Jakarta. Indonesian police have named the driver of the Argo Bromo Anggrek passenger train as a suspect over a chain-reaction collision at East Bekasi Station in West Java that killed 16 people and injured 107 others in April.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police identified the driver, AN, 37, as a suspect following an investigation into the April 27 crash, which involved the Argo Bromo Anggrek and two Commuter Line trains.

The collision was the final and deadliest part of a sequence of railway incidents that unfolded around East Bekasi Station that evening.

A westbound Cikarang Loop Line commuter train, KA 5181, first collided with a vehicle that had stalled at an unmanned level crossing near the station, according to the reconstruction of events. The incident forced another commuter train, KA 5568A, traveling east toward Cikarang, to stop at Track 1 at East Bekasi Station.

The Argo Bromo Anggrek, an express service traveling from Jakarta's Gambir Station to Surabaya, then approached the station from behind and collided with the stationary commuter train.

The impact crushed the rear carriage of the commuter train, which was designated for female passengers. All 16 fatalities were passengers in that carriage.

“Based on the investigation and evidence collected, investigators have named one suspect, identified by the initials AN, a 37-year-old man,” Jakarta Metropolitan Police Deputy Director of General Criminal Investigation AKBP I Dewa Putu Gede Anom Danujaya said at a news conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Police said the suspect designation followed a scientific crime investigation involving 54 witnesses and analysis of CCTV footage, communication recordings and operational data from the trains' data loggers.

Investigators also worked with the National Police's Forensic Laboratory Center, the Directorate General of Railways and experts in forensic medicine, railway operations, signaling, telecommunications and criminal law.

Analysis of the Argo Bromo Anggrek's data logger showed when its emergency brakes were activated before the collision.

“The emergency brakes were applied by the driver of the Argo Bromo Anggrek at 8:51 p.m. when the train was about 263 meters from the collision point with the commuter train,” Dewa said.

The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), which separately investigated the disaster, previously identified six factors that contributed to the collision.

The committee defines contributing factors as actions, conditions, events or combinations of these that, if eliminated, avoided, or absent, could reduce the likelihood of an accident or lessen its severity.

The KNKT findings and the police investigation provide separate but complementary accounts of the disaster, with the police investigation focusing on potential criminal responsibility and the KNKT inquiry examining the technical and operational factors behind the crash.

AN faces charges under Articles 323, 324 and/or 474 of the 2023 Criminal Code, as well as Articles 198 and/or 206 of the 2007 Railway Law.

The charges carry maximum prison terms ranging from five to 12 years, Dewa said. Police will summon AN for questioning as the criminal investigation proceeds.

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