Commuters' hopes for a better train service in the Greater Jakarta area are riding on the newly established PT KA Jabodetabek (KAJ), a subsidiary of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api (KA).
But the fledgling company still has a lot of work to do before it is ready to roll.
"We hope with this spin-off, the train company will be able to concentrate on giving a better service to commuters," said Agus Imansyah, a member of KRL Mania, an electric train users community group.
"For us, train delay is the major problem. It happens so often. The delays might be caused by train malfunctions so we hope the old trains can be replaced," he added.
Delays were among the issues to be addressed by KAJ general director Kurniadi Atmosasmito in his business plan.
"We may buy secondhand trains from overseas, such as Japan. We may open some new routes too," he said, adding funding would come from the parent company or bank loans.
KA separated its Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) division from its other operations on August 13 and will transfer all train operations to the new subsidiary on January 1 next year.
However, it remains unclear whether the management of the tracks and stations will be handed over as well.
"I am now preparing the business plan for our future operations and to determine our line of responsibilities. The details are still under discussion with related parties, such as the parent company and the Transportation Ministry," said Kurniadi, a former finance director of Indonesian mining giant PT Aneka Tambang Tbk.
"We would like the related facilities -- the tracks and stations -- to be integrated under our management," he added.
He argued the integration would allow the company better control over operations and service quality.
"If the tracks are not our responsibility, who will be accountable if any of them is damaged and holds up our trains?" he said.
But some keen commuters think KAJ should focus on operations and open up the possibility for competition.
"KAJ can act as one of the operators. That way, other operators could enter the field as well. KAJ would not be overburdened by too many responsibilities and could concentrate on improving their service," Agus said.
The government liberalized the train industry, previously monopolized by KA, in 2007 through a law on the railway system.
State Minister for State Enterprises Sofyan A. Djalil said earlier the government's target was for the proportion of Greater Jakarta commuters traveling by train to reach around 30 percent in the next 10 to 20 years.
According to KA director Ronny Wahyudi the company has set a target of tripling the number of Greater Jakarta passengers, from the current figure of 700,000 commuters a day to 2.1 million commuters sometime by 2011. Efforts to meet the target will begin after KAJ starts operating fully in 2009.
In the wake of the fuel price increase, in June the company added late evening services for the 300,000 people commuting between Jakarta and surrounding cities.
Air-conditioned trains now run until as late as 11 p.m. Information on schedules is available at http://krlmania.com/jadwal/. (mri)
