1st batch of rails for Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway arrives in Indonesia

JAKARTA - The first batch of 50-meter-long rails from China for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway (HSR) arrived at Indonesian Central Java province's port city Cilacap on Wednesday, the railway operator said here.

KCIC, a joint venture consortium by Chinese and Indonesian state-owned firms that will build and run the 142.3-km railway linking Jakarta and West Java's capital of Bandung, said the arrival of the first batch of rails marked significant progress of the track laying for the mega project.

KCIC said the rails will be stored in the rail yard in Cilacap for a short time before being transported to the HSR's depot in the terminal station of Tegalluar in Bandung.

Completion of the overall Jakarta-Bandung HSR project is expected by 2021. After being put into commercial service, the travel time between the two cities would be significantly slashed from the existing over three hours to 40 minutes.