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Jakarta –

When they talk about railways in Indonesia, the public is immediately reminded of the image of Ignasius Jonan. In Jonan’s hands, there were major changes to train services. No more stories about “taper” groups on the Jabodetabek passenger train (KRL). The hawks that were often available at that time on all economy trains are now just a memory for the old generation.

Jonan also changed the face of the station, which had initially been run down to a very modern one. Only passengers can access the platform, through card tapping or ticket scanning, until the recent introduction of facial recognition technology. Since then, the stations have been renovated one by one, making it easier for passengers to move from one platform to another without crossing the tracks.

The transformation of trains continues under the leadership of the current President Director of PT KAI, Didiek Hartyanto, through the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic where many social restrictions have been implemented. The face of railways is becoming increasingly advanced with the operation of many types and types of trains, from economy, business, to luxury, spacious trains, urban trains, airport trains and logistics.

The picture of railway development in the country goes back to the colonial period. The historical milestone began in 1864 when the Dutch East Indies government began the construction of the first railway line between Semarang and Grobogan, 26 km long. It is noted that this is the second railway network in Asia after India, ahead of countries such as China and Japan.

Still in the liberal period, a private Dutch company operated the railway line. Later, the colonial government established a state company to build railway lines in Surabaya and Bogor. Until the 1920s, the length of the train and tram lines had reached 7,464 km, especially on the island of Java.

The construction of railway lines at that time was aimed at transporting agricultural products that were the main products, such as sugar, coffee and tobacco, or coal in Sumatra. The Great Depression hindered plans to develop railway lines on other islands, until the army occupying Japan cut the length of the railway lines to be shipped to Myanmar.

After independence, the railway workers’ union took over management from the Japanese colonists. The establishment of the Department of Railways of the Republic of Indonesia (DKARI) on 28 September 1945 was celebrated as National Railway Day. However, the nationalization process was only completed in 1963 when the state railway company was established, or known by the abbreviation PJKA.

In addition to operating trains, the government also established the state company PT INKA which manufactures a series of trains, both passenger and freight (rolling stock) and locomotives. In addition to meeting domestic needs, INKA has exported its products to Bangladesh, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, as well as several other neighboring countries in South East Asia.

By inheriting many technologies from the colonial era, Indonesia is moving to become a global player with the offer to build railway infrastructure in Africa. At the regional level, there are almost no competitors except China, as shown by the opportunity for Indonesia to build a railway line from Laos to ports in Vietnam.

Within the country itself, there are still significant challenges in developing the railway infrastructure. During the New Order period almost no additions were made to the railway network, exacerbated by the financial crisis of 1997. After that, construction began on the Jakarta-Surabaya dual carriageway, which was completed at the end of the Head’s administration -seated Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Continuing during the term of President Joko Widodo, the southern double row was completed. Another major project is the Manggarai-Cikarang Double Track (DDT) to reduce the congestion of long-distance railway lines with passenger trains en route to Bekasi, which has even been extended to Cikarang and is expected to reach Karawang.

The increase in traffic in the Jabodetabek assembly area has prompted the government to work hard to overcome bottlenecks, especially on the Manggarai route. As a gateway from different directions, the government has named Manggarai as the main station instead of Gambir, which has been operating for decades.

Jokowi also made progress, building for the first time an underground metro rail line that is often found in foreign cities. Having been started since the 1980s, when Jokowi was elected as the governor of DKI Jakarta, he decided that the MRT must be built immediately and the construction started in 2013, or at the same time the “railway revolution” of Jonan’s time.

After finishing with the MRT, Jokowi, who later won the 2014 presidential election, ordered the construction of an elevated rail line (LRT) to replace the monorail that the previous Jakarta governor had not built. There are four LRT sections now in operation, within the city (LRT Jakarta), converging (LRT Jabodebek), and LRT Palembang. The entire train set for the LRT is produced by INKA.

The next revolutionary achievement is the Jakarta-Bandung Whoosh (KCIC) high-speed train, which has been in operation for a year. Even though there were obstacles and a flood of criticism, there were fast trains which meant that Indonesia was not left behind by developed countries, as the first in Southeast Asia and the southern hemisphere. The plan is to extend the high-speed rail line to Surabaya.

The presence of fast trains changed the mode of transportation, making it the best option in terms of time. In addition to continued cooperation with China, the government is trying to develop its own technology by upgrading the existing railway. In order to realize the high-speed rail route to Surabaya, it is necessary to separate smooth lanes to avoid collisions with other modes of transportation.

Not only on Java, the Jokowi government is also building a railway line in Sulawesi on the Makassar-Parepare route, reactive railway lines in Sumatra, and plans to build a logistics railway in Kalimantan . Airport rail lines are also being run in several cities and commuter trains are being extended to urban agglomeration areas other than Jakarta.

During the 10 years of Jokowi’s administration, railway transformation was carried out on a large scale along with infrastructure improvements, especially in the transport sector. As a result, public satisfaction surveys with various types of rail services are above the 90% range. The survey was conducted by Indicator on 1,450 respondents across Indonesia, with an excess in the Jakarta cluster.

The survey, which took place between 30 August-6 September 2024, found that the level of public satisfaction with rail services reached 90.9%, with most ratings meeting requirements such as route suitability, punctuality and facilities. support The lowest rating was for fleet size, with a satisfaction of 83.9%.

For passenger train services, the satisfaction rate was higher, reaching 94.7% and the majority of assessments met the needs of residents. Almost the same are satisfied with the MRT (94.9%), but the public feels dissatisfied with the track (79.5%) and with the fleet (61.7%). For the record, the new MRT is working on the Lebak Bulus-Bundaran HI route, the rest is still under development.

The highest satisfaction was with LRT services which reached 97.4%, with the lowest assessment regarding the fleet (74.4%), as well as security and safety issues (80.6%). At the beginning of its operation, the frequency of LRT was still very low and received many complaints from users. Slowly, LRT is now increasing the number of LRT trips to meet the growing demand.

In general, the public is also more aware of the modernization of the rail transport facilities, reaching 80.3%. Even the Whoosh express train was in third place (62.4%) after the Transjakarta bus (73.9%). At the same time, public awareness of the development of railway station infrastructure is second (66.7%) after the airport (76.7%).

Achievements in the performance of train service cannot be separated from the technical side in the hands of stakeholders, starting from policy makers, both executive and legislative, and from the board of directors of BUMN, especially PT KAI. Sustainable transformation is the key word for future railway development.

The high level of public satisfaction with the world of railways during Jokowi’s time is also a note to the new Prabowo-Gibran government that will take the baton of national leadership in the near future. The transformation that is already underway must continue, with acceleration to support economic targets and raise Indonesia’s position to become a developed country.

End of Tirtana, Independent Commissioner PT. Indonesian Railways

(gs/ygs)