Recalling the 1993 KRL Bullfight Tragedy in Depok

The collision between the Argo Bromo train and the Jabodetabek KRL Commuter in East Bekasi on Monday (27/4/2026) has shocked Indonesia’s railway world. Latest data indicates at least 14 people have been reported dead, with 50 others injured. Various videos and images circulating on social media show the Argo Bromo locomotive crashing into the rearmost carriage of the KRL Commuter, which is also known as the women’s-only carriage. A nearly identical incident, a ‘bullfight’ between trains involving the KRL Commuter, occurred 33 years ago in Depok, West Java. Based on Kompas archives uploaded via KompasData social media, the tragic KRL ‘bullfight’ collision took place on Tuesday morning (2/11/1993). The two colliding KRLs were a metallic-coloured one (No 531) heading from Bogor to Jakarta, and another red-blue one (No 520) from Jakarta to Bogor. Each KRL consisted of eight carriages. The incident occurred in Ratujaya Village, Depok, approximately 4 kilometres north of Citayam Station. The head-on collision destroyed eight train carriages. It was recorded that 20 people died and more than 150 were injured, both seriously and lightly, in the incident.