Indonesia is starting trial runs for its first high-speed train, which will connect the capital Jakarta to a neighboring city of Bandung, after years of delays and cost overruns plagued the project.
The railway’s completion would further cement President Joko Widodo’s legacy as a leader who pushed through with major infrastructure projects that have languished for decades. Next, he is aiming to pull off a $34 billion new capital city called Nusantara on Kalimantan island before the end of his second and final term in 2024.
“After five years of working to complete this project, we have come to the final part,” Luhut Panjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, told Indonesian and Chinese workers after the train arrived at the final Tegal Luar station following the Thursday test.
The trial run took Panjaitan and state company directors and reporters on a journey along paddy fields and green hills, with the train passing through a few tunnels and elevated tracks on its way from the lowlands of Jakarta to the more mountainous Bandung. West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil showed off how stable the journey is by sharing his video of a coin standing on its side while the train rushed onward at 355-kilometers an hour.
The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, was initially billed at less than $6 billion, only for the builder to seek at least $1.18 billion more due to ballooning costs of engineering, construction and land acquisition.
The project is built and operated by Kereta Cepat Indonesia China, a joint venture between China Railway International Co. Ltd and a consortium of Indonesian state companies. It is funded mostly by China Development Bank and Indonesia’s state budget.
The railway was initially scheduled to be completed in 2019 but has faced several delays due to the cost overruns and accidents. It is now set for a soft launch in August.
The journey on the 142-kilometer railway will take as little as 36 minutes with the train running at its top speed. It can carry up to 601 passengers and stop at four stations, according to KCIC’s website. Bandung is a popular weekend getaway among tourists looking for discount shopping and cooler air. There will be 68 trips each day once the railway is operational.
The government sees an opportunity to extend the track all the way to Surabaya in East Java, said Panjaitan on Thursday. The government will soon conduct a preliminary study for the additional route from Bandung to the East Java city.
(Updates with comment from the coordinating minister in the last paragraph.)
