Indonesia lauds landmark BRI project

Involving major State builders, Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway seen boosting local travel

After his Sept 13 ride on the new Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the 142.3-kilometer line, jointly built by Chinese and Indonesian engineers, will boost commerce and tourism by slashing travel time between the two cities from over three hours to just 40 minutes.

Widodo called Indonesia's and Southeast Asia's first HSR project, which opened on Sept 7, the pride of his country's transportation system. As an achievement of the Belt and Road Initiative, the $8 billion project represents the first overseas foray of Chinese HSR technologies and incorporates the whole supply chain.

Linking Indonesia's capital city and the country's fourth largest city with a maximum designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour for the trains, the HSR was constructed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, a consortium involving Indonesia's state-owned firms and China's centrally administered State-owned enterprises.