Bad Situation At The Train Crossing Pondok Jati Matraman Station, Already Stuck In Traffic And Lives Threatened

The situation at the Pondok Jati railway crossing, Matraman, East Jakarta/ Photo: Rizky Sulistio/ VOI

JAKARTA - The railroad crossing (KA) Pondok Jati Station, Matraman District, East Jakarta is one of the level crossings that are often crowded with passing vehicles. At the official crossing, every morning and evening there is always a buildup of vehicles. It is very dangerous because it threatens the lives of motorists who are stuck in traffic in the middle of the crossing.

Every day, this crossing becomes a congestion node that often endangers passing motorists. The narrow section of the road and the lack of officers at the crossing gate often cause long congestion points.

Congestion continues from morning to evening around the area. Moreover, severe congestion occurs during peak hours and school hours. This area looks chaotic because a number of vehicles pass simultaneously from two different sides.

In fact, when the railroad door was closed, it turned out that there were still motorbikes and cars stuck in traffic in the middle of the Pondok Jati railroad crossing. This condition is certainly very dangerous for the road user community.

Roy, one of the local residents, confirmed that every day there is always traffic jams in this area, because the route from Jalan Kayumanis should be one direction but used by motorcyclists to go against the direction.

"Congestion was exacerbated when the special lane for the motorbike in Tegalan was closed, so everyone wants to take a motorbike and is stuck in traffic because they focus on this crossing," Roy told reporters at the location, Tuesday, March 21.

Roy explained that traffic jams were also added because crossings every 5 minutes were always open and closed because many trains passed.

"There are frequent accidents here. So we hope that there will be other routes, because if there is a long traffic jam, it can take 1 hour. There are Satpol PP and Transportation Agency officers who arrange it, but because of the rush, it becomes difficult for residents to pass," he said.

Previously, Roy admitted that the Pondok Jati crossing was not too congested and operating normally. This is due to the existence of a special motorcycle crossing in the Tegalan area. However, when the illegal crossing was closed, all residents' vehicles from various urban villages were focused on the Pondok Jati crossing, so they were always jammed.

"There used to be a lot of lanes, but now it's just a traffic jam. This is the main route. There used to be a special motorbike crossing in Tegalan but it was closed by PT Kereta Api," he said.