North coast railway track back to normal

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Railway services on the north coast of Java resumed on Sunday after 10 days of disruption due to a slumped railway bridge in Comal, Central Java.

Spokesman for the state-run railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) Gatot Wibowo said construction workers had successfully installed four emergency pillars to support the bridge.

The bridge has been declared safe. Passenger train services between Semarang and Tegal and the executive class train service Sembrani between Surabaya and Jakarta resumed on Sunday.

Gatot said trains first traveled along the bridge at five kilometers per hour to determine the bridge was safe.

Normally, trains travel along the 100-meter bridge at a speed of between 60 kph and 70 kph.

"We will keep working to allow the trains to travel around 20 kilometers per hour on the bridge," Gatot said.

Gatot said that despite the fact that the railway traffic on the north coast line had practically returned to normal, some trains plying the Surabaya-Jakarta continued to travel the southern route on Sunday because there were some passengers destined for Yogyakarta.

He said the trials were initially planned for Saturday at 8:00 a.m., but were delayed because of technical difficulties.

Although the trials were declared successful, Gatot said KAI would keep an eye on the condition of the bridge for the next two weeks.

"PT KAI plans to build a permanent bridge but it will take us some six to eight months and will cost us up to Rp 2.5 billion," Gatot said without elaborating.

According to Gatot the repair work cost the railway company Rp 500 million.

The bridge collapsed on June 20, with major damage occurring in the middle of the bridge which slumped nearly 1.5 meters.

The damage resulted in massive delays as the railway line connects the island's major cities like Semarang and Surabaya.

Gatot added that financial losses due to massive delays in the train schedules in the past 10 days reached Rp 3 billion. (45/25)