Train derails in Karawang, 18 passengers injured

Nana Rukmana and Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon/Bandung

At least 18 passengers were injured when their train derailed on Friday in Karawang regency, West Java, disrupting rail service in the region, officials said.

Some of the victims sustained serious injuries but no casualties were reported.

The Kamandanu train was traveling from Gambir railroad station in Jakarta to the Central Java capital of Semarang when it derailed at 9:45 a.m. near Tanjung Baru village, East Karawang subdistrict, some 40 kilometers from Jakarta.

State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) said four of the train's cars overturned during the accident.

KAI spokesman Patria Supriyoso said the incident was thought to have been caused by a malfunction in the train's wheels. Officials are investigating the crash to determine the exact cause.

Speaking in the West Java capital of Bandung, the spokesman said KAI would hold its equipment maintenance division responsible for the accident.

"If such accidents continue to occur, we will surely take firm action against those executives responsible," he told The Jakarta Post.

According to normal operating procedures, every train must be checked by maintenance officers at least 30 minutes before departure, he said.

But the procedures are often ignored because of trains arriving late at stations, he said.

The derailment forced the cancellation or late departure of several other trains.

Yoseph, deputy head of the Kejaksaan Besar station in the West Java city of Cirebon, said the accident forced his office to cancel an express train that was due to depart for Jakarta at 2 p.m.

All of the passengers of canceled trains are eligible for ticket refunds, said Suhartono, the spokesman for KAI's Operation Region III in Cirebon.

Two trains serving the Bandung-Jakarta route also were canceled. The trains were to have left Bandung at 11 a.m and 12 p.m.

More than 400 passengers of trains that left Bandung for Jakarta at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. had to be transferred to buses to finish their trip from the Cikampek railroad station.

The disruptions caused about Rp 25 million in losses to KAI, said Akhmad Sujadi, spokesman for the company's Operation Region II in Bandung.

The company said it would pay all medical expenses for the 18 passengers injured in the accident.

Train derailments and crashes occur frequently on the country's aging railroad network. In June, a passenger train slammed into a minibus in Central Java, killing 15 people.