Technical error cause of train accident: Legislator

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An investigation by the National Commission on Transportation Safety (KNKT) has indicated that technical error was the main cause behind the Sept. 2 train accident in Cirebon, West Java that claimed the lives of 41 people.

Investigators concluded that the problems occurred in the locomotive cabin -- and not because of human error, as was previously believed, according to a legislator.

Addressing journalists in Surakarta, Central Java on Saturday, Soemaryoto, chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission IV on Transportation, said the engineer, Suwanto, was dead from the locomotive's exhaust before the accident took place.

"According to the commission's report, exhaust from the train muffler entered the engineer's cabin, causing the engineer to inhale a large quantity of carbon-dioxide," he said, as quoted by Antara.

The locomotive's muffler, said Soemaryoto quoting investigators, was placed right in front the engineer cabin, which created a situation whereby Suwanto lost consciousness and died.

"Therefore, when the red signals appeared, the engineer could not stop the train," Soemaryoto said. "There was a strong indication that he already passed away."

Forty-one people perished, and another 62 were injured by the train incident after the incoming passenger train smashed into the locomotive of another passenger Cirebon Express train at the railway station in Cirebon.

The collision between incoming Empu Jaya train from Jakarta -- bound for Yogyakarta with some 400 passengers on board its nine cars -- and the locomotive took place at 3:45 a.m.

Officials from the Ministry of Transportation and the state railway company, PT Kereta Api, quickly pinned the blame on Suwanto for the incident.

However, the results of a post-mortem examination of Suwanto, showed that he suffered a heart attack.

The legislator went on to urge PT Kereta Api and the Ministry of Transportation to be more "introspective," rather than "blaming others for continuing train accidents."

Fatal train accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, where officials frequently blame signal failures.

Last September, a passenger train slammed into a cargo train in Batang, near the Central Java capital of Semarang, killing 13 people.