Electric train cable stolen, commuters stranded

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of commuters were stranded on Tuesday morning at railway stations from Bogor to Jakarta as some 600 meters of cable to operate the electric trains was stolen on Monday night.

The route is the city's most popular line, transporting over 200,000 commuters from Bogor municipality, Bogor regency and Depok municipality to Jakarta every day.

State railway operator PT KAI records show some 500,000 people in Greater Jakarta use commuter trains as daily transportation.

PT KAI spokesman for Greater Jakarta Akhmad Sujadi said that the thieves took the cable installed near Pasar Minggu station.

He said the theft took place after 10 p.m. when the commuter train stopped its daily operation.

"Because of the incident, we could only operate trains along one track, while we were trying to install new cable," he told The Jakarta Post.

There are 14 trains operating along the two tracks of the Bogor-Jakarta train line. Seven trains are operated from Kota station, while seven others from Bogor.

The line went back to normal at 10:15 a.m.

Monday's theft was the fifth this year, Akhmad said.

The first was in February on the Tangerang-Jakarta line, followed by two thefts in April on the Serpong-Jakarta line. The fourth in May was also on the Tangerang line.

Akhmad said his company had no idea how to stop the thefts, which usually took place in quiet areas at night.

"We can only hope that residents will report it if they see something. We will reward them for the information," he said.

Although the company has not calculated the financial losses incurred in the thefts, Akhmad said the train operator could suffer some Rp 200 million in losses from ticket sales from one line alone, if the line was shut down for one day.