PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero), or KAI, recorded 11.38 million train passengers in the first quarter of 2024. This comprises 9.77 million long-distance train passengers and 1.6 million local train passengers.
Cumulatively, this represents an 11% increase compared to the first quarter of last year, which totaled 10.25 million passengers.
KAI's EVP of Corporate Secretary, Raden Agus Dwinanto Budiadji, stated that the increase in passengers during the first three months of 2024 was supported by the implementation of the Train Travel Schedule (Gapeka), effective since June 2023.
In Gapeka 2023, KAI operated new trains such as the Argo Merbabu (Gambir-Semarang Tawang Bank Jateng Round Trip), Argo Semeru (Gambir-Surabaya Gubeng Round Trip), Pandalungan (Gambir-Jember Round Trip), Manahan (Gambir-Solo Balapan Round Trip), and the local Banyubiru train (Semarang Tawang Bank Jateng-Solo Balapan Round Trip).
Furthermore, the on-time arrival rate of trains also increased, from 92.24% in Q1 2023 to 95.86% in Q1 2024.
"This improvement in train punctuality was achieved through an overall increase in operational performance, including the maintenance of facilities and infrastructure," said Agus in a press release on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
In the first quarter of 2024, KAI also launched three new trains: the Papandayan (Gambir-Garut Round Trip), Pangandaran (Gambir-Banjar Round Trip), and Malabar (Bandung-Malang Round Trip) trains for morning departures.
"With these continuous efforts to improve quality, we hope that trains can become the primary choice for people when traveling," said Agus.