UI Rector Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri said the university would start construction of the US$10 million project early next year.

The project is expected to be up and running by 2011.

“We hope the [tramway] system will help students and visitors get around campus,” he said.

“So there should be no reason for them to bring their cars or motorcycles onto the campus” 

According to the university’s plan, the tramway system will operate on a six-kilometer tramline, which will be built parallel to the existing roads that circle the university’s 320-hectare campus.  

Three electric trams will run on the line every day. Every tram, consisting of three cars, will have amaximum capacity of 300 passengers. 

Together with the tramline, the university will build seven tram stations, a tram depot and a pit-stop charging power house.

Gumilar said the project would be fully funded by the Ministry of Transportation.

As of July, the university had secured a commitment from The French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research (INRETS) and from state-owned train manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA) to help with the tramway system design and technology applications.

With 40,000 students, the university sees more than 6,000 motorized vehicles entering its complex on weekdays.

The university has initiated the construction of a 20-kilometer cycling lane in the campus area and has  provided 300 free bicycles to students to urge them change to ecofriendly transportation and reduce air pollution on campus.   

In June, the university started building a new library, home to a collection of more than three million books, which will facilitate up to 20,000 daily visitors.

The eight-story library, built on 2.5 hectares of land, has been designed to be an ecofriendly structure, with some of its electricity supply provided by solar panels.

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