RAILWAY COMPANY TO STOP PARAHYANGAN TRAIN SERVICE

Jakarta, April 17 (ANTARA) - State railway company PT KAI will discontinue its Parahyangan train service on the Jakarta-Bandung route as of April 27, 2010.

The decision was taken because the number of people using the Parahyangan service was declining continuously, Sugeng Priyono, a spokesman of PT KAI's Operational Region I of Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), said here Saturday.

"The earnings no longer cover the operational costs," he said.

The Jakarta-Bandung v.v route will instead be served by Argo Gede trains.

The average number of Parahyangan train passengers was 76 in executive class and 204 in business class daily. Only on national holidays such as the Eid Fitr Muslim festivity does the Parahyangan service carry plenty of passengers, he said.

PT KAI once reduced the Parahyangan tariffs in order to attract more passengers but it did not work out, he said.

Meanwhile, the number of home-goers traveling by train in the 2009 Eid Fitr holiday season rose 3 percent from a year earlier.

The number of home-goers traveling by train reached the peak two days ahead of the post-fasting festivity on Friday when their number was recorded at more than 65,000 against 55,000 a year ago.

To cater to the rising number of passengers, the company operated six extra trains, bringing to 40 the number of trains serving home-bound travelers last year's Eid Fitr holiday season.