooding
in West Java.
In Surabaya, the Argobromo and Gumarang trains from the
nation's second biggest city to Jakarta, which run along the
north coast line, were canceled to reduce traffic congestion on
the south coast line.
"The north coast line has not been reopened yet. To reduce the
congestion on the south coast line, we are reducing the frequency
of train departures," the KAI head of operations region VIII in
Surabaya, Sudarsono, said.
"We are transferring prospective passengers of the Argobromo
to the Argo Angrek to take them to Jakarta, while those from the
Gumarang have been transferred to the Sembrani serving the same
destination," he said.
With the cancellation of the Argobromo and Gumarang trains,
there are only three trains now traveling from Surabaya to
Jakarta -- the Kertajaya, Argo Anggrek and Sembrani -- via the
south coast line.
Meanwhile, a 65-member joint search and rescue team was
combing the flood-hit areas in Batang on Monday to look for three
missing victims who were washed away by the floodwaters.
"The joint team is continuing to search for the victims who
were swept away by the floods," Batang Police chief Adj. Sr.
Comr. Edy Setjo said.
The three victims were residents of Pemalang town in Central
Java, and were washed away on Sunday along with their Isuzu
Panther van at Adinuso village in Subah. They have been named as
Lim Eng Hie, 50, Lin Cou Hua, 53, and Engkong, 80.
The driver of the van survived.
The body of another passenger -- identified as 50-year old Sin
Yot -- has been found.