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n December 2015, a fatal accident took the lives of 18 passengers after the Metro Mini public bus they were riding collided with a KRL electric train in Tubagus Angke, Tambora, West Jakarta.

The vehicle-train accident made stakeholders agree to close 19 railway crossings in the area due to safety concerns. However, after two years, officials have shut only nine of them.

Those that have closed include railway crossings in Tebet, South Jakarta and Senen Market in Central Jakarta.

“There are many obstacles, including the infrastructure factor. In this particular aspect, we need to work with various institutions to ensure it’s ready before the closure,” said Joice Hutajulu, spokesperson for the Transportation Ministry’s railway directorate general, on Monday to The Jakarta Post.

Before closing down the railway crossings, Joice explained, the Transportation Ministry must ensure that there is an alternate route for drivers. That way, their trips would not be affected by the closures.

For such issues, the officials need to coordinate with several other institutions, including the Jakarta Transportation Agency, which the ministry must work with to ensure that there are adequate road markings, as well as alternate routes or passages, such as underpasses and flyovers.

Currently, the officials have yet to close the remaining 10 railway crossings because they are still discussing alternate routes for some of the locations.

Pejompongan Dua railway crossing in Central Jakarta, for example, remains in use because the officials are still discussing alternate routes for motorists. Moreover, there is not enough space to build a flyover or an underpass.

“Keeping the crossing open is currently our only choice. Otherwise, there will be traffic jams for kilometers,” Joice added. “However, we have closed the U-turn lane at the crossing. We will close it completely in gradual phases.”

Considering such coordination, as well as working to discuss alternatives, the ministry set no precise target for the closure of the rest of the crossings, said Joice, while emphasizing that “all are carried out in phases.”

She further said that the ministry, teaming up with the Jakarta administration, was responsible for closing railroad crossings to prevent accidents or collisions between trains and vehicles in accordance with Law No. 23/2007 on railroad systems.

Accidents between vehicles and trains occur often in Jakarta. This year alone, for example, three incidents happened at the Gaplok crossing in Senen, Central Jakarta; the Kebayoran Lama crossing in South Jakarta; and at Pulogebang, Cakung, South Jakarta. In all, three people were killed in the incidents.

To reduce incidents between vehicles and trains, the Jakarta administration, through its Bina Marga Road Agency, has been constructing two flyovers above railroad crossings in Cipinang Lontar in East Jakarta and Bintaro in South Jakarta.

The work is part of the city’s ongoing plan to build three flyovers and three underpasses. Aside from avoiding train-vehicle accidents, the work is also expected to reduce congestion at busy intersections.

In addition to the three flyovers, the administration is constructing another in Pancoran in South Jakarta and three underpasses in Matraman in Central Jakarta, Mampang-Kuningan and Kartini, all in South Jakarta.

The projects were planned to be completed by the end of this year. However, due to existing utility pipes that need to be relocated, the work will likely be completed between January and February, said Heru Suwondo, Bina Marga agency’s overpass and intersection division head.

“We had previously sent a notification to the utilities’ management when we were taking care of administrative documents before the execution. However, they still hadn’t relocated them when we were going to start the project,” said Heru, adding that the utility pipes belonged to city-owned water operator PAM Jaya, state-owned gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara and state-owned electricity firm PLN.

The six projects cost Rp 700 billion (US$51.6 million) from the city’s 2017 budget, he added.