State railway firm suffers rp 50m in losses per day
State railway firm suffers rp 50m in losses per day
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned railway company Perumka suffered
losses of Rp 50 million per day in broken train windows smashed
by residents living near railway tracks which link Jakarta to
other areas in Java, the president of the company said.
Perumka president Edy Haryoto said on Saturday that the losses
occurred from the damage of between 50 and 100 glass windows on
both executive-class and economy-class cars every day during this
year's Idul Fitri holiday.
Edy, who was quoted by Antara while inspecting Perumka's
service at Solo Balapan railway station in Central Java, said
that glass windows for executive-class train cars cost about Rp 1
million each, while windows for economy-class cars cost Rp
500,000 each.
Edy, however, did not elaborate on the vandalism, declining to
give the locations where the vandalism was occurring.
As had been reported earlier, groups of unidentified people
have been pelting stones at passing trains, particularly during
the night, for unknown reasons.
Edy speculated that people threw stones at the trains merely
for fun.
He urged people to stop the vandalism, saying that such
violent behavior only inflicted losses to the train passengers
and the state.
He cited an incident which took place in Blitar, East Java,
when a train passenger died after being hit by a stone which
smashed through his seat window.
In order to avoid further tragedies, Edy said that Perumka had
already distributed forms to passengers asking for their
suggestions on how to solve the problem.
"We'll provide free train tickets plus Rp 100,000 in cash for
the person who provides the best suggestion," Edy said.
The railway company had earlier announced that it had netted
some Rp 35 billion from its Java ticket sales alone since Jan. 9.
Inbound
The Idul Fitri holiday, which fell on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20 this
year, saw one-third of Jakarta's 10 million residents leaving the
capital to celebrate the Muslim holiday with relatives in their
respective hometowns.
The fourth day after the annual holiday, Sunday, saw a stream
of inbound travelers with tired faces and bundles of bags and
boxes flooding back into the capital through major railway
stations and bus terminals.
An estimated 80,000 passengers, mainly from Bandung, Cirebon,
Semarang, Purwokerto, Yogyakarta, Madiun and Surabaya, arrived at
the city's eight main stations on Sunday.
Operators at the city's six major bus terminals, Pulogadung,
Kampung Rambutan, Kalideres, Tanjung Priok, Lebak Bulus and
Rawamangun, said the number of arrivals between 8 a.m. and 7:30
p.m. last night reached 72,000 passengers arriving aboard 1,891
buses.
"That number will grow bigger tonight," one of the operators
asserted.
An operator at the Pulogadung terminal in East Jakarta,
Pardjiman, predicted some 70,000 arrivals at his terminal alone
by the end of the day.
"Most of the passengers, as we've seen in the past few days,
will be newcomers to the capital."
"Therefore, we have to increase the number of security
officers to ensure their safety here," he said.
The massive flow of private vehicles carrying Idul Fitri
revelers toward the capital on toll roads also saw a significant
increase.
An officer with toll road operator PT Jasa Marga said that
three entrance gates on the Cikampek toll road which links the
capital with cities in other parts of Java recorded 23,855
vehicles between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
He estimated that the figure for the entire day would be much
higher than the 67,921 vehicles the previous day. (ylt)