Indonesia Gears up to Start Its First High-Speed Rail Line

Indonesia is getting ready to begin Southeast Asia’s most memorable fast rail administration that will cut travel time between two urban communities from the ongoing three hours to around 40 minutes.

Indonesia is preparing to start Southeast Asia’s first high-speed rail service that will cut travel time between two cities from the current three hours to about 40 minutes.

The railway line, which connects Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and Bandung, the heavily populated capital of West Java province, is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

As the Jakarta-Bandung part of the rail project moved toward 90% culmination, Indonesia’s Leader Joko Widodo on Thursday visited Bandung’s Tegalluar station — one of the rail route’s four stations — where eight train vehicles and a review train that showed up from China toward the beginning of September were left.

“We hope with the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, the mobility of goods and people can be faster and improved, and our competitiveness will also be stronger,” Widodo told reporters during the visit.

Widodo also expected the bullet train to benefit other sectors.

Earlier reports said Widodo would invite his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to ride on the China-made bullet train after the Group of 20 biggest economies summit in Bali next month. However, Widodo told reporters Thursday, the plan is still being discussed with Xi and “it is still not final yet.”

The train vehicles were planned and worked by China’s CRRC Qingdao Sifang rail route organization. September’s conveyance was CRRC’s first product of high velocity trains in quite a while 11-train contract for KCIC400AF eight-vehicle trains and one KCIC400AF-CIT examination train. The agreement, worth $364.5 million, was granted to CRRC in April 2017.

The rail line construction that began in 2016 was originally expected to start operating in 2019 but was delayed until June 2023 due to disputes that involved land purchases and environmental issues.

The 142.3-kilometer (88.4-mile) rail line worth $7.8 billion is being built by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, or PT KCIC, a joint endeavor between an Indonesian consortium of four state-possessed organizations and China Rail route Global Co. Ltd. The joint endeavor said the trains will be the quickest in Southeast Asia.

The CRRC claimed that the KCIC400AF train can reach speeds up to 350 kilometers (217 miles) per hour, pass curves with a minimum radius of 150 meters (492 feet), and is equipped with electric motors, each with a power of 625,000 watts. The cars will be divided into three classes: VIP, first and second, and several cars with large spaces between seats will be allocated for passengers with limited mobility.

The producer said the trains are explicitly adjusted to adjust to Indonesia’s heat and humidity, and are outfitted with a superior security framework that can follow quakes, floods and other crisis conditions. The length of the eight-vehicle train is 208.9 meters (685.3 feet).

The rail deal was signed in October 2015 after Indonesia selected China over Japan in competitive bidding, and financed by a loan from the China Development Bank for 75%. The remaining 25% is the consortium’s own funds.

The undertaking is important for a 750-kilometer (466-mile) rapid train plant that would cut across four regions on the principal island of Java and end in the nation’s second-biggest city of Surabaya.

Infrastructure improvement, Widodo’s signature policy, helped him win a second term in 2019 elections.

Jakarta’s metro — a Japan-upheld adventure — was introduced in 2019 as a feature of the capital’s endeavors to ease gridlock. Its subsequent stage will before long be finished and the Unified Realm and Japan have offered the nation delicate advances for its third stage, said transportation serve Budi Karya Sumadi.

The government has completed other rail projects, including light-rail transit services in Palembang and Jakarta, while five other cities, including on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali, have LRT plans in the pipeline.