More new trains for commuters

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Greater Jakarta will have seven new sets of electric trains, an official from state-owned railway company Perumka said yesterday.

Eddy Sasongko, Perumka's head of operations, told Antara yesterday that from November last year to this month the company had received seven sets of trains, or 28 cars.

The new electric trains would increase total carrying capacity in Greater Jakarta from 268,000 passengers to 275,000, per day.

Commuters from surrounding areas have long complained of poor train service.

Six of the trains, manufactured by PT Inka, were commissioned by the Ministry of Transportation. Inka's plants are in Bandung, West Java, and Madiun, Central Java.

One of the total 25 sets the government is ordering is made by Hitachi, Japan.

Eddy said five trains, or 20 cars, have recently started operating along the Jakarta-Depok-Bogor route and the Jakarta- Bekasi route. The remaining two trains, one made by Inka and the other by Hitachi, were on trial runs.

The addition to the Jakarta-Depok-Bogor train routes, Eddy said, has increased departures from 40 to 60 a day.

"A trial is also being conducted on the Jakarta-Serpong route," Eddy said. On this route he said Perumka planned to operate four departures a day with trains from Hitachi. Total departures of all trains on this route would increase from 36 to 40 departures, Antara said.

Minister Haryanto Dhanutirto is expected to officiate both the inauguration of the new Jakarta-Serpong train and a new train station in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. (anr)