Life is hard when driving a train
By Sri Muninggar Saraswati
JAKARTA (JP): Many kids love traveling by train. They can have so much fun inside the carriages, they can even walk from one to another. Therefore, train seats are always fully booked, especially during holidays.
Some of the kids might wish to become train engineers someday when they grow up. However, they may not realize the high risk awaiting them if they choose that profession. An engineer is responsible for the safety of hundreds of passengers as far as their destination.
Fifty-two-years-old Yanto, an engineer of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), said he must be fully alert to operate the locomotive and observe all the signals along the railway during a journey.
"It's not easy. I feel like a robot. I don't move from my cabin even if I want to pee," he said, adding that he always carries an empty bottle during working hours as he is banned from leaving the cabin.
Yanto said an engineer must follow train operation rules, including those that cover speed in particular places and the priority regarding which goes first when two trains meet at certain points.
However, the engineer's high concentration does not always guarantee their safety. Slum areas can frequently be found alongside railway lines -- especially in large cities like Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya -- and passing them demands extra concentration.
"I have to be extra-careful when passing such places," said Madi. He slows down when approaching slum areas so that the occupants will not throw rocks at the carriage windows.
Most engineers have experienced hitting someone or a vehicle full of passengers in crowded areas or at a crossroad without a gate.
Forty-six-years-old Kurniadi expressed his guilt after he struck a man in Padalarang, causing his death.
"I think it's better to kill one man than jeopardize the lives of hundreds of my passengers," he asserted, saying a sudden stop could cause a train to derail.
Kurniadi emphasized the fact that a train cannot stop immediately. It takes hundreds meters to come to a complete halt after he pulls the brake.
The high risk demands that they prepare the train -- the locomotive, engine car and passenger carriages -- two hours before departure.
Gito, 48, illustrated that after the two-hour preparation, he had to take a train from Gambir station in Central Jakarta to Tugu station in Yogyakarta, a journey that took over nine hours.
He deserves time to rest in the destination station -- the train driver lounge belonging to PT KAI -- before going back to Jakarta. Once a week, Gito, like other engineers, has a day off.
PT KAI's Jakarta operation spokesman Zainal Abidin said engineers work on a shift basis and each of them is supposed to drive for at least seven hours.
"They don't work like people at a manufacturing plant; they work to a timetable established by PT KAI. Therefore, they don't get fixed holidays."
PT KAI currently has 1,600 trains serving 1,300 routes, but the company has insufficient engineers, although Zainal declined to elaborate.
Does that mean becoming an engineer is easy? Apparently not. PT KAI has established training standards for newly recruited engineers and each of them must attend the school in Yogyakarta for two years.
With such a high level of responsibility, do engineers get well paid? Fifty-years-old Iya, who has been serving PT KAI for 20 years, earns a salary of Rp 1 million (US$110) per month. A figure which is definitely too small to survive in Jakarta.
The father of two children admitted that his salary was not enough to feed his family. Luckily, his wife earns extra money by running a food stall at his home.
Iya, whose 24-year-old eldest daughter got married, is hoping to provide a better education for his son, currently in high school, by sending him to university.