Train ticket sales hit Rp 15b mark

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta office of state railway company Perumka has managed to earn a total of Rp 15.08 billion (US$1.73 million) in ticket sales from Jan. 9 to Jan. 20, a company spokesman said Thursday.

Perumka headquarters spokesman Helmi Aziz said the amount earned during the 12-day period was collected from 77 trains -- including nine extra trains put on just for that period -- which carried more than half a million Idul Fitri holiday makers from the capital to other cities around Java.

Helmi however refused to reveal the company's profit but said that Perumka was having a very "tough time" dealing with management and operational costs.

Data from the Perumka Jakarta office showed a total of 650,321 people leaving via the city's eight main train stations between Jan. 4 and Jan. 20.

The ticket sales figures recorded by the Jakarta office is already more than half of the total sales by all train stations in Java, which reached nearly Rp 28.8 billion during the same period.

He said data from the Perumka offices in Sumatra had not yet been calculated.

According to Helmi, his office would not be able to reach its target of Rp 2 billion in profit during this Idul Fitri season due to the skyrocketing prices of locomotive spare parts. (ylt)