Train, bus delays worsen as influx of residents peaks

Train, bus delays worsen as influx of residents peaks

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The hall in front of the information center at the Senen railway
station, Central Jakarta, was packed with people on Sunday
afternoon -- so many in fact that it was hard just to get to the
exit door.

By 4 p.m., some of the would-be passengers were lying on their
backs on the ground trying to get some sleep as they waited for
the Matarmaja train, which was scheduled to depart at 2:20 p.m.
to Malang, East Java. Others just sat around or chatted to amuse
themselves.

"I'm waiting to board the Matarmaja train," said a young woman
as she sat on two boxes that she was taking home after her
holiday in the capital.

Little did she know that her train had not even arrived in
Jakarta on its journey from Malang.

The Matarmaja economy class train was supposed to have arrived
at Senen railway station at 6:33 a.m. on Sunday. It finally came
at 5:10 p.m., almost 11 hours late.

The delay was much worse than the six-hour delays on Friday.

Several other trains, including ones from Yogyakarta, Semarang
and Surakarta in Central Java, and Surabaya reached Senen between
three and eight hours behind schedule on the last day of the long
Idul Fitri holiday.

"Those trains departed later than scheduled, partly as a
result of the derailment of the tanker trains yesterday," said
Sugeng Setiono, the Senen stationmaster.

On Saturday, two tanker trains, carrying 38,000 liters of
diesel, derailed near state-owned oil company Pertamina's transit
depot in Tegal, Central Java. No fatalities were reported in the
incident.

Sugeng said that the higher frequency of trains was also
causing delays. Besides, trains were needing longer halts in
stations to enable passengers get on and off.

The volume of homeward-bound holidaymakers had been expected
to peak on Sunday.

However, Senen railway station actually saw a 21.7 percent
decline in the number of passengers compared to Saturday. A total
of 7,609 passengers on 13 trains were recorded arriving at the
station.

Meanwhile, Pulogadung bus station in East Jakarta had seen a
total of 30,840 people arrive on 513 buses by 1 p.m. on Sunday.

"I think the peak of the influx will be this evening," said
Syahrizul, head of the intercity buses pool at the terminal. "At
the latest, it will be Monday morning."

He said there was an increase of 50 percent in the number of
passengers compared to Saturday.

Some buses arrived late at the terminal due to congestion on
the routes leading to Jakarta.

Yono, a passenger on a Gunung Mulya bus from Wonogiri, Central
Java, said that the stretch of road from Indramayu to Pamanukan,
which is around 70 kilometers in length, was completely jammed.

"It was worse than when I left last Monday," he said.

Yono, his wife and four-year-old daughter were on their bus
for almost 24 hours, eight hours longer than the normal trip.

Returning holidaymakers traveling in their own vehicles were
caught in a traffic jam on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road after a
collision involving two cars. One man was killed and six others
were injured.

The dead man, Sarwana, a resident of Jl. Rawa Selatan, Central
Jakarta, died instantly at the scene after his car hit the car in
front.

Six other passengers in Sarwana's car -- Ika, Sumiati, Soleh,
Sri, Mar'ah and Sutedja -- were seriously injured and rushed to
the Medika Hospital in Cikarang, West Java.