KAI adds more cars to reduce passenger backlog

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT KAI railroad company has added more cars, or in some instances combined two train services, in an effort to cut a huge backlog of passengers left stranded by disruptions to services earlier in the week.

At Jakarta's main Gambir railway station, all trains traveling from East Java arrived approximately seven hours later than scheduled due to delays which KAI attributed to the derailment of a train in Purwokerto in Central Java on Tuesday.

"To reduce the number of passengers who are left stranded at many railway stations, we will combine two train services into one," KAI spokesman Gatot Wibowo told The Jakarta Post by telephone from Surabaya.

The disruption occurred as millions of people were returning from their villages back to the cities, including Jakarta, after the long Christmas/Idul Fitri/New Year holiday this week.

Most of the holiday-makers traveled either by train or bus.

Gatot said the Argo Wilis train service from Surabaya to Bandung left Surabaya on Wednesday morning with 10 cars, four more than usual, accommodating passengers from the Turangga services which had been canceled.

KAI is also reorganizing all the trains at its disposal to minimize the amount of waiting time for passengers, he said.

While KAI has managed to clear the track near Purwokerto after a train was derailed there on Tuesday, the accident has severely disrupted the schedules of its train services.

Gatot said the southern line was now back to normal. "We will do our best to reduce the delays," he added.

At the Pulogadung intercity bus station in East Jakarta, the influx of people returning to Jakarta from their home villages was also increasing.

Some 53,233 people disembarked at the bus station on Tuesday, 15 percent more than the total on Monday, according to station officials.

In Bandung, a long queue of vehicles and crowds of thousands were seen at bus terminals and the railway station, most of them passengers from Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java who were stopping-over en route to Jakarta.

Antara reported that many of the passengers who left the West Java capital were women and men aged between 16 and 22 years old.

"Many of them used the stations as a transit place before they continued their trip to Jakarta," an official said.

He added that among the crowds were apparently housemaids returning to the capital from their respective hometowns.

Most housemaids were seen to have brought their relatives, too, the news agency said.

"Jakarta will probably be crowded with these migrants," the officer added.

The crowds of passengers were busy queuing and struggling to get on and off the vehicles leaving for Jakarta in Leuwipanjang, Kiaracondong and Kebon Kelapa bus terminals as well as in Bandung train station.

In Purwokerto, Central Java, the peak of the returning exodus to Jakarta is expected to occur at midnight on Thursday.

No less than 18,000 passengers thronged the Purwokerto train station, most of them heading for Jakarta, and 4,000 others in the Purwokerto bus terminal as of Wednesday night.

"Most of them are housemaids and workers who work in Jakarta," a local reporter said.

Many also failed to get train tickets and had to wait for the Sapu Jagat train.

Purwokerto railway station's spokesman Supriadi said a total of 21,707 passengers left the town as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 80 percent of them headed for Jakarta. Since Dec. 17, almost 149,000 left Purwokerto for various destinations during the festive season.

Meanwhile over 300 passengers bound to Jakarta were stranded at Cilegon railway station on Wednesday; most of them had been waiting for their train since Tuesday.

Station head, Purwono, said the station had seen a drastic increase of passengers since Tuesday, mostly students who celebrated the New Year in several resorts near the Sunda Strait.

They spent the night along the terrace of the station under police protection.

Purwono said the station had never provided extra trains for the passengers during holiday seasons.

The passengers eventually were transported by an economy class train plying the Ranskasbitung-Jakarta route later on Wednesday.

In Cirebon, West Java, Antara reported that at least 10 people have died along the northern road of Java due to traffic accidents during the two-week festive exodus.

"Most of the victims were killed in the accident-prone area of the northern road stretching from Indramayu to Cirebon," Indramayu Police chief Supt. Setyo Wasisto said. (04/45/edt)