New road takes toll on train passengers

BANDUNG: The opening of the Cikampek-Purwakarta-Padalarang toll road, better known as the Cipularang toll road, has considerably cut the time taken to travel from Jakarta to Bandung.

It has also adversely affected the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api (PT KAI).

The data shows a drop of up to 30 percent in the number of people traveling by rail. In a workshop on railway affairs held in Panghegar Hotel, Bandung, on Aug. 5, 2005, a transportation expert from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Harun Al Rasyid, said that while in March 2005 the number of passengers traveling from Bandung to Jakarta on the Argogede train was recorded at over 50,000, in April the number dropped to 34,000 passengers.

Even after the official Cipularang toll rate went into effect, the number of rail passengers continued to decline, leaving only 23,000 people traveling from Bandung to Jakarta by train from early July to early August this year.

Harun suggested that PT. KAI should reduce the price of rail tickets by up to 10 percent and cut delays from half an hour to a maximum of 10 minutes.

"Unless measures are taken immediately to prevent the worsening of this condition, the railway business will face a serious threat," he added. --JP