JAKARTA: The first batch of China-made high-speed trains for the Jakarta-Bandung fast-train railway arrived in the Jakarta port on Friday (Sep 2).
It comprises one set of electric passenger trains and an inspection train for Indonesia’s first fast-train rail link covering a distance of 142 kilometres.
The trains which left Qingdao Port in East China’s Shandong province two weeks ago, were built by CRRC Qingdao Sifang, a subsidiary of state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock.
The firm will transport another 10 sets of electric passenger trains for the high-speed rail link which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) landmark project in Indonesia.
This is also the first time that high-speed trains made in China were exported to another country.
“Thank God the first batch of Jakarta – Bandung high-speed train has arrived in Indonesia,” said Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi, president director of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), a consortium of Indonesian and Chinese companies that oversees the landmark project.
KCIC said that the high-speed rail will be the fastest trains in Southeast Asia and also Indonesia’s first fast-train rail link.
The rail line which is connecting Jakarta with Bandung will cut down travel time from more than three hours to just about 40 minutes.
There will be four stations between Jakarta and the capital of neighbouring province West Java, Bandung.
Construction of the railway is about 80 per cent completed and is scheduled to be ready in June next year, said KCIC.
Altogether twelve train sets will be used for the project, consisting of 11 sets of passenger trains and one set of trains for rail line inspection.