Fallout from Fatal Accident in East Bekasi, DPR Commission V Urges Expedited DDT Project

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian DPR’s Commission V, Syaiful Huda, has urged the government to complete the double-double track (DDT) project following the fatal railway accident at Bekasi Timur Station. He voiced the demand during a Working Meeting (Raker) of Commission V with its working partners at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday, 21 May 2026. According to Huda, separating intercity and commuter rail lines on the Jabodetabek corridor has become an urgent necessity. This would mean there is no need to wait for further recommendations from the National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT). ‘DDT should not wait for KNKT recommendations. There, indeed, there is a need to separate the outer-city express lines from the inner-city rail lines,’ Huda said. ‘There must be no more talk of budget constraints. The President has already allocated Rp 7 trillion,’ he added. Huda noted that the DDT corridor in the Jakarta area runs about 17 kilometres and is one of the key projects to reduce the risk of accidents caused by dense rail traffic. Additionally, he highlighted the issue of thousands of level crossings across Indonesia, which remain a hotspot for accidents. He argued that the current mechanism for dividing authority over level crossing handling between the central and regional governments has, in practice, slowed progress. ‘If it keeps being passed back and forth, provincial governments may not have the funds, and district/city governments may not have the money either,’ he said. He proposed that the handling of level crossings be taken over by the central government through the Ministry of Transportation. ‘The challenge is significant; there are 3,700 level crossings nationwide, about 2,500 of which are in Java,’ he added. In response, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the Manggarai-Jatinegara DDT project is currently in the construction phase. Besides Manggarai-Jatinegara, he said the Bekasi-Cikarang DDT line has also been included in the Ministry of Transportation’s project structure for the 2027-2029 period. He also noted that the government would tighten oversight of railway operators, particularly PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) or KAI, in the wake of the Bekasi Timur accident. According to Dudy, oversight will focus on compliance with the Rail Traffic Schedule (Gapeka), maximum speed limits, arrival and departure times, and the management of safe headways between trains. ‘Headways between trains must be strictly observed on every operational section,’ Dudy concluded.