Flash flooding paralyzes southern railway networks
Flash flooding paralyzes southern railway networks
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Purwokerto
The southern railway services linking Jakarta and other cities
in West, Central and East Java provinces via Cilacap (Central
Java) were still paralyzed on Thursday, forcing all train
services to be rerouted to the center and northern links via
Yogyakarta and Cirebon.
Since Tuesday 12 districts in Cilacap regency, 7 districts in
the regency of Kebumen and three districts in Banyumas have been
inundated by flood waters.
On Tuesday a one-kilometer segment of railway track linking
the two small towns of Kawunganten and Jeruklegi began subsiding.
The situation had not improved by Thursday, when the track had
subsided around one meter. Kawunganten and Jeruklegi are in two
of the 12 districts that have suffered flooding in Cilacap
regency.
The track in the same area subsided five years ago following a
big flood, according to PT KAI records.
The cutting of the railway line has forced 20 trains to be
rerouted to the center and northern routes.
This situation has brought about a serious logjam in railway
traffic on the center and northern lines, delaying all trains by
four hours until Thursday.
Six economy class trains from Bandung have been suspended.
"Most of the passengers get off in Cilacap, where trains could
not enter due to heavy flooding," said Akhmad Suyadi, spokesman
for PT KAI at its Bandung office.
In Purwokerto, spokesman for PT KAI local office Supriyadi
said that the local residents, whose houses were submerged by
flood water, were helping railway company employees to shift the
sinking track.
He said gravel and sand had been poured to fill the hole where
the track was sinking.
"We have poured more than 600 cubic meters of gravel and
sand," Supriyadi said.
Gatot Wibowo, spokesman for the state railway company PT KAI
head office said on Thursday in Bandung that the soil between
Kawunganten and Jeruklegi was very unstable.
"There are now 75 workers repairing the track. If the weather
is good on Friday repair work can hopefully be finished on
Saturday and the railway services will return to normal."