Landslide delays train departure

Landslide delays train departure

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Trains were delayed for up to four hours on Thursday, due to a
landslide on the border of Ciganea and Sukatani, West Java, about
113 kilometers west of Bandung.

At least five trains all traveling on Bandung and Jakarta
routes were delayed on Thursday due to the landslide, said
Sukendar Mulya, spokesman of state railway company PT Kereta Api
Indonesia (PT KAI), in Bandung.

Sukendar said the landslide, which occurred at dawn on
Thursday, covered the railway tracks with rocks and soil.

Employees of PT KAI discovered the debris and worked quickly
to remove it from the tracks.

Railway operations resumed at 8.29 a.m. Sukendar told West
Java Governor Danny Setiawan, who visited the train station in
Bandung.

In order to prevent possible landslides, the West Java
administration would soon send heavy machinery, including
excavators, to some landslide-prone areas near railway lines in
the province, Danny said.

The government has allocated Rp 10 billion (US$1 million) for
possible natural disasters during the Idul Fitri holiday.