JAKARTA - PT Kereta Api Indonesia strengthens railway electrification as the main driver of modern urban mobility through efficient, environmentally friendly, reliable transportation services, and able to support urban area growth.
"The growth in urban mobility in the last decade has driven the need for strengthening railway electrification in metropolitan areas," said KAI Vice President of Corporate Communication Anne Purba, quoted by Antara.
The increase in the number of electric train (KRL) trips, the development of residential areas to buffer the city, to the increase in the center of economic activity makes the need for electricity supply increasingly large to maintain the smooth operation of train travel.
Anne said electrification plays an important role in modern urban transportation systems because it is directly related to travel capacity, operational stability, and the reliability of the signaling system managed jointly by the Directorate General of Railways (DJKA) of the Ministry of Transportation.
According to him, when the number of KRL trips continues to increase, the electricity demand will also increase, so that the strengthening of electrification is important to maintain the stability of travel operations.
"Including supporting the signaling system, as well as ensuring that KRL travel continues to run safely and reliably across the cross-section with increasingly dense traffic," said Anne.
Based on research on urban travel and electrification of railways, Anne continued, the number of KRL users has increased significantly in the last 10 years from 257 million trips in 2015 to 401 million trips in 2025.
During this period, more than 140 million urban people's trips were added. Mobility recovery also took place very quickly after the pandemic, with user growth reaching 50 percent in 2022 and increasing again by 31 percent in 2023.
The surge in mobility is also reflected in the increase in the total daily KRL travel. In 2015, the number of KRL trips was recorded at 881 trips per day and increased to 1,063 trips per day in 2025.
Bogor Line became the line with the highest frequency of travel reaching 299 trips per day, followed by Bekasi Line with 232 trips and Serpong Line with 204 trips.
This condition shows the increasing need for capacity and stability of the operating system in urban cross-sections with heavy traffic.
Anne explained that the closer the headway of the journey, the more support the operating system needs for electrification that is stronger and more stable.
Adequate power supply is an important factor in maintaining the performance of KRL travel, including supporting signaling devices, electrical substations, and operational arrangements in dense crossings coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation's DJKA.
"As urban mobility increases very quickly, power infrastructure needs to be strengthened so that operations remain stable and the risk of travel disruptions can be suppressed," explained Anne.
The research, added Anne, also showed that urban mobility in Jabodetabek had grown to be one of the largest in Southeast Asia with a total user reaching 349.3 million trips in 2025.
This figure is much higher than other urban areas such as Bandung with 18.7 million trips, Surabaya with 16 million trips, and Yogyakarta with 10.1 million trips.
"This development goes hand in hand with the transformation of urban railway services, which continue to be driven," said Anne.
Furthermore, Anne said that the Ministry of Transportation's DJKA, together with railway operators, also strengthened the revitalization of stations, intermodal integration, digitization of services, strengthening connectivity of strategic areas, to the development of new mobility centers in metropolitan areas.
"So electrification becomes an important part in supporting the entire system so that it can run in an integrated and sustainable manner," said Anne.
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