Double railway track to ease overcrowding
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State railway operator PT Kereta Api (KA)'s Jakarta division revealed Sunday that it would start the development of double- line linking Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta and Serpong in Tangerang early next year.
KA said the project was part of its efforts to help ease overcrowded trains.
"The project has topped the priority list of the Ministry of Transportation ... Hopefully, we can finalize the necessary preparations this year and later proceed with the construction early next year," the division's head, Rachmadi, told The Jakarta Post.
Rachmadi said that the 23.9-kilometer line, which is estimated to cost Rp 358 billion, or Rp 15 billion per kilometer, would be wholly financed through loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Rachmadi said that double line would reduce passenger numbers on the overcrowded cars using the single track, which was served by 15 trains making 75 round trips, especially during peak hours.
"Fortunately, most plots of land to be used in the project belong to PT KA. We only need to acquire some sections along the route," he said.
Train commuters have long complained of overcrowded passenger cars, with some passengers choosing to sit on the roofs, risking death by falling or electrocution.
Others observe that peak traveling times are getting longer, widening from two to three-hour periods to four hours -- between 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Most cars are also overloaded with an average of 12 people a square meter, compared to the maximum capacity of eight.
In its defence, PT KA said it only had 220 trains to cater for more than 450,000 commuters a day.
Most trains, it said, were also in poor condition and used a range of different systems making them prone to accidents.
Out of the 220 trains, 140 trains are from Japan, 201 are from Belgium, while the remaining eight are from South Korea.
Rachmadi admitted building the double line would cause more train traffic at the railway crossings and therefore would result in worsening road congestion.
"However, we could solve that problem by constructing more underpasses or overpasses at those crossings," he said.
The development of the double line will include the construction of five new stations along the route.
Railway transportation director at the transportation ministry Harris Fabilah said last week that the government had prioritized completing the development of the Greater Jakarta railway system by 2007.
"We hope that the rail-based public transportation system will become the backbone of the urban transport system in the city after 2007," Harris said.
He said currently, train passengers accounted for 20 percent of the total trips in the Greater Jakarta area.