KNKT: Taxi Had No System Error, Driver Repeatedly Pressed the Gas Pedal While in Neutral and Parked

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has revealed early findings regarding the fatal accident in East Bekasi involving the KRL Commuter Line, a green taxi, and KA Argo Bromo Anggrek.

KNKT Chair Soerjanto Tjahjono said that, based on onboard data from the vehicle, the electric taxi involved with the KRL did not experience a system fault prior to the accident.

‘The onboard data from vehicle B 2864 SBX contained no recordings detecting an error in the system in the data from one hour prior to the incident,’ Soerjanto said, at a working meeting with the Indonesian House of Representatives Commission V, on Thursday (21 May 2026).

KNKT instead found evidence of transmission operation that was not in accordance with procedure immediately before the car stopped in the single-track rail crossing area.

However, moments later, the vehicle’s transmission shifted to the ‘N’ position or neutral while the car was on a downhill section with a gradient of 2.9 percent.

‘The vehicle then moved to the N position and rolled at a speed of 3 to 7 kilometres per hour. We do not know why it was in neutral,’ he said.

According to KNKT, the driver then allowed the vehicle to roll while applying light braking until entering the railway crossing area.

While on the track, the driver was seen to begin pressing the accelerator pedal up to 25 percent.

However, the vehicle did not move because the transmission remained in neutral.

‘The driver continued pressing the gas pedal up to 51 percent, but the vehicle did not move as it was in the neutral position,’ Soerjanto said.

However, at that moment, the driver did not depress the gas pedal.

Shortly afterwards, the transmission again shifted to the ‘P’ position or Park.

In those conditions, the driver was said to continue attempting to start the vehicle.