PT KAI adds two trains to Bandung-Jakarta route
PT KAI adds two trains to Bandung-Jakarta route
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
State train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) said on
Thursday it was adding two trains to serve the overcrowded route
from Bandung to Jakarta, and one extra car for each train to
cities in East Java during the school holiday season.
A spokesman for PT KAI's Bandung operation, Akhmad Sujadi,
said all tickets for business or executive class departures from
Bandung were sold out until July 16.
"Because many passengers who wish to purchase tickets
immediately prior to departure are unable to do so, we have added
two Parahyangan trains every day to Jakarta," Akhmad said.
He said the additional trains departed at 10.00 a.m. and 1.25
p.m. every day. On Sunday and Monday, PT KAI added another three
trains to four trains.
Trains with destinations in East Java received another car on
average, he said.
The school holidays normally run from mid-June to-mid July.
Akhmad said that the speed of ticket sales was due in part to
PT KAI's new Internet-based system and its ticket delivery
service for orders over the telephone. The latter was launched
last month.
He explained that widening public access to ticket sales had
also followed complaints about the surge of ticket scalpers
during school holidays.
During this year's school holiday, he said, the number of
train passengers departing from Bandung rose by about 1,000
people, or 15 percent, from the daily average of 6,000 passengers
to 7,000 passengers. About half of these travel the route from
Bandung to Jakarta, he added. "However, the figure isn't a
significant increase compared with last year's school holidays."
He explained that many now preferred to fly, with the opening
of new air routes from Bandung to Jakarta.
Meanwhile, a train hit a truck on Thursday morning at a grade
crossing in the Central Java town, Semarang, injuring the driver,
Antara reported.
The Muria train was heading to Jakarta from Surabaya when it
rammed a truck owned by state gas company PT GAS Negara. The
train dragged the truck some 100 meters before it came to a halt.
Witnesses said the crossing gate had been left open when the
train approached, with the truck trying to cross the railway at
the same time.