Dozens sellers crowding Duri Train Station, West Jakarta, as they offer their goods. Some of them sell their stuffs along the track. Most seem to have simple kiosk, but some choose to be peddler in between the tracks.

Duri Station has four active tracks. Yet, the sellers recklessly open the kiosk with various goods, starting from basic needs, clothes, to household equipments.

One of the pioneer sellers is Nurbaeti (53 years) who has sold some basic needs from 1987. She said she at the first time sold it between the tracks, but now she has her own kiosk near the track. “Until 90s, we only sold at night. But after the train stopped operating, the buyers only came at weekend,” she said.

In 2002, the market activity was more crowded than usual. The sellers were bunching and the buyers came every day. “It was more like usual market. It opened from morning to nine pm,” she said.

Another seller, Antin (38 years), who sells dried fish, said that she was not afraid of the train. When the train comes, she covers the stuffs with plastic. Otherwise, some people will warn her. “They will blow the whistle if the train comes. I can be ready,” she said.

She has more concern over station officers or Civil Service Police Unit. “If they raid, I must close my kiosk. If I sell nothing, I will have no money,” she said. She usually gets 125,000 IDR per day.

The officers of Duri Station, Bejo Sutrisno, said the management of the station tried to manage the sellers for many times. “Yet, they always come back again after the demolition,” he said.

The Head of Duri Station, Asep Kusnadi, said Indonesian Railway Company (KAI) kept making an effort to curb the illegal sellers. KAI has imposed the revitalization program for Duri Station started from 2012. “Through this revitalization, the sellers should follow our regulation,” he said. 

Yet, Nurbaeti and Antin said that they were not worry about the risk. “My friend, a tofu seller, died after hit by a train. But we need money. We make a living from here,” Nurbaeti said. Nurbaeti can finance her children education until they are graduated from university.

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