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.