Several trains delayed due to incident in Probolinggo

Jember, East Java (ANTARA) - Several train services arrived late at stations within the Jember Operational Area 9 (Daop 9) due to the incident of the Blambangan Express being struck by a truck at a level crossing, which injured the locomotive engineer, in Probolinggo Regency, East Java, on Friday. “The Wijayakusuma train on the Cilacap–Ketapang route, which departed Probolinggo Station at 05.38 WIB, experienced a delay of up to 223 minutes, or almost four hours, as a result of handling the incident on that line,” said Cahyo Widiantoro, Legal and Public Relations Manager of KAI Daop 9, in Jember. The operator expressed apologies to passengers for the disruption to the Cilacap–Ketapang Wijayakusuma service affected by the incident of the Blambangan Ekspres being struck by a semi-truck at Level Crossing JPL 13 Km 109+2 block of track Probolinggo and Leces. “The incident caused operational disruption to train travel on that line, thus delaying several services, including the Wijayakusuma,” he said. Meanwhile, the Probowangi, Mutiara Timur and Pandanwangi trains were delayed by around 10 minutes due to train crossovers, but journeys for all trains in Daop 9 have now returned to normal and on schedule. As part of the rapid response and to ensure customers could continue their journeys, KAI also redirected Blambangan Ekspres passengers who had previously experienced disruption to continue toward Ketapang using the Wijayakusuma. “The transfer of Blambangan Ekspres passengers to the Wijayakusuma train was a swift step by KAI to allow passengers to continue their journey safely to their final destination,” he said. KAI Daop 9 Jember confirmed all passengers were safe during the trip, and as part of service responsibility, KAI has provided service recovery to all Wijayakusuma passengers affected by the delays in accordance with applicable regulations. Cahyo explained that railway and passenger safety are KAI’s top priorities, and thus any incident that could disrupt operations would be handled quickly, coordinated, and with safety as the priority. “KAI remains committed to safeguarding railway safety and to delivering the best service to passengers, including rapid handling and compensation for affected passengers,” he added.