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New budget train service
Kereta Bogowonto: (tribunnews
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Kereta Bogowonto: (tribunnews.com/willy widianto)
An economy-class train plying Yogyakarta-Jakarta officially commenced operation on Thursday with the operators hailing it as the first of a new line of air-conditioned budget trains.
State railway company PT Kereta Api said the Bogowonto train had been launched to help meet the high demand for train services due to the increasing number of passengers over the last few years.
The train departs from Tugu station every day at 7:30 a.m. and arrives at Pasar Senen station in Jakarta at 4:00 p.m. The train then leaves on its return trip at 6:40 p.m. and arrives in Yogyakarta at 4:02 a.m.
A one-way ticket costs Rp 125,000 (US$13.75) per passenger.
“The train actually has been operating for a year but it previously departed from Kutoarjo,” said Sinung Tri Nugroho, PT Kereta Api’s official in charge of Yogyakarta Region VI, at the launch ceremony on Thursday.
Kutoarjo is located in the neighboring Central Java province, some 70 kilometers to the west of Yogyakarta.
Sinung also said that the Bogowonto was the first of a new line of economy-class air-conditioned trains to be launched as part of the government’s commitment to improve land transportation.
On normal days, the train carries nine cars with a capacity of 80 passengers each. During peak seasons it can carry up to 12 cars.
When it set out on Thursday, 40 percent of the seats were occupied, and more were expected to board at Wates station in Kulonprogo, Yogyakarta, and Kutoarjo station, Central Java.
Company spokesperson Eko Budiyanto said that the increasing number of passengers had prompted a shift in the starting point from Kutoarjo to Tugu station.
A string of road accidents involving buses and cars, as well as increasingly severe traffic congestion, has led to an increase in demand for rail, according to Eko.
