Jakarta (ANTARA) - State-owned railway company KAI said that it will add more train trips from December 21, 2023, to January 7, 2024 to accommodate more travelers during the 2023 Christmas and 2024 New Year holidays.

"We will add around 84 train trips per day, or around a 20-percent increase," KAI Presiden Director Didiek Hartantyo informed members of the House of Representatives (DPR) during a hearing session on Monday.

In total, KAI provides 6,113,934 tickets, or an average of 339,663 tickets per day, an increase of around 20 percent as compared to last year for the peak of train travel this year, he remarked.

Hartantyo said that his company has forecast that the highest number of passengers is projected to occur on December 23.

To ensure smooth operation during the Christmas and year-end holidays, his side has made some preparations, such as ramp check inspections throughout KAI's railway networks in Java and Sumatra.

KAI officials along with the Directorate General of Railways of the Transportation Ministry, the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), and the National Police will conduct joint inspections throughout the railway networks, Hartantyo explained.

Moreover, KAI will open a Christmas-New Year post that will be operational from December 21, 2023, to January 7, 2024, and prepare to anticipate disruption to train travel in facilities and infrastructure by placing post facilities as well as material equipment for standby (AMUS) and deploying additional guard officers, he revealed.

"Regarding the rainy weather, we received a report last night at 01:00 that there was a landslide in the Purwokerto operation area. That area is actually prone to landslides, and we are currently handling it. We are temporarily diverting the route from Purwokerto to Bandung via Cirebon," he stated.

In addition to security and order, Hartantyo remarked that KAI had coordinated and boosted security measures in areas prone to regulation violation.

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Translator: Ade Irma J, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Anton Santoso
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