PT KAI president director Edi Sukmoro said the second generation of the luxury train was launched following a positive response from passengers toward the first generation of the sleeper train, the Luxury 1, which has operated for a year.

The Luxury 2 is a more developed version of the previous luxury train, which provides more facilities and has more seats inside the carriage.

“We have carried out an evaluation of the operation of our first luxury train, which we considered as a trial to see how passengers responded to such an exclusive service. Based on the evaluation, we launched this second generation. The Luxury 2 has 26 seats as compared to the 18 seats available in the Luxury 1,” said Edi during the train’s inauguration on Sunday.

Edi also said the facilities in the Luxury 2, which was manufactured by the state-owned train manufacturing company, PT Industri Kereta Api Indonesia (INKA), are better than in the first generation.

“There are better facilities such as [better] headphones, a much more responsive touchscreen and better seat design. Of course, we will carry on evaluating this second generation. If passengers love it, we will cooperate with PT INKA to produce more luxury trains,” said Edi.

Meanwhile, Edi added that the production of the luxury train was part of PT KAI’s rejuvenation, since the railway operator had 886 carriages that were 30 years old and needed to be updated.

The Luxury 2 train’s facilities consist of seats that can move up to 140 degrees electrically and can also be rotated 180 degrees. The seat also comes with electric footrests, televisions, USB charging sources, foldable food trays, pillows, blankets, face towels and reading lights. In the luxury train, passengers would also get free meals and free flowing drinks that are provided by a minibar inside the train.

For the time being, the Luxury 2 serves routes from Jakarta to Surakarta, Yogyakarta and Malang. The Luxury 2 is connected to the Argo Lawu train (Gambir to Surakarta Balapan), the Argo Dwipangga train (Gambir to Surakarta Balapan), the Taksaka train (Gambir to Yogyakarta) and the Gajayana train (Gambir to Malang).

PT KAI introduced the Luxury 1 in June last year to serve the Jakarta to Surabaya route and as part of the Argo Bromo Angrek train.

“The response from the public using the first generation luxury trains is very positive. The average occupancy rate for the Argo Bromo Anggrek Luxury for the Gambir to Surabaya route even reaches 108 percent,” said Edi.

Meanwhile, PT KAI president commissioner Jusman Syafii Djaman said the luxury train was a PT KAI innovation to meet the demands of customers who wanted an exclusive experience inside a train. PT KAI also saw a surging interest from passengers for a luxury service.

“There are passengers who want to travel on trains with exclusive services while enjoying the view. There are also passengers who actually can afford airlines tickets but are just afraid to fly, thus they prefer trains and [it is to] those we want to cater,” he said.

During the promotion period for the next month, the Luxury 2 train fare starts at Rp 750,000 (US$52.03) for departures dates on May 26 to June 26. Reservations can be made on the KAI mobile app KAI Access, the KAI website and other official KAI sales channels.

PT KAI’s vice president of public relations, Edy Kuswoyo, said that as of May 28 the occupancy rate for the Luxury 1 train service for the Idul Fitri holidays from May 26 to June 16 was 77.53 percent. There are 356 available seats on the Luxury 1 out of a total of 1,584.

Meanwhile, the occupancy rate of the Luxury 2 train was 49.39 percent as of May. 28. There are 2,895 seats available from a total of 5,720 provided on the Luxury 2 train.

Moreover, in total, as of May 28, PT KAI has sold 2,428,309 seats, 75.5 percent of the total number of seats provided for the Idul Fitri holidays from May 26 to June 16. Meanwhile, 787,351 seats are available, 24.5 percent of the total provided.

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