PT KAI Commuter Jabotabek (KCJ), a unit of state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), hopes for Rp 428 billion (US$46.2 million) in revenue this year, or 27 percent higher than estimated for 2009.
“The company will aim to earn Rp 400 billion from traveling passengers and Rp 28 billion from station activities,” KCJ president director Bambang Wibiyanto told reporters at the office of the State SOE Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday.
Last year the form targeted to earn Rp 312 billion in revenue, with Rp 300 billion from passenger ticket sales, mostly from express trains and the rest from station activities.
“We also expect an increase to Rp 25 billion in net profits up from Rp 9 billion in 2009,” he said.
To reach these targets, the firm plans to buy about 120 second-hand carriages in 2010 and 2011 as part of a revitalization program.
“Those carriages with air conditioners will be imported from Japan. We have allocated Rp 105 billion to purchase them,” Bambang said, adding that the carriages were manufactured between 1978 and 1980.
In 2010, the company would purchase about 40 carriages, he said.
It was reported that KCJ would allocate Rp 1.2 trillion by 2013 to revitalize its trains.
Meanwhile the government has proposed Rp 19.3 trillion for the overall train revitalization plan over three years. The money, allocated mainly from state budgets, with some private sector support, is allocated to build bridges, improve the rail networks and renovate trains.
KCJ serves commuting routes across the Greater Jakarta area, including tracks linking the city’s main stations to Serpong, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. It currently manages 170 kilometers of railway lines and 56 railway stations.
It was reported that approximately 400,000 passengers from Greater Jakarta now use the trains every day, an increase from 325,000 last year. KCJ targets to attract one million passengers per day by 2013.
In order to improve its services, the company has revealed that it will take all non-AC economy trains out of service and replace them with AC economy trains by 2011.
“We will take non-AC economy trains out of service, so that people will be able to use trains in more comfort,” Bambang said.
However, he could not promise that the ticket prices tariff will remain the same with better services.
“The tariff price depends on our negotiations with the government about the public service obligation [PSO] budget,” he said, adding that the tariff price of train journeys would remain cheaper if the government would allocate a bigger PSO budget.
Previously, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) has proposed an additional budget for carrying out the PSO program to close the gap between ticket prices and operational costs, which have been increasing significantly every year.
KAI has proposed that the PSO budget should reach Rp 670 billion this year, up from an initial proposal of Rp 535 billion. In 2008, the government provided Rp 710 billion for this purpose.
