Perumka asked to further improve railway service

Perumka asked to further improve railway service

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto
urged state-owned railway company Perumka yesterday to further
improve the quality of its services in order to cater to middle-
income people in Greater Jakarta.

"Better quality of service is badly needed to attract the
public, especially those from a middle-income level, to change
their mode of transportation from private vehicles to trains,"
Haryanto said at the inauguration of the renovated Tanah Abang
Railway Station in Central Jakarta.

The minister also simultaneously inaugurated yesterday the
electrification of the Tanah Abang-Serpong railway tracks and a
new diesel train serving the Tanah Abang-Serpong route.

He said that railway service in Greater Jakarta was primarily
used by lower-income people. "The renovated station is expected
to help attract executives, with the ultimate goal of reducing
the use of private vehicles," he said.

The smaller number of private cars, Haryanto said, would
definitely help reduce one of the municipality's biggest
headaches -- traffic jams.

"In order to achieve the objective, spacious parking lots are
being built at major railway stations to enable passengers to
park their cars there and continue their travels by train," he
said.

He asked Perumka officials to pay greater attention to the
improvement of railway services, ranging from parking
availability and ticketing systems, to the punctuality of the
trains' time schedules.

Haryanto further said that there was a sharp increase in the
number of people who prefer commuting by train, but on the other
hand, train capacity was still limited.

"The imbalance between demand and seat availability ends up in
the overcapacity of trains, especially during rush hour," he
said.

He said that the growth rate in the amount of railway
passenger cars in Greater Jakarta reached only 30 percent per
year, far below the 50-percent growth rate in passengers.

Such conditions poorly support the government's plan to
improve railway service, particularly in terms of safety,
security and cleanliness, he said.

"Overcapacity forces overcrowding of railway cars. Besides
being unsightly, it is also a danger to passenger safety," he
said.

Perumka's president, Soemino Eko Saputro, said that the
renovated Tanah Abang Station, the electrification and the new
train enabled the company to raise train frequency to Serpong,
Manggarai and Kota Stations from 52 trips to 80 trips.

"These three things also enable Perumka to increase
transportation capacity from 40,600 passengers per day to 62,094
passengers per day," he said.

The Tanah Abang Station renovation, which cost about Rp 91.74
billion (US$37.6 million), was part of 26 programs covered in the
Greater Jakarta railway system master plan.

Renovation took place because the old station was no longer
capable of accommodating the increasing number of passengers.
Under the renovation project, the station's passenger capacity
rose from 4,850 people per hour during rush hour to 7,600 people
per hour.

Besides increasing capacity, renovation was also directed at
supporting future development.

The renovation project was conducted by three contractors:
Tekken, PT Wijaya Karya and PT Udinda Aneka Sarana Joint
Operation. (hhr)