Railway company to suspend some services to PTBA

State owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PTKAI) would suspend some services to state owned coal mining company PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) following disagreement over fee for the transportation of the latter?s coal, Neraca reported on Wednesday.

PTKAI?s spokesman Noor Hamidi said that based on the recommendation from State Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto, the company initially proposed to raise the transportation fee to Rp 300 per ton/kilometer.

At present, the tariff is set at Rp 182.93 per ton/ km for Tanjung Enim to Kertapati segment and Rp 128.64 per ton/ km for Kertapati and Tarahan segment.

PTBA, however, rejected the proposal, saying they could only afford of Rp 230 per ton/km and Rp 200 per ton/km for the Tanjung Enim-Kertapati segment and the Tanjung Enim-Tarahan segment, respectively.

According to Noor, PTKAI issued a letter to PT BA on May 22 to inform the latter that it would suspend three train service for the Tanjung Enim-Kertapati segment and six train services for the Tanjung Enim-Tarahan segment.

PTBA is the main supplier of coal for the 3400-megawatt Suralaya power plant complex in Banten ? the largest power plant complex in the country ? owned by state electricity company PT PLN. PTBA mostly transports its coal from its mines in Tanjung Enim using trains.

Noor assured that coal supplies to Suralaya would not be disrupted, but did not provide an adequate reason for his argument.

He said while suspending the train service to PTBA, PTKAI would carry out maintenance works on its railway network. (*)