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Yearender: Hailed yet flawed, Jakarta’s railway projects finally gather pace
Jakarta saw two of the most awaited and long-overdue railway projects taking off in 2023: the Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR) service dubbed Whoosh.
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Passengers wait for a Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) train at the Dukuh Atas Station in Setiabudi, Jakarta on Dec. 21, 2023. (Antara/Rifqi Raihan Firdaus)
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fter a brief hiccup due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jakarta has finally gone full throttle in developing its public transportation in 2023. Various technical issues linger and constantly disrupt the services, but the mass transit projects have started connecting people in and out of the capital for the better.
Jakarta saw two of the most awaited and long-overdue railway projects taking off this year: the Greater Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR) service, dubbed Whoosh.
With construction kicking off back in 2015, the LRT project connecting the capital with its surrounding suburban areas was expected to start running by 2018, a few months before the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. But the project met some road bumps, such as land procurement and the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing authorities to launch the light rail service on Aug. 28 of this year.
The Greater Jakarta LRT spans 42 kilometers and connects Jakarta with Bekasi and Depok in West Java. Its two lines, one departing from Jatimulya Station in Bekasi and the other from Harjamukti Station in Depok, have a total of 18 stations and terminates at Dukuh Atas Station in Central Jakarta.
Meanwhile, the multibillion-dollar HSR, one of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s flagship projects and part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, finally became fully operational on Oct. 2 after facing numerous delays due to issues related to construction and ballooning costs.
The Whoosh bullet train traverses on a 142-km railtrack between Jakarta and Bandung with a maximum operating speed of 350 km per hour.
