Train derails in Cirebon, thousand stranded
Train derails in Cirebon, thousand stranded
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon
Thousands of people at several railway stations had to delay
their trips on Thursday after the Tawang Mas train serving
Semarang-Senen (Jakarta) line derailed in Cirebon on Wednesday.
No fatalities were reported.
Railway transportation from West to Central and East Java via
Cirebon was totally paralyzed for at least four hours after the
economy-class Tawang Mas train No. 166 derailed at about 3 p.m.
Some of the 800 passengers continued their journey to Semarang
by bus or other modes of transportation on Wednesday afternoon.
The railway company, PT KAI, provided them with money for
their fares.
Four executive trains -- the Argo Lawu, the Taksaka, the Argo
Bromo and the Cirebon Ekspres -- had to cancel their scheduled
trips to and from Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Purwokerto and Surabaya.
Activity along the railway line returned on Thursday morning
and trains could use the tracks, although at a reduced speed.
However, the effect of Wednesday's disruption was still
evident on Thursday when thousands of passengers were stranded at
Gambir station in Jakarta.
"The Fajar and the Taksaka trains bound for Yogyakarta were
canceled," Ardiansyah, who wanted to travel to Yogyakarta, said.
"PT KAI railway company returned all the passengers' money,"
he said.
On Monday in Purwakarta, West Java, police arrested six
people, mostly teenagers, for placing a two-meter steel bar
across the railway track, causing a Jakarta-Bandung train to
derail.
No fatalities were reported in the accident, but railway
schedules were disrupted for hours.
A spokesman for PT KAI in Cirebon, Suhartono, told The Jakarta
Post on Thursday that a team had been set up to investigate the
latest accident. "The result will be made available in the next
two weeks. The train driver, Bambang, and other employees in
charge have been questioned by the team. They all said everything
was OK. They did not see any irregularities.
"Initial assumption is that unstable earth caused the
accident, or hard objects falling from the train cars caused the
accident. We have not found any indication of human error so
far."
According to Suhartono, the site of Wednesday's accident was
only 15 meters from the spot where the Empu Jaya train hit the
Cirebon Ekspress train on Sept. 2.
The collision claimed 40 lives.
Asked about the financial losses PT Kai suffered from the
accident, Suhartono said it was still being estimated.
"A delay usually prompts more than half of the passengers to
cancel their trip. PT KAI has had to provide the stranded
passengers with drinks and snacks. The losses must be huge."
Meanwhile PT KAI head office spokesman Gatot Wibowo said in
Bandung on Thursday that technical error was behind the accident.
He did not go into detail.
"PT KAI in cooperation with the West Java Police are focusing
on the security of the Jakarta-Bandung tracks, which are
vulnerable to vandalism.
"Railway track supervisors found a wooden sleeper on the track
in Ciganea, Purwakarta, this afternoon," he said told the Post
from Purwakarta by phone.
He said he was in Purwakarta with West Java Police chief Brig.
Gen. Sudirman Ali to disseminate information to locals on railway
safety.