Executive train derails at Gambir station, hundreds stranded
Executive train derails at Gambir station, hundreds stranded
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A Taksaka I executive class train derailed at Gambir railway
station here early on Tuesday, causing the departure of four
other trains to be postponed and leaving hundreds of passengers
stranded.
The Taksaka I train, serving the Yogyakarta-Jakarta route,
derailed at about 5 a.m. Within two hours, however, the line had
been cleared.
But several Jakarta commuter trains had to stop at Manggarai
railway station or were rerouted due to the accident.
An official at the station told The Jakarta Post that the
Taksaka I train derailed when it was about to cross from one
track to another.
"The operative responsible opened the points too soon," said
the official, who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, several passengers at the station commented that
the incident was "old hat".
"We have all experienced such inconveniences before, haven't
we? PT KAI (state-owned railway company) never serves us properly
as passengers," Ali told the Post.
Separately, Gatot Wibowo, the company's spokesman, rejected
the possibility that frequent derailments across the country were
caused by poor maintenance.
He said they were mostly the result of human error or
vandalism against trains or the tracks.
"But, yes, it is true that sometimes derailments happen
because the wheels are damaged," he said.
PT KAI, according to Gatot, requires continuous checking of
trains and tracks, and railroad officials examine them in stages,
including daily up to annual checks.
However, Gatot admitted that PT KAI sometimes delayed checks
if "we don't have sufficient locomotives".
Currently PT KAI owns 358 locomotives, 20 of which are under
repair. The locomotives have to serve hundreds of routes around
the country every day.
PT KAI has an income of some Rp 600 billion each year, 60
percent of which is used for train and track maintenance.
Apparently, this money is not sufficient to cover maintenance.
Therefore, to provide spare parts for the trains, PT KAI has to
cannibalize them from idle rolling stock.
"That's the way out (for providing spare parts). It's not
something awful. Bus operators do it too," he said.