INDONESIA: Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi attended a ceremony at Tegaluar depot on April 20 to mark the installation of the first rails for the KCJB high speed line which will link Jakarta with Bandung.
Sumadi said the line being built by Indonesian-Chinese design-build-operate concessionaire PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China was a national strategic project and a symbol of friendship between the two countries.
Modern tracklaying technology is being used, with rails installed in 500 m lengths, and the minister said Indonesia would benefit from a knowledge transfer process.
The 1 435 mm gauge line is being built to Chinese standards for 350 km/h operation. It will start at Halim in the southeastern suburbs of Jakarta and run 142·3 km to Tegalluar in Bandung, with two intermediate stations at Karawang and Walini. Around 82·7 km of the route will be elevated, and 16·8 km in tunnel.
KCIC consortium director Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi said the project is now 82% complete. Operating staff are being trained, and the first dynamic tests are planned by the end of 2022.
‘It is hoped that the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo and the President of China will jointly conduct a trial’, said Sumadi.
Opening is scheduled for 2023. A fleet of 11 eight-car CRRC Qingdao Sifang CR400AF Fuxing trainsets will offer a fastest journey time of 36 min, compared to more than 3 h on the existing 173 km long 1 067 mm gauge line.
- Subscribers can read in an in-depth article on the Jakarta - Bandung high speed line project from the March 2020 issue of Railway Gazette International.
