Priority for the Indonesian government is to speed up efforts for modernizing infrastructures. Railways will be back on track as they are now seen as an important tool to economic development
JAKARTA – One of the Indonesian government’s most ambitious project is to speed up the modernisation of rail, especially on the Island of Java. Roads are overcrowded those days while many airports suffer from congestion. One way to alleviate increasing asphyxia in transport is to transfer some of the traffic to the rail.
One of the most important projects to date is to double-track the Trans-Java railroads. A first project along Java’s north coast is the “Pantura” line. Double-tracks have already been installed for 45% of the 700 km line, which links Jakarta to Surabaya. Once completed at the end of 2013, trains running along the line will put Surabaya at only 8.5 hours away from Jakarta instead of 11 hours for now. When finished, the Pantura line is expected to increase existing capacity from 64 trains to 200 trains per day, reducing congestion and damage to roads.
The government plans no to revamp 441 km of southern Java’s railway tracks from Cirebon in West Java to Surabaya, building double tracks the entire way to increase passenger capacity and logistics trains. Construction is scheduled to bBegin by the end of next year, once the government has completed the same double-track project for Java’s north coast (Pantura) railway. The project is due for completion in 2016. The most important section will be the Surakarta–Madiun–Surabaya section, financed by the state budget. Once completed, the number of trains in circulation on that line will be doubled on average.
Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono declared to the Jakarta Post that “double-track railroads along the southern and northern parts of Java will help boost economy and development across the Java Economic Corridor as stated in the MP3EI [Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Growth]”.
The government has other rail projects in Bali, Batam and Sulawesi. The Batam Island railway project, worth Rp 2.4 trillion (US$ 260 million), has been offered to foreign investors, particularly from Russia and Singapore, and is expected to be completed in 2017.It will also soon revealed the timeframe as well as investors selected to build the Airport Rail link from Jakarta to Soekarno Hatta International Airport.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
