Ensuring the Safety of All Train Passengers
An incident that occurred on Tuesday night (28/4) is suspected to have been caused by a dump truck stalling on a railway crossing shortly after the barriers were lowered. Although there were no fatalities, the event disrupted traffic and forced other vehicles to seek alternative routes.
Regarding train accidents, detikSore previously interviewed Deputy Chairman of Commission V, Syaiful Huda, to analyse the main factors behind the high number of accidents over recent years. One factor highlighted by Huda is the prevalence of level crossings.
In a written statement, he noted that there are currently 3,000-4,000 level crossings across Indonesia. He also revealed that the majority of these level crossings are unguarded, often leading to train accidents.
“Currently, only around 1,200 level crossing points are guarded by PT KAI, local governments, or the Department of Transportation. Meanwhile, there are 2,600 points without guards. The rest are illegal crossings,” Huda wrote.
On level crossings, President Prabowo has committed to expediting improvements to minimise accidents. According to him, there are 1,800 level crossings on Java, and his calculations indicate that Rp4 trillion is needed to repair them, including building flyovers and installing train barriers.
Prabowo stated that the train accident in East Bekasi serves as a reflection for improvement. Meanwhile, controversy has arisen following a proposal by the Minister for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Arifah Fauzi, to move the women’s carriage on the KRL fleet to the middle section of the train. Several parties argue that this proposal is not an appropriate solution.
Deputy Head of the PDI-P Faction in Commission VIII of the DPR, Selly Andriany Gantina, said that the proposal emerging from the East Bekasi train accident should not stop at relocating the carriage. She expressed concern that the notion of women’s protection should not be built on the sacrifice of others.
“The Minister of PPPA’s proposal to move the women’s carriage to the middle of the train following the East Bekasi tragedy should first be understood as a quick response based on risk mitigation, not as a final solution to public transportation safety issues. The proposal arose because in that incident, the carriage in the vulnerable position was the most severely affected,” said Selly, quoted by detikNews on Wednesday (28/4/2026).
A similar view was expressed by Member of Commission VIII from the NasDem Faction in the DPR, Dini Rahmania. Although all victims of the train accident were women, she agreed with the suggestion to move the women’s carriage to the middle of the train. She noted that other victims could emerge, including family heads, with that solution.
“Regarding the proposal to move the women’s carriage to the middle of the train, in my view, it is not a solution that addresses the root problem, because if this situation occurs when the women’s carriage has been moved to the middle, the victims who emerge would not only be a mother, but could also be the family head,” she said.
The Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), stated that what should be evaluated does not stop at carriage division but also the overall security system. He emphasised that in any situation, the public, both men and women, must not become victims.
“This is also something we will continue to evaluate, but clearly, men and women are the same; they must not become victims in any incident,” said AHY, quoted from detikcom.