Indonesia to operate Southeast Asia's first high-speed rail in October
Indonesia's high-speed rail service, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, is set to begin commercial operations as early as October following repeated delays.
The high-speed rail is an approximately 140-km connection that links Jakarta to West Java province's Bandung city. (Photo: KCIC)
Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia's high-speed railservice, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, is set to begin commercialoperations as early as October following repeated delays.
As reported by Nikkei Asia, the Indonesian-Chineseconsortium Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) set October as the new openingdate after pushing back the previous timeline of August. KCIC will use theextra time to conduct further test runs to ensure safety.
President Joko Widodo said last week that he expected to takepart in September trial runs for the Jakarta Bandung High Speed Rail. He notedthat as soon as everything is ready, the rail will be put into operation.
A trial launch is planned for September and October, whennear-by residents can ride free of charge.
The high-speed rail is an approximately 140-km connectionthat links Jakarta to West Java province's Bandung city. The service willhave a top operating speed of roughly 350km per hour, and the entire line canbe traversed in as little as 36 minutes.
Test runs have been conducted since May, with speed steadilyincreased. The train reportedly traveled as fast at 385km per hour, the highesttechnically feasible velocity./.
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The high-speed rail is an approximately 140-km connection that links Jakarta to West Java province's Bandung city. (Photo: KCIC) 
