Public Complaints Response, Gerindra Legislator Questions Manggarai Station Forced To Become A Transit Place

Member of Commission VI DPR RI Andre Rosiade conducted a surprise inspection (sidak) at Manggarai Station, Jakarta, Monday (17/4/2023). (ANTARA/HO-DPR)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI of the House of Representatives Andre Rosiade of surprise inspections (sidak) at Manggarai Station, Jakarta responded to complaints from the public who use electric rail services (KRL) regarding the density of passengers that occurred at the station. Andre said that finding a number of problems after inspection to a number of points at Manggarai Station, among which the density of KRL passengers occurred due to the lack of escalators and elevators so that passengers had to rush when boarding and down the stairs. "The reports I received, escalators and elevators that were often not operational," he said during an inspection at Manggarai Station in Jakarta, Monday 17 April, were confiscated by Antara. He assessed that Manggarai Station was getting denser after the policy required for transit passengers at the station. According to him, the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) seemed to force Manggarai Station to become a central station, whereas it was not yet visible to the plenary one. "At Manggarai Station there is no proper parking ground, small road access, and locations are in densely populated areas," he said. For this reason, Andre suggested the Directorate General of Railways (DJKA) of the Ministry of Transportation must ensure that Manggarai Station was able to accommodate 100 thousand passengers per day before imposing policies requiring transit passengers at the station. "Don't force all KRL passengers to transit at this station. First, the facilities and infrastructure," he added. Andre reminded the Ministry of Transportation not as well as making the results of the 1987 study which recommended Manggarai Station as a central station, including for long-distance trains. The application in 2023 must reflect on the current conditions. Previously, Andre who arrived at the location at around 16.15 WIB checked the flyover for the Bogor-Jakarta City KRL destination located on Floor 3, then monitored the KRL line located on the 1st Floor of the Manggarai Station.

The checks were made to see directly the queues and densities of KRL passengers who wanted to continue their journey by changing trains or leaving the station.

President Director of PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) Suryawan, who accompanied the inspection, said that he would add an escalator to anticipate the accumulation of passengers at Manggarai Station this week as solution for the Ministry of Transportation's DJKA.

"For the access to the stairs to be added, it does not accumulate at one point. God willing, this week it can be used to add stairs on lane seven, that is one of the efforts that has been made by the government," he said. Including, he continued, improvements related to the presence of escalators that are not functioning because they were damaged at Manggarai Station. "Escalator is certainly a major concern because the main'mindset' is invaded (passengers), which is this?", he said. Previously, Thursday, March 9, 2023, the Ministry of Transportation's DJKA accelerated the construction of additional five stairs at Manggarai Station, Jakarta, to increase alternative passenger access so that it could break down the density at the station. "In response to the condition of the Manggarai Station which has recently been fairly dense, in particular on the 'peak hour', we have started to construct additional stairs from the 'concourse' floor to the base floor on the platform 6 and 7 which will soon be followed by platform platform 8 and 9 at Manggarai Station, "said Director General of Railways of the Ministry of Transportation Wasal in his statement in Jakarta, Thursday 9 March.