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lthough city commuter train operator PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) enjoyed a significant increase in passenger numbers this year, from 206.7 million in 2014 to 253.3 million in 2015, the company has set a conservative target for next year.

KCJ president director Muhammad Nurul Fadhila said that the number of train passengers kept increasing over the years. '€œHence, we keep increasing our capacity and our services to accommodate more passengers,'€ he said at a press briefing on Monday.

However, Fadhila added that the company was only aiming for 258 million passengers in 2016, an additional five million.

'€œWe are considering the infrastructure projects planned for next year such as Manggarai station [in South Jakarta]. If we add more services, passenger headway and waiting periods will be longer,'€ he said.

KCJ currently serves around 737,000 passengers per day with an average headway of five minutes.

KCJ'€™s parent company, state-owned PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) and the central government plan to build an elevated loop line and airport rail connection. In addition to using existing commuter line stations, the projects will also be built above existing tracks.

Fadhila said that although the company was not planning to increase the number of services, it had committed to adding more cars to existing services to accommodate more passengers.

'€œWe will add more rolling stocks, so each train will have 10 to 12 cars,'€ he said, adding that the company would procure another 60 cars in 2016.

The majority of trains in operation have eight cars with the original platforms designed to accommodate only eight, but Fadhila said KAI had extended most platforms at stations to accommodate longer trains.

The president director said that besides adding more cars, the company would also take over the operation of several stations from KAI and extend the range of services.

They included Bogor'€™s Gunung Putri and Pondok Rajeg stations in the new route of Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta to Nambo in Bogor as well as Bekasi station to Cikarang station in West Java. '€œWe will also reopen Ancol station in North Jakarta,'€ he said.

KAI previously resumed the operation of commuter trains connecting Kota in West Jakarta to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta. However, trains on the route do not stop at Ancol station.

Fadhila said that KAI also planned to improve station facilities. '€œWe will build pedestrian bridges between platforms at Tanah Abang station and underpasses at several other stations,'€ he said.

He said that the company had also began installing ticket vending machines at Kota station. '€œWe will have provided 15 vending machines at several stations by the end of this year and aim to provide 100 units in 2016,'€ he said, adding that the stations included Kota, Juanda, Sudirman, Manggarai and Bogor.

Although the number of passengers keeps increasing, commuter line services in the capital still leave a lot to be desired.

Many train journeys are often disrupted by signal failures, landslides around rail tracks and other technical problems.

KCJ technical director John Robertho said that the company was now cooperating with Japanese railway company JR East to procure cars and train and guide the local train operator in technical issues.

'€œAccording to our records, at least 694 disruptions occurred between January and October this year. Most of the problems were caused by the auxiliary power system,'€ he said.

'€œMost of our electrical components are no longer produced, so we need to make modification to upgrade them,'€ he said.