“I am confident that in the future, our mobility pattern will evolve from individual transport to a more mass transport-oriented approach,” said Septian Hario Seto, deputy minister at Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs. He was speaking as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway completed six months of operation.
By then the line had carried 2.56 million passengers, said PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), the Indonesian-Chinese state-owned joint venture that built and runs it. Seto said the railway has changed travel between the capital and Bandung from highway-based to rail-based.
The numbers behind that claim are specific. Since commercial operation started around mid-October last year, KCIC counts 7,050 train trips and more than 1.26 million kilometers traveled. Passengers numbered 2 million in early March. The best single day saw 21,537 people ride, and the highest daily seat occupancy was 99.6 percent.
Frequency has jumped. The railway began with 14 daily trips and now runs 52, while seats on offer rose from 8,400 to more than 31,000.
KCIC credited a dynamic fare policy, an adjusted timetable and better station facilities with meeting passenger needs. It said it relied on China’s experience with high-speed trains for operations and maintenance, and that this helped it handle extreme weather such as heavy rains and typhoons.
The line, designed for 350 km per hour, spans 142.3 km. Passengers now cover the distance in around 40 minutes. Before, the trip took over three hours. It is the first high-speed railway in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia.
Sources
- Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway marks 6-month operation with 2.56 mln passengers
- ㄑ Belt and Road ㄑ News
