The Jakarta Post, Fri. November 23 2012,
Train operator PT KAI said that it might take a month for it to repair the railway tracks that were displaced by a landslide in Cilebut, Bogor on Wednesday, stranding commuters heading to the capital from Bogor station.
KAI spokesman Sugeng Priyono said on Thursday that the company would try to operate one rail track after a week of repairs, but it would not take the risk of rushing to operate the track as it might worsen the landslide. “We need approximately a week to repair one rail track and a month to repair both tracks,” Sugeng told The Jakarta Post.
On Wednesday afternoon, heavy rains caused a landslide at the 45-kilometer point of the railway in Cilebut. Due to the landslide, which was 200 meters in length and 35 meters in depth, the railway between the two stations hung for 71 meters, and four electrical poles along the railway were toppled over.
The landslide also buried 19 houses that were located under the cliff where the railway broke.
KAI director Ignasius Jonan said that the company would give donations to residents whose houses had been buried by the landslide.
“We will check whether these [buried] houses are legal or not. For residents who built their houses legally, we will not only give them aid but also help them to rebuild their houses,” Jonan said as quoted by Antara news agency. He added that the residents who did not have legal documents would receive half donations.
Deputy head of the Bogor train station, Enjang Syarif Budiman, said that the station had canceled 98 train schedules with material losses reaching Rp 128 million (US$13,280).
Bogor station receives 35,000 commuter passengers per day, with most of them being workers who work in the capital, or vendors who run businesses in several markets like Tanah Abang in West Jakarta.
Since the incident, all commuter trains from Jakarta to Bogor could only reach Bojong Gede train station. The following day, hundreds of commuters from Bogor had to go to Bojong Gede to take a train to Jakarta.
Commuter Endang Sri Wardhani, an employee of a private company in Jakarta, said that the rail operator should provide a shuttle bus from Bogor station
to Bojong Gede station to make it easier for daily passengers to reach Jakarta.
Endang said that she had to take a very crowded bus from Bogor to Jakarta on Thursday morning along with the other disappointed commuters.
“The cost of commuting by bus between Bogor and Jakarta is more expensive than by train,” she said. “It would be nice if KAI provided a shuttle bus from Bogor station to Bojong Gede station during the month of repairs, so we can still commute.”
Commuter Fahmi Fadillah, a student at the University of Indonesia said that he had no choice but to rely on a free ride from a friend to get to his campus in Depok, West Java on Thursday morning.
“I haven’t decided yet whether I will use a bus or another mode of transportation tomorrow, but I hope the repairs won’t take that long,” he said.
The train serving the Jakarta-Bogor route had been facing repeated service disruption in the last few months despite the recent increase in commuter train fares.
On Oct. 4, a train serving Bogor-Jakarta derailed at the same station, leaving a 20-centimeter section of the track damaged.
No casualties were reported, but at least 40 schedules were disrupted following the derailment.
On Oct. 10, another Jakarta-Bogor commuter train was struck by electricity due to heavy rain and lightning. The incident interfered with the railway’s signal system, with commuters’ journeys lasting from rush hour until late into the evening.
According to the train operator, all women-only train schedules have been canceled during the repair period of the broken railway in Cilebut, to substitute trains that have been halted at Bogor station.
vr 23 nov 2012 - 23:27