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Jokowi urges China to expedite Surabaya HSR feasibility study: Retno
Foreign minister Retno said the President had met with her Chinese counterpart on Thursday to discuss economic cooperation between their two countries, including Whoosh and the joint feasibility study initiated late last year on extending the HSR track to Surabaya.
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A train of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR), which operates under the brand name Whoosh, stands on Oct. 2, 2023 at the Halim Hsr Station in East Jakarta. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
D
uring a meeting on Thursday with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at the State Palace in Jakarta, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo urged China to speed up a feasibility study on extending the Whoosh high-speed rail (HSR) to Surabaya, East Java.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi told reporters after the meeting, which she also attended, that Jokowi’s discussed with Wang economic cooperation between Indonesia and China, including the Beijing-funded HSR service.
Operating under the Whoosh brand, Indonesia’s HSR is the first high-speed rail in Southeast Asia and currently connects Jakarta and Bandung, West Java. Plans have been in the works since 2023 to extend the service to the East Java capital.
“The President discussed the high-speed rail, encouraged technology transfers and urged expediting the feasibility study for the [HSR] extension to Surabaya,” Retno told a press conference on Thursday.
Read also: Whoosh faces hefty deficit in first year of operation
The 142-kilometer HSR project cost around US$7.2 billion and is part of China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia.
Wang is on a six-day tour to Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea from April 18 to 23.
