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Jakarta Post

Manggarai Station to become Jakarta’s largest train hub

Check and recheck: A worker inspects an airport train at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta on Nov

A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, November 13, 2019

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Manggarai Station to become Jakarta’s largest train hub

Check and recheck: A worker inspects an airport train at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta on Nov. 24, 2017.(JP/Seto Wardhana)

With major construction work being undertaken at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta, the thousands of commuters stopping at the station every day would never guess it was marking its 105th anniversary this year.

Claudia Angel, 19, who regularly takes the commuter line from Bogor in West Java to Mangga Dua in North Jakarta for work, said she had noticed the station was undergoing major renovation and improvements had been felt. She expressed hope that services would improve, such as in reduced waiting times for commuters.

“The station is more comfortable and organized now so it's no longer easy to get lost,” Claudia said.

Since it was built in 1913 during the Dutch colonial era, the station has been a hub from which to travel from Jakarta, then known as Batavia, to other cities. As rail-based transportation has become the backbone of public transportation in Greater Jakarta, the government plans to make the station a hub for long-distance trips to the eastern and southern parts of Java.

The Transportation Ministry said the station would replace Gambir Station in Central Jakarta as the central station for long-distance trips by 2021 and become the city’s largest central station. It will also still function as the hub for the Greater Jakarta commuter line and the airport train.

Various construction projects are under way at the station. The ministry’s Railway Directorate General is currently working on a four-track railway project that will link the city to eastern housing and industrial zones in Bekasi, West Java. The project will also include the upgrading of Jatinegara Station in East Jakarta.

“Our concept is the different types of railway lines meeting in one spot. Manggarai meets the criteria. It is the interchange for the commuter line from Bekasi, Bogor and Tanah Abang to reach Rangkasbitung as well,” Railway Directorate General spokesman Supandi told The Jakarta Post recently.

He said the station would have three levels. The ground level will have eight tracks, while the first level will house passenger facilities, such as ticket booths and retail stores, and the second level will accommodate 10 tracks.

The eight tracks on the ground level will comprise six tracks for the commuter line and two for the airport train while the ones on the second level will comprise six tracks for long-distance trains and four for the commuter line.

Supandi said the tracks would solve the bottlenecks at Manggarai caused by commuter line trains and long-distance trains that currently take turns to transit at the station.

“With a total of 18 tracks in the future, train queues at the station will be decreased,” he said.

Supandi said other work around the station included a skywalk that would connect the airport stop to the Pasaraya Manggarai shopping center and a parking area.

The government said the Manggarai projects would cost a combined Rp 3.6 trillion (US$253.52 million), with funding covered by state-issued sharia sovereign bonds (SBSN).

Manggarai Station was named after the people of Manggarai, Flores Island, that were indentured as slaves by the Dutch from the 17th century.

Private railway company Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij started building the Batavia-Bogor railway in 1873. The line passed through Manggarai. In 1913, Staatsspoor en Tramwegen took control of the railway network and Batavia station, and built Manggarai Station not just as a station but also as a train depot.

Indonesian revolutionaries took control of the station in September 1945. The station was used to move first president Sukarno and other officials to Yogyakarta during an armed conflict with the Dutch.

The original structure of Manggarai Station is located on Jl. Manggarai Utara. It was declared a cultural heritage site by the Jakarta administration in 1993 and by the Tourism Ministry in 1999. It was also acknowledged as a heritage building by the Education and Culture Ministry in 2005.

Supandi said the revitalization project would respect the building’s cultural heritage and maintain it, although the ministry was looking into possible uses for the old station after the revamp.

Wisnu Susanto, 28, a civil servant at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said renovation work at Manggarai and Jatinegara sometimes delayed his trips from his home in Bekasi to his office in Cikini, Central Jakarta, and he expected the revamp would improve speed and train schedules.

“I hope the four-track project will finish soon,” he said.

Wisnu also voiced hope that that there would be ample parking space because the streets around the station were often congested as a result of a lack of parking areas, especially during rush hours.

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