Lilianti, 39, a Jatibening resident of West Java who attended an MRT evacuation drill at Dukuh Atas Station in South Jakarta on Tuesday, said she was most concerned about flooding, considering that the station is located 24 meters below ground level.

“Floods in MRT tunnels had happened in other countries. If it could happen to them, it is also possible for Jakarta, where it floods even with a little bit of rain,” she told The Jakarta Post.

She urged PT MRT Jakarta, the city-owned firm to operate the service, to prepare adequate preventive measures in case of heavy rains and floods.

In October 2017, an unprecedented flood occurred in a tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations in Singapore. Train services on the North-South Line were disrupted for more than 20 hours as a result.

All passengers were safely detrained at other platforms, so no commuters were left in the tunnels.

The first phase of Jakarta’s MRT, spanning 15.7 kilometers to connect Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, has a total of 13 stations, seven of which are elevated and the remaining six are underground.

MRT Jakarta operational and maintenance director Muhammad Effendi assured the public there was no need to worry about floods.

The company has taken a number of preventive measures, such as placing station entrance gates higher than the road and installing flood barriers, he said.

The barriers were installed at Dukuh Atas Station and Bundaran Hotel Indonesia Station, which are located in low areas of the city.

He added that MRT Jakarta had prepared sump pits to hold water in tunnel areas at six underground stations. Each station will have two to three sump pits at the north and south side with a capacity of between 38,000 liters and 110,000 liters.

“They will pump out accumulating water,” Effendi said.

The company has also installed water level sensors in Krukut River, which flows from Bogor, West Java, to Jakarta. They are connected directly to the MRT and signal an alert when the river’s water level rises to a potentially dangerous level.

Emergency drills, he said, have been carried out several times by MRT Jakarta, not only for floods but other incidents as well, such as technical failures, bomb threats and fires.

However, only the two-day fire drill that took place on Tuesday involved more than 400 would-be passengers; the others only involved MRT staff members.

“We evaluate the situation after every drill. We will continue to conduct one every six months for at least the next two years,” Effendi said.

Sirait, 50, a Cinere resident from Depok, West Java, who took part in the fire drill at Dukuh Atas Station, shared a different concern. He pointed out that the station’s stairs were too steep and located far from the exit gate, making them a potential hazard during emergency situations. There are about 175 steps from the platform to the exit area. 

“It took around 5 minutes to get out of the station. People can run out of breath during the evacuation,” Sirait said.

Effendi acknowledged the problem with the stairs. He explained that MRT Jakarta’s standard operating procedure required its emergency team to request assistance from hospitals and firefighters to lift out passengers who were unable to climb the stairs during an emergency.

“We have to call for more personnel and involve external parties in situations like that,” he said.

MRT Jakarta has invited the public to participate in a trial run of its services through online registration. It aims to attract 285,600 passengers in its public trial run, which takes place on March 12 to 24. (ggq)

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