TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Commuters adjust plans amid rail maintenance
For your information: Railway officers put up a banner showing a revised train schedule at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta on Thursday
Change Size
F
or your information: Railway officers put up a banner showing a revised train schedule at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta on Thursday. Commuter train operator PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) has redirected 45 trips that connect Bogor, Depok, Cikarang and Bekasi in West Java to Kota Station in West Jakarta. The trains will end their trip at Manggarai Station until Feb. 23. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Depok resident Yurika Anindya left home early on Thursday to catch the morning train to avoid being made late by an altered schedule to accommodate maintenance on the line she takes to her office on Jl. Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta.
The legal practitioner said she left the house at 5:45 a.m. to take the 6:20 a.m. train from Pondok Cina Station in Depok, West Java, to Gondangdia Station in Central Jakarta, located two stations after Manggarai Station in South Jakarta.
“The news about the new train schedule has made me concerned about the commute time to the office, but there’s nothing I can do other than leave the house earlier. Knowing that my life depends on the commuter train and I am unable to control the operation of the service, I should be able to manage whenever any problem occurs,” Yurika said.
Her concern was the result of a maintenance project conducted by railway operator PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia, the subsidiary of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia.
From Tuesday to Feb. 23, commuter trains from Bogor, Depok, Cikarang and Bekasi usually bound for Kota Station in West Jakarta are to end their journeys at Manggarai Station in South Jakarta before returning to their respective stations of origin.
PT KCI spokeswoman Anne Purba said that 45 of the 281 commuter train trips from Depok, Bogor, Cikarang and Bekasi to Kota Station and vice versa would be redirected and stopped at Manggarai station, while one trip would be suspended entirely. Commuter train services on other routes would operate normally, Anne said.
“We are also informing the public about the new schedule through our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts,” Anne told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
She said the measure was taken to allow KCI to upgrade railroad switches at Gambir Station and Kota Station. The upgrade was needed to ease train traffic since both stations served as the final destinations for long-distance trains connecting Jakarta to other cities in Java.
She advised passengers to adjust their travel times and to arrive early at their station to avoid taking trains that only stopped at Manggarai Station.
“If the passengers have to disembark at Manggarai Station, they can continue the trip to their respective destinations by taking buses provided by Transjakarta, since we have also integrated Manggarai Station with a Transjakarta shelter nearby,” Anne said.
Commuter train service is the backbone of public transportation, and it has been residents’ favorite, connecting Jakarta to its peripheral areas. According to the operator’s 2019 data, commuter trains have served an average of 979,853 passengers per day from 80 stations in greater Jakarta, with the farthest station being in Rangkasbitung, Banten, located 63 kilometers from the capital.
PT Transjakarta spokeswoman Nadia Diposanjoyo said that the city-owned Bus Rapid Transit service had helped PT KCI anticipate the accumulation of passengers arriving at Manggarai Station by providing six additional buses connecting the station to Tosari bus stop in Central Jakarta.
She said the buses would be deployed at Transjakarta bus stops located in front of both Gambir Station and Kota Station from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the maintenance period. Each bus has a capacity of 36 seats and is able to hold an additional 29 standing passengers.
“This is our effort to anticipate a spike in commuter train passengers disembarking from Manggarai Station due to the new train schedules. We are committed to delivering them to their destinations during the morning and evening rush hours,” Nadia said in a statement.
Like Yurika, other passengers have adjusted their commute schedule to arrive at their departing stations earlier to avoid jostling with others on the train.
Muhammad Nuh, a 23-year-old administrator living in Depok, said he would consider leaving his house earlier to head to work in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, in order to avoid packed trains affected by the new schedule.
“I might consider leaving home earlier so that I don’t have to jostle on the train. Even though I always stop at Cawang Station [two stations before Manggarai Station], I will have to struggle a lot more to get inside the train since every passenger is probably also avoiding trains that only stop at Manggarai Station,” he said. (glh)
