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Greater Jakarta LRT problems won’t be solved until late November
Solving the problems of the Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) is expected to go until late November, Deputy State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo told reporters on Wednesday.
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A Greater Jakarta LRT train passes over Jl. Gatot Subroto in Jakarta on Aug. 28, 2023. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
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olving the problems of the Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) is expected to go on until late November, Deputy State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo told reporters on Wednesday.
The LRT is dubbed as the country’s first homegrown light rail project, but it has seen a myriad of problems since its launch on Aug. 28. The latest is worn-out wheels, produced by state-owned manufacturer PT INKA, that have resulted in dozens of trips canceled and the speed of the trains reduced.
“We're recalibrating it while we assess our capacity and speed to service the LRT. That's what we're doing: calibrating the wheels,” Kartika said.
“The goal is to recover to normal speed by the fourth week of November, and [conduct] long-term repairs so that no further damage happens, with the headway restored to 15 minutes by November.”
Read also: Worn-out LRT trains see dozens of trips canceled, speed reduced
Due to the problems, state-owned PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), the operator of the Greater Jakarta LRT, lacks enough trains to maintain operations, forcing it to cancel up to 103 trips per day on the new service in the past few weeks.
Currently, LRT headway, which means the arrival time between trains, on every line has increased to between 30 and 40 minutes, double the length in normal operation.
