Delayed China-backed Indonesia railway is due to launch soon. But is it really ‘under control?’
- Jakarta aimed to begin high speed train’s operations last November but with major Belt and Road project unfinished, June became new date, followed by August
- Government now denies that consultants say scheme could be further delayed until January, amid issues including incomplete testing and unfinished stations
Indonesia is aiming to begin operating the China-funded Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway project in August, dismissing a recent report that the US$7.2 billion scheme will be delayed again and will launch in January.
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Presidents Xi and Widodo watch Chinese-built Indonesian bullet train make first trial run
The planned 45-minute trip, at a maximum speed of 350kph, compares to two to three hours by car or the current three hours by train, with a maximum capacity of 601 passengers.
“[Indonesia will] make all-out efforts to put the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway into operation on schedule and give full play to its demonstration role,” Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment, told China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in a telephone call on June 9, according to China’s foreign ministry.
The minister – also Widodo’s top man in boosting Chinese investment in the country – doubled down on his commitment to launch the railway in August, telling members of parliament the same day that everything “is under control”.
“We don’t need to hear about …[rumours] earlier about negotiations, interest rates, about other things, everything is under control. We do everything in detail, with good teamwork. So [let’s not] make hoaxes. No problem to this day, all under control,” he said.
Luhut’s vow was seemingly directed to end speculation that the controversial project would be delayed again.
The day before Luhut’s phone call with Wang Yi, Reuters – citing a May 14 transport ministry internal document – reported that the ministry, engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald, accountancy business PwC and local law firm Umbra suggested that the commercial operations of the railway could start in January 2024.
“There is a risk that the target of commercial operations in August could be delayed to complete all construction by December 31,” the document said.
However, Emir Monti, corporation communications manager at PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), the joint venture of the Indonesian and Chinese consortiums behind the project, said on Thursday that the August dateline is still in play for the soft opening operation, with a limited number of the public travelling on the train for free from Jakarta to Bandung.
There were no details given on how long the soft launch would last.
Risal Wasal, the transport ministry’s rail transport director general, told The Jakarta Post that “neither the consultants nor the ministry had made any such recommendation” to instead launch the new railway’s operations in January.
On Wednesday, KCIC, its contractors, and the transport ministry kicked off a three-day test in Bandung to improve infrastructure, increase the train’s speed and collect various data and documents needed to meet the requirements set by the government before obtaining operating permits, Emir said.
He said KCIC would “comply and fully follow the regulations” set by the transport ministry, adding that so far the train had reached 220km per hour, below the expected maximum speed of 350km. More tests are due, with the train’s speed gradually being increased so it can run at full pelt during the soft launch.
Soft launch?
Septian Hario Seto, a senior official at the maritime affairs and investment coordinating ministry, told Reuters a free trial for passengers will take place in mid-August, while paid trips are planned for September.
For Deddy Herlambang, executive director at the Jakarta-based NGO Institute for Transportation Studies, launching the train in August could be risky, if the carriages and infrastructure have not been fully certified by the government as being good to go.
“August is likely to be the date for soft launching, where passenger volume and train speed would be limited. We don’t know yet whether the facilities and the infrastructures are already certified. If something happens, who is going to be responsible for that?” Deddy said.
Aditya Dwi Laksana is railway forum boss of the Indonesia Transportation Society, which brings together government officials and experts to improve transport. He also noted that various elements of the railway are yet to be completed, including the stations of Karawang and Padalarang.
Halim, the new railway’s main station in Jakarta, is only 92 per cent complete, KCIC told reporters on Wednesday.
Aditya said commissioning tests are being carried out by KCIC and consultants “and they are still using [inspection] trains for that, not the [actual passenger] trains”. He said “fitness tests” also still need to be done on facilities including tracks, bridges, tunnels and communication systems.
“Will two months be enough, if they still want to operate [the high-speed trains] by August?” he asked, adding that if the train’s introduction is still to be August 18, “it’s best not to transport the public widely, but gradually with a limited number of passengers first. If safety has been ensured, then it is OK to involve the wider community”.
There is also a lack of clarity on whether the new railway’s train drivers will have had enough training by August.
On February 27 this year, KCIC kicked off training for more than 150 employees – including drivers, on-call emergency response personnel and mechanics – at the Indonesian Railway Polytechnic in East Java.
The 40 drivers selected for training, which also involves China’s Southwest Jiatoung University and Tianjin Railway Technical Vocational College, have had experience driving long-distance or commuter trains for 10,000 hours, Emir of KCIC said. That equates to about 416 days, equivalent to around 13 months.
Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi, the president director of KCIC, said last year that experienced drivers will need to be trained on the high-speed trains for eight months, while new drivers will need 18 months of training.
To meet the August deadline, it is therefore likely that Chinese workers will be deployed to operate the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in its first year of operations, Aditya said.
He pointed out that Jakarta’s Japan-funded underground MRT system, which opened in 2019, also initially used Japanese workers at the beginning of its operation.
When it is fully running, Indonesia’s new high-speed railway will boast 11 trains, each of them with eight carriages. Each train can carry up to 601 passengers, including 18 in a VIP class and 28 in first class.
