Manggarai railway station
Manggarai Station is a railway station at Manggarai, Tebet, South Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. At present, it serves primarily as a transit station for KRL Commuterline's Bogor Line and Cikarang Loop Line, as well as the Soekarno–Hatta Airport Rail Link. As one of Jakarta's main transit stations, Manggarai has become increasingly congested on rush hours.
To the south of the main station building is the Manggarai Railway Workshop, which is used for routine maintenance and repair of passenger trains. It also functions as a storage area for large trains with a train depot. Many executive, business, and economy class trains are stored in this depot before they are sent to and stations to begin their journey. The Bukit Duri depot is located southeast of the station, used for storing and daily maintenance of various EMUs for the Commuterline system. This depot initially also kept diesel locomotives, but all of them were moved to another depot in Cipinang, East Jakarta.
Currently, the station is undergoing massive upgrade into a large three-storey central station. After its completion, Manggarai will be the largest railway station in Indonesia. It will not only serve commuter trains and the airport rail link, but will also returned to serve inter-city trains for the first time since 2013; hence, the station will replace Gambir as the terminus for most intercity trains by 2025. There will also be a housing complex, a commercial complex, and a 5-star hotel surrounding the station.
History
20th century
The region of Manggarai has already been known since the 17th century. It is the residence and market for slaves from Manggarai, Flores which later developed into Gementee Meester Cornelis. Although the Batavia—Buitenzorg line was built by the Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij in 1873, Manggarai Station was built in 1914 and completed on 1 May 1918.The construction was not fully finished when it was first opened — World War I in Europe delayed the delivery of certain parts of its roof. Its tracks branched to Meester Cornelis, Tanah Abang, and continued to Bandung. The construction was supervised by Van Grendt, who also designed the railway education school building and official residences for employees around the station area. The first class waiting room has not changed since the 1910s. The station replaced the second Meester Cornelis Station, which was located a few hundred meters to the south.
The station witnessed an episode of Indonesian National Revolution, when on 3 January 1946 the extraordinary train transported the entourage of President Sukarno to Yogyakarta. Secret preparations were made, including placing of rows of freight carriages on track 1. At around seven o'clock in the evening, the KLB passed very slowly from the direction of Pegangsaan through track 4.
Central station development
Until 2012, Manggarai had already serving both intercity trains and the KRL Commuterline. Major reformations of the KRL in 2011 had resulted a significant occupancy escalation, encouraging KAI to rearrange the railway traffic. Some intercity trains like Brantas, Bengawan, and Kutojaya Utara used to stop here before terminating at Tanah Abang until they were moved to Pasar Senen since 2013; since then, Manggarai has stopped serving intercity trains. Despite that, Argo Parahyangan remained stopping at Manggarai, according the 2014 Railway Travel Chart.On 12 August 2016, PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek, together with fans of KRL Commuterline discussed the Manggarai Central Station development plan. To answer the complaints of the passenger queue, which continues to increase every year, the completion of the Cikarang–Manggarai double-double track was accelerated. In addition, this station will be made multi-storey, which can accommodate inter-city trains and commuter trains with their respective tracks and platforms. It is expected to become the central station for the KRL Commuterline and also the terminus for the Soekarno–Hatta Airport Rail Link.
Later, the Directorate General of Railways of the Ministry of Transportation began expanding the station in 2017 by adding a new three-storey building with a modern minimalist futuristic architecture. The old building, a legacy of Staatsspoorwegen, is maintained because of its status as a cultural heritage. By the completion of the central station development, it is planned that all long and medium-distance inter-city passenger trains that terminate at Gambir will be moved to Manggarai.
To accommodate Soekano–Hatta Airport Rail Link extension to Manggarai, the west entrance building was constructed. Once completed, Manggarai Station officially served the airport rail link passengers on 5 October 2019.
The first phase of the Manggarai Central Station development was inaugurated by the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, on 26 December 2022. The second phase of the Manggarai Central Station development commenced construction in 2023. This aims to build platforms on the second floor above the Cikarang line platforms. These platforms will be used for long distance trains and when operational will replace Gambir Station in 2025.
Building and layout
The Manggarai Station main building has three floors: the first includes the lower platforms and rails for trains making stops at the station, the second floor is dedicated for passenger amenities and commercial areas, and the third floor is function as the upper platform, serving the same purpose as the first one. The building is built in a modern and minimalist design; it has curved-shaped roof, with glass cellings and facade to optimize natural lighting from the sunlight. The original building on the east since 1918 is retained as a cultural heritage. The heritage building is designed by Dutch architect J. van Gendt with a New Indies style, a fusion between 20th-century European modernism and Indonesian vernacular architecture.Manggarai Station had nine train tracks that were used for EMU stops plus one track each to the Train Affairs Supervisor, Bukit Duri Depot, and Manggarai Railway Workshop. Tracks 1 and 2 are dedicated to trains operating on the Cikarang Line, while tracks 3 and 4 serve as straight routes for inter-city trains and additional stops for Cikarang Line trains. Tracks 5-7 are allocated for trains on the Bogor Line, and tracks 8 and 9 are designated for stops on the Soekarno–Hatta Airport Rail Link.
As of 25 September 2021, the first phase of the station's development has been completed. It is in the form of a new multi-storey building that was built on the west side along with the upper tracks consisting of four railway tracks, so that the number of station tracks has increased to thirteen tracks. Simultaneously, the Central Line was renamed to Bogor Line and it was transferred to the upper tracks, which was numbered tracks 10 to 13. Tracks 10 and 11 were turning and straight tracks for KRL Commuterline to, while tracks 12 and 13 are straight and turning tracks, respectively, for the KRL Commuterline to Bogor. In addition, access to the platform through the main door on the west side is also integrated with Transjakarta via Manggarai BRT Station. As of 20 December 2023, inter-platform level crossing has been permanently closed and the heritage building returned to serve as the east ticket counter for KRL passengers.
Services
The following is a list of train services at the Manggarai Station.Criticisms and controversies
After undergoing a major overhaul and renovation, in early 2023 the Directorate General of Railways of Ministry of Transportation installed an embossed accessory letter that reads "I ♡ DJKA" as the final touch, which is also installed at Matraman Station. The installation caused controversy because KRL Commuterline passengers questioned its importance. The directorate general considers that these accessories only aim to "motivate their employees to work even harder." A member of the Anak Kereta community responded to this problem that DJKA only felt like appreciating themselves, while passengers continued to criticize a number of performances that had to be evaluated such as the escalators which often experienced disturbances. After receiving harsh criticism, the installation, located on the second floor, were removed on 22 February 2023.Incidents
On 24 June 2022, a passenger on the KRL Commuterline fell under the platform. It is said that the passenger fell when the passenger was about to enter KRL 5551 on the Cikarang–Kampung Bandan service of Cikarang Loop Line on the platform of tracks 6-7 of Manggarai Station. This triggered panic among all passengers at the station, considering the train was passing when the victim fells. Luckily, the victim survived and was immediately taken to the station health post to be given first aid. After being treated and confirming that the passenger's health is in good condition, the passenger resumed its journey using the train.On 8 July 2022, two weeks after the previous incident, a child fell under the track of 6 platform at Manggarai Station while boarding the KRL TM 6000 New Livery along with the child's mother and young sister. The child was immediately rescued by the internal security officer, it was suspected that the child had fallen due to the train's full capacity as a result of the adjustment after the route change.