Train drivers relying on wits after systems fail
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Looking straight ahead, train driver Asep Mochammad told the new passengers they had to pay Rp 2,000 (19 US cents) to ride in the driver's compartment.
"Please remember, you must pay Rp 2,000 in addition to the ticket you already bought. Otherwise, just move to the passenger cars at the back," he said while taking money with his left hand from two passengers who boarded the train at the Cawang station in South Jakarta.
At least 10 passengers were sharing the little compartment with him on Wednesday, making it difficult for Asep and his assistant to move around or reach the door.
The Jakarta Post took a train on the Depok-Kota route on Wednesday and paid an extra Rp 2,000 to ride in the driver's compartment.
Most of the indicators that would normally be used by the train driver and his assistant, including the speed indicator, were not working.
Several signal lights along the line were not functioning, forcing the driver to count on his experience in manning the locomotive.
"I ride in the driver's compartment every day and it is normal to pay more," Jono, a resident of Depok, a regular train rider, told the Post.
Despite recent warnings from the management of state railway company PT KAI that it would fire drivers who allowed passengers into their compartment, train drivers continue the practice.
An investigation into the June 30 train accident in Pasar Minggu that killed four people found that the driver of the train that rammed into a second train, Acep Darma, was squeezed among numerous passengers in his compartment. Acep also reportedly ignored signal lights.
Police have said they will name Acep, who was injured in the accident, a suspect in the accident once he is released from the hospital.
A railway researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Taufik Hidayat, said on Wednesday a lack of discipline was one of the main causes of train accidents in the country.
"PT KAI never bothers to improve the quality of its employees, especially their discipline, because the Ministry of Transportation, in its role as a regulator, fails to issue procedures and control systems to check PT KAI," he told the Post.
Taufik, who is also executive director of Indonesia Railway Watch, said the Ministry of Transportation was focused only on expanding the operations of PT KAI, including building new tracks and adding stations, while doing little to maintain existing equipment or enhance PT KAI's human resources.
He said the ministry had an annual budget of about Rp 1.75 trillion to maintain trains, tracks and traffic and communication equipment, to avoid accidents as well as to improve the service to customers.
"I think the ministry must concentrate on fixing all existing equipment so they can prevent future accidents. Remember, people are beginning to abandon trains because of poor service and frequent accidents," Taufik said.
He said passenger numbers on city trains had decreased by almost 16 percent from 118 million in 2002 to 100 million in 2004, while passenger numbers on long-haul economy-class trains dropped by almost 80 percent from 2001 to 2004.
Taufik said he suspected the ministry and PT KAI were eager to expand the railway's operations because the projects involved a huge amount of money, while maintaining the existing equipment and infrastructure involved a small budget.