JAKARTA: Police have named a taxi driver a suspect in last month’s deadly rail accident in Bekasi, West Java, while transportation investigators have revealed new findings pointing to possible signalling and operational failures that caused the disaster.
The April 27 accident began when a Green SM taxi stalled on a level crossing near Bekasi Timur Station and was struck by a commuter train travelling from Cikarang, West Java, to Bekasi, the taxi driver managed to escape unharmed.
The collision led to the halting of another commuter train on the opposite track bound for Cikarang. About three minutes later, the Argo Bromo Anggrek intercity train travelling from Jakarta to Surabaya, East Java, slammed into the stationary commuter train, striking its rear carriage, which was designated for female passengers.
Sixteen people, all women, were killed and at least 90 others were injured in the tragedy. Bekasi Police traffic investigators announced on Thursday (May 21) that the taxi driver, identified only as RRP, had been named a suspect for alleged negligence after investigators concluded the vehicle stalled in the middle of the tracks while crossing from Duren Jaya toward Jl. Juanda.
“The negligence occurred when the vehicle suddenly stalled and came to a stop in the middle of the railway tracks,” Bekasi Police traffic unit head Adj. Comr. Gefriyan said.
Police named the driver a suspect after questioning witnesses, including railway crossing guards, train operators and experts from the vehicle’s authorized distributor Vinfast, as well as conducting a crime scene reconstruction.
RRP was charged under Article 310(1) of the 2009 Traffic and Road Transportation Law, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison or a Rp 1 million (US$56) fine. Police did not detain him because the initial collision between the taxi and commuter train caused no direct casualties.
Meanwhile, the driver of the commuter train that struck his vehicle will not face criminal charges under the 2007 Railway Law, which requires motorists to give priority to trains at level crossings.
Separately, the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has identified possible signalling and communication failures as contributing factors to the deadly train collision.
KNKT chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono told a House of Representatives hearing on Thursday that investigators found several “unsafe conditions”, including visual distractions from bright lights around nearby housing complexes and market areas that may have prevented the Argo Bromo Anggrek driver from clearly recognising warning signals ahead.
Investigators also found that the intercity train continued receiving a green signal despite disruptions on the track ahead.
According to the KNKT, the driver was instructed only to gradually reduce speed and sound the horn rather than apply maximum emergency braking, even though the 1.3-kilometre distance before the collision should have been sufficient to stop the train completely.
The KNKT further highlighted delays in communication between railway traffic controllers after the commuter train struck the stalled taxi. The initial report was received by controllers overseeing the southern line, while the Argo Bromo Anggrek train operated under a separate eastern control area.
As a result, information had to pass through multiple layers of coordination before the intercity train driver could be contacted, creating what Soerjanto described as an excessive delay.
Despite the findings, Soerjanto stressed that the KNKT presentation contained preliminary factual findings rather than final conclusions.
“At this stage, we are only presenting factual data. There has been no analysis and no conclusion regarding the cause of the accident,” he said, adding that the full investigation is expected to be completed within the next two to three months. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
