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PT Railink to operate more airport trains
Two high-speed trains, operating between Medan and Kuala Namu International Airport (KNIA) in Deli Serdang regency in North Sumatra, are expected to be put into service by October
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wo high-speed trains, operating between Medan and Kuala Namu International Airport (KNIA) in Deli Serdang regency in North Sumatra, are expected to be put into service by October.
The trains, which were produced by Woojin Industrial System Co Ltd in South Korea, are currently undergoing verification tests conducted by the Transportation Ministry's Railway Directorate General.
The president director of airport train operator PT Railink, M. Fadhila, said verification must be done before the trains could officially be put into service, adding that verification could take one month after the two trains arrived in Medan on Aug. 30.
'We hope we can resume the operation of the new trains in October,' Fadhila announced in Medan on Wednesday. Each train has four cars that can carry a total of 172 passengers.
Another two trains will arrived at end of September.
Fadhila said PT Railink, a subsidiary of state-run railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), spent around Rp 160 billion (US$14 million) to purchase four trains.
'I give assurances that we will not raise fares. We will use the current price, which is Rp 80,000 per passenger per one way trip,' he said.
Each train, he continued, can run at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, has a spacious interior and is equipped with television sets.
Since the opening of the airport on July 25, Railink has operated two trains, each with five cars that can accommodate up to 308 passengers. The current trains make 20 trips a day ' 10 from Medan to the airport and 10 from the airport to Medan.
The first train will depart Medan at 4 a.m.
PT Railink Medan general manager Bodhaswara said the four trains were purchased because there was high public interest in taking an airport train to get to and from KNIA.
'So far, there are about 3,200 daily passengers,' Bodhaswara said, adding that the price of South Korea trains were much lower that for those produced in Europe.
KNIA, which stands on a 1,365-hectare plot of land, replaced the 85-year-old Polonia Airport. KNIA has a capacity to serve 8 million passengers a year. The new Rp 5.5 trillion airport is situated 42 kilometers from Medan and 3.5 km from Labu Beach.
