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KRL collision in Jakarta caused by 'human error' says KAI
Evacuation: Railway officials evacuate passengers after a collision between two electric trains (KRL) at Juanda Station in Jakarta on Wednesday
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Evacuation: Railway officials evacuate passengers after a collision between two electric trains (KRL) at Juanda Station in Jakarta on Wednesday. Several people were injured in the incident.(Antara/Sigid Kurniawan) (KRL) at Juanda Station in Jakarta on Wednesday. Several people were injured in the incident.(Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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span class="inline inline-center">Evacuation: Railway officials evacuate passengers after a collision between two electric trains (KRL) at Juanda Station in Jakarta on Wednesday. Several people were injured in the incident.(Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
State railway operator PT. KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) confirmed on Thursday that the cause of Wednesday's collision involving two electric trains (KRL) at Juanda Station, Central Jakarta, was human error.
'Our probe has revealed that the error derived from the crew. The signal system was running normally,' KAI safety unit director Chandra Purnama said on late Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.
He said the arriving train, KRL 1154, steered by a machinist assistant identified as Wing Krisbanu, hit the rear of KRL 1156, which was picking up and dropping off passengers at the station on Wednesday at around 3:37 p.m.
'At the time of the incident, he [Wing] was healthy and not sleepy. His working hours also had not exceeded eight hours,' KAI director Edhi Sukmoro said, adding that his institution was ready to impose sanctions on Wing.
The sanctions, he said, could range from administrative to dismissal. 'However, we're still waiting for the final result of our internal investigation,' Edhi said.
No passengers died in the incident but 42 people were injured. As of Thursday, 10 victims were recovering at various hospitals, while another machinist, identified as Gustian, 30, who was wedged between the two colliding trains and sustained a broken leg, was still undergoing intensive treatment at Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital in Central Jakarta.
'The machinist has to be treated as an inpatient. He was critically injured,' Mulyadi, a doctor at the hospital, was quoted by kompas.com as saying on Wednesday.
KCJ spokeswoman Eva Chairunisa said that all medical expenses of the injured passengers would be covered by KCJ, adding that it was responsible for providing insurance to its customers.
'We don't give cash compensation, rather we give compensation in the form of covering medical treatments, with the amount depending on the premiums,' Eva said.
Meanwhile, National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) head Suryanto Tjahyono said that his team of investigators were collecting data and information from the train station on the accident.
'They're examining all important, related factors, ranging from human, organizational, procedural to infrastructure aspects,' he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Suryanto said the process, which had commenced on Wednesday evening, would likely last one to two weeks.
'After that, they'll work on their reports. And the overall process could take one to two months,' he said, adding that the results would be submitted to the Transportation Ministry in the form of recommendations.
Suryanto refused to reveal any provisional findings in KNKT's ongoing probe into the incident.
The train collision was the first in more than a decade. Previous collisions took place in Ratu Jaya, Depok, in November 1993, which killed 20 people, and the Bintaro tragedy that killed over 100 people in 1987.
Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said earlier that the train accident was allegedly caused by human error.
'The electricity and signals were running smoothly. The officials dealing with the trains' signals have rechecked them and found no disruptions,' he said on Thursday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Aside from that, Jonan said, the collision might have been caused by disruptions to facilities at Jakarta Kota or Juanda train stations.
'The headway of trains are supposed to be five minutes only,' he said, adding that however, in this case, the arriving train had entered Juanda Station while the previous train was still waiting for passengers.
Meanwhile, the two trains were cleared on Thursday at around 6 a.m., 12 hours after the collision, following the arrival of a joint rescue team comprising officials from KCJ, the Jakarta Fire Agency and the Central Jakarta Police.
As such, train schedules have returned to normal after the accident caused all routes from and to Jakarta Kota Station being halted.
Eva said that the collision had affected train schedules for Bogor-Jakarta Kota and Bekasi-Jakarta Kota routes as the route from Manggarai to Jakarta Kota was halted, with passengers stranded at transit stations. (foy/alm)
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