With the rail-based MRT and Greater Jakarta light rapid transit (LRT) to begin operations in the near future, a new era in the city’s public transportation is set to dawn.

In the meantime, the existing commuter line network is straining to serve the more than 1 million commuters who travel to and from Jakarta and its satellite cities each day. So, when an accident such as Sunday’s train derailment occurs, the mobility of many thousands is immediately impacted.

Sunday’s derailment of a train in Kebon Pedes, Bogor, West Java, which injured 19 people aboard, temporarily crippled services on the Jakarta-Bogor route.

Operations returned to normal on Monday.

The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) is investigating the incident. It has yet to come to any conclusions as the investigation is expected to take two months.

KNKT recorded 31 commuter line accidents between 2012 and 2017. Derailments made up 70.96 percent of accidents, collisions 22.58 percent and other types of accidents 6.45 percent.

Even on normal days, the Jakarta-Bogor route is overcrowded with long wait times at transit stations in Palmerah, West Jakarta, and Manggarai, South Jakarta, as it is the only rail-based transportation available between these destinations.

Almost 70 percent of commuter line passengers use the Jakarta-Bogor route, according to 2017 PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) data. Meanwhile, the Bekasi line accounts for 13.48 percent of daily passengers, the Rangkasbitung line 11.87 percent and the Tangerang line just 4.72 percent.

KCI currently has 900 train cars to transport around 1 million commuters on weekdays. In 2019, it targets to transport 1.2 million passengers with 1,450 train cars.

KCI operates three routes that connect the capital to Depok and Bogor in West Java, namely the yellow loop line, which has two routes, one from Jatinegara Station, East Jakarta, to Bogor Station and another from Angke Station, West Jakarta, to Nambo Station in Bogor, as well as the red line from Jakarta Kota Station to Bogor Station.

Adding train cars and renovating stations were the main strategies to increase the commuter line’s passenger capacity, KCI spokeswoman Eva Chairunnisa said.

“There are two ways KCI can increase the number of passengers, by adding trains and increasing the trip [frequency],” Eva told reporters on Tuesday.

She said the central government was currently renovating Manggarai Station in South Jakarta and building a double track line to Bekasi, which would benefit commuter trains passing through Manggarai Station, as they sometimes have to queue behind cargo and long distance trains.

Meanwhile, KCI is also increasing the capacity of its trains to 12 cars each, thus increasing passenger capacity without additional trips.

“That way even if we do not add more trips the capacity will be increased, because as the operator, we cannot build the infrastructure,” Eva said, adding that its parent company PT Kereta Api Indonesia was capable of doing so.

She said KCI had worked to increase its passenger capacity by adding cars to each train since 2015. Currently, KCI operates 20 trains with 12 cars and 41 trains with at least 10 cars each. It no longer operates trains with only eight cars.

One car can carry around 200 commuters.

Stations needed to be revamped to accommodate the additional cars, Eva said.

She said that stations on the red line, as well as the blue line from Jakarta Kota to Cikarang, Bekasi, already accommodated trains with 12 cars.

Stations on the brown line between Tangerang, Banten, and Duri, West Jakarta, can also accommodate 12 cars, but KCI considers 10 cars to be adequate.

Meanwhile, stations between Rangkasbitung in Lebak, Banten, and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta as well as Kemayoran Station in Central Jakarta were currently being renovated to be able to accommodate 12 cars, Eva said.

University of Indonesia transportation expert Ellen Tangkundung said the Jakarta-Bogor lines were the most crowded, and although commuters were largely satisfied with the service, it needed to be improved.

“With a headway of five minutes, even if a train is a bit late, commuters will not mind, but the punctuality must be improved,” Ellen told the Post, adding that during morning and afternoon rush hours trains on the route were always packed, meaning that capacity had to be increased.

She said increasing the frequency of trips would increase passenger capacity, but it might also lead to greater congestion at several level crossings.

With the Greater Jakarta LRT this was not a concern, according to Ellen.

“The LRT is not a competitor of the commuter line, it simply helps increase passenger capacity. They [LRT and commuter line] also serve different markets in different destinations,” Ellen said.

She said the LRT and commuter line would give commuters different options during rush hour and would thus complement each other.

Meanwhile, Djoko Setijowarno from the Indonesia Transportation Society said that unless all level crossings were removed, increasing the commuter line’s capacity on the Jakarta — Bogor route would be impossible.

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