Bukit Asam's Operation Unaffected by Indonesian Train Collision

By Naila Firdausi

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam, which holds a quarter of Indonesia's coal reserves, said it's operations are unaffected by a collision involving its freight train in Sumatra yesterday which killed at least nine people.

The Sriwijaya passenger train hit a parked freight train owned by Bukit Asam at a station in Sumatra's Lampung province, Eko Budhiwijayanto, the company's spokesman said. The collision ``slightly'' damaged the locomotive and derailed the train's first three carriages, he said.

``Operation is not affected,'' Eko said in a mobile phone text message today. ``We can use other locomotives and the station has other tracks to use for coal transportation.''

The accident at 7:40 a.m. local time yesterday killed at least nine people, Detikcom newspaper said, citing officials at railway company PT Kereta Api. The government is still investigating the cause of the collision, the Web site said.

The coal train was empty after unloading at Tarahan port on the way back to Tanjung Enim, Eko said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Naila Firdausi in Jakarta at nfirdausi@bloomberg.net.