Strong Demand for Train Travel During 2025 Christmas and New Year Holiday

Record Ticket Sales

PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero), the state-owned railway company, has reported robust ticket sales for the 2025 Christmas and 2026 New Year (Nataru) travel period. As of December 25, 2025, at 08:00 WIB, the company had sold 2,948,025 train tickets, representing 84.1% of the total available capacity of 3,506,104 seats.

Long-Distance vs Local Train Sales

The sales data shows a significant difference between long-distance and local train ticket sales. For long-distance trains, 2,525,134 tickets were sold out of 2,761,048 available seats, marking an impressive 91.5% occupancy rate. In contrast, local train tickets sold 422,891 tickets out of 745,056 available seats, achieving 56.8% of capacity.

Industry Context and Implications

The strong ticket sales demonstrate the public's preference for rail travel during peak holiday seasons. According to Anne Purba, Vice President of Corporate Communication at KAI, the high demand reflects the public's trust in the reliability of train travel. The company's ability to meet this demand with a high capacity utilization rate underscores its importance in Indonesia's transportation infrastructure.

Future Demand Dynamics

While long-distance tickets have shown exceptionally high sales, local train ticket sales are expected to continue growing as the departure dates approach. Anne Purba noted that local train ticket purchases typically surge in the last seven days before departure, suggesting that the current figures could rise further. This sales pattern highlights the dynamic nature of local train travel demand during holiday periods.