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Government to construct loop lines to eliminate railway crossings
The central government and the Jakarta administration plan to construct loop lines in an effort to eliminate railway crossings along the tracks of commuter trains in the capital city.
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Fire guts a Walahar Ekspress train car following a collision with a vehicle at the Pasar Senen railway crossing in Central Jakarta on June 13. (Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency/File)
T
he central government and the Jakarta administration plan to jointly construct loop lines in an effort to eliminate railway crossings along the tracks of commuter trains in the capital city.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said train tracks would be elevated at the current railway crossings across the capital, a program that could increase the frequency of train trips and ease traffic congestion in nearby areas.
“Currently, there are too many railway crossings. One of the solutions is to elevate the rail tracks [at every railway crossing],” the minister said in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com.
Read also: Train hits Transjakarta bus, car at rail crossingThe project is estimated to cost between Rp 7 trillion (US$524.31 million) and Rp 8 trillion. The money would be allocated from both the state budget and the Jakarta administration budget, said Budi.
“We will use the financing scheme of the central government and city administration fund like with the MRT project,” he said, adding that construction of the project was expected to start in 2018.
If the project could be materialized, the capacity of the Greater Jakarta Commuter Train, which serves Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tengerang and Bekasi, could be increased to around 1.6 million passengers per day from 1 million currently, Budi said.
There are 120 railway crossings in the capital city. (bbn)
