Three days after a glitch disrupted commuter trains on the Tanah Abang, Jakarta – Serpong, Tangerang route, hundreds of commuters are still stranded.
Passengers have said the route was usually fairly reliable, with complaints of delays being less common than on other routes.
In Sudimara station, South Tangerang, commuters waited for more than an hour on Friday for trains bound for Tanah Abang; trains that are usually available every half hour after peak hours.
The carriages were already overcrowded when the train arrived at 9:30 a.m., and worsened at stations further along the route.
Due to limited air circulation, one young girl fainted as the train approached Palmerah station in Central Jakarta.
“If I knew this was going to happen, I would have canceled our trip,” said the girl’s mother.
Another passenger, Yayan, 32, could barely calm her 3-year-old son.
“He was crying throughout the journey. I never thought the train would be so overcrowded,” she said.
Mateta Rizalulhaq, the spokesman for the state-run railway company PT KAI’s Operational Area I, said the disruption started on Wednesday, with a broken pantograph on a train between Sudimara station and Serpong station at 6:25 p.m.
Pantographs are the hinged devices seen atop commuter-train carriages, which connect with overhead power lines.
“The damage caused some delays, but we completed the repairs to the electric current overhead this morning at 1:15 a.m.,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
“Starting from today, I believe that the operation of the Tanang Abang – Serpong route will be back to normal.”
There are 12 economy trains and 25 commuter-line trains that serve a total of 531 journeys across Greater Jakarta. The Tanah Abang – Serpong route consists of 58 journeys, serving up to 460,000 passengers per day. (yps/iwa)
