Mahesa may stop operations

BANDUNG (JP): The Mahesa business-class train serving the Bandung-Purwokerto-Semarang route may stop operations next month due to a lack of passengers, a railway official said.

Akhmad Sujadi, the head of the PT Kereta Api Indonesia Regional II office in Bandung, said here on Wednesday only about 40 percent of the 344 seats on the train were sold each day.

"We collect only Rp 4.7 million per day from the Mahesa train," he said. He did not reveal the train's operating costs or total revenue.

If the ticket sales are still low in March, there will be no other option but to stop operations, he said.

Ticket discounts offered since the train's first day of operation in July 1998 have not seemed to attract more passengers, Akhmad said.

The executive-class tickets are priced at Rp 60,000, a discount of Rp 10,000, while the business-class tickets are sold at Rp 35,000, a discount of Rp 5,000, he said.

If operations are shut down, the Mahesa coaches will probably be used for the more lucrative Bandung-Jakarta Parahyangan train, he said. (25/sur)