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MRT to have own power plant, other services considering same
To avoid operations getting disrupted again by another electricity outage, the MRT is to have its own power plant as a back-up. Meanwhile, PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia is still considering getting one of its own.
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Darkness falls: Residences in Jakarta are seen in total darkness on Sunday. Electricity transmission disruptions caused a major blackout for several hours in Greater Jakarta and parts of West and Central Java on Sunday. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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massive blackout that hit Greater Jakarta, West Java and Banten on Sunday had forced railway-based public transportation providers like the commuter line, MRT and LRT to stop operations as they relied solely on power from state-owned electricity firm PLN.
Not only did they stop taking passengers from one station to another, they also had to disembark the people already on their trains and guide them on foot along the side of the railway tracks to safety.
To avoid such an inconvenience from happening again, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi on Monday said that all strategic public transportation services should have their own power plants.
“They have to have double [the electricity sources]. They can use their own power plant to support every day operations and use the supply from PLN for back-up, or it could be the other way round. This already happens at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport,” he explained.
“Big cities like Jakarta should really consider that. [It’s] for our nation’s dignity,” he added, noting that he would discuss it with the energy and mineral resources minister and the state-owned enterprises minister.
In a release circulated on Tuesday, MRT Jakarta corporate secretary Muhamad Kamaluddin explained that the MRT relies on power supplied by two generating stations, both of which belonged to PLN.
“Troubles experienced by PLN disconnected the electricity supply to the MRT’s main support at two of PLN’s 150kV subsystems, namely the Gandul-Muara Karang subsystem through the Pondok Indah powerhouse and the Cawang-Bekasi subsystem through the CSW powerhouse,” he said.
