Lasarus of PDIP: Level Railway Crossings are the Root Cause of Accidents, Must be Handled by the Central Government

Chairman of Commission V of the House of Representatives from the PDIP faction, Lasarus, responded to the train accident in East Bekasi. He called on the government to promptly resolve the emergency of thousands of level railway crossings on rail lines in Indonesia, as these crossings often cause train accidents.

In fact, Commission V of the House of Representatives has been reminding the government for years through Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) and the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) to address the level crossing emergency in Indonesia. However, to date, thousands remain poorly managed.

“We ask the government to immediately resolve the level crossing emergency in Indonesia. Commission V of the House of Representatives has been asking KAI for years to resolve the level crossing lines,” Lasarus said in a written statement on Wednesday, 29 April 2026.

“But to this day, that level crossing emergency has not been properly addressed. Let’s check the data up to now, there are thousands of level crossings in Indonesia that are not handled,” he added.

According to him, if the level crossing emergency is not resolved properly soon, train accidents will likely continue to occur in Indonesia. Moreover, rail lines should be free and sterile from all obstacles.

“There is still debate on who should handle these crossing gates, whether the Regional Transportation Agency or the central government. My recommendation is that railway gates must be clear and clean so there should be no obstacles and it must be carried out by the central government,” he said.

“The problem is, the root of the issue lies in budget politics. The budget at the Ministry of Transportation is still in deficit by 11 trillion this year,” he concluded.

It is known that based on KAI data, the number of level crossings in 2024 was recorded at 3,896, consisting of 2,803 registered crossings and 1,093 unregistered crossings. Of that number, 1,832 crossings are guarded, while 971 crossings are not guarded.

Entering 2025, the number of level crossings decreased to 3,703 points, covering 2,776 registered crossings and 927 unregistered crossings. In December 2025 for the same period, the guarded crossings numbered 1,864 points, while the unguarded crossings reduced to 912 points.