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Southern Java line construction on track

Construction of the Southern Java double-track railroad connecting Cirebon in West Java and East Java’s capital of Surabaya is on track, a Transportation Ministry official says, adding that it will be ready for operation in 2017

Nadya Natahadibrata (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, September 15, 2014 Published on Sep. 15, 2014 Published on 2014-09-15T11:49:33+07:00

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C

onstruction of the Southern Java double-track railroad connecting Cirebon in West Java and East Java'€™s capital of Surabaya is on track, a Transportation Ministry official says, adding that it will be ready for operation in 2017.

The Rp 9 trillion (US$758.3 million) project that spans 620 kilometers would help reduce traffic congestion and road damage across the island and the double tracks would speed up travel from Jakarta to Yogyakarta from the current average travel time of eight hours to six, the ministry'€™s railway transportation director general Hermanto Dwiatmoko said.

'€œThe railway connecting Cirebon [West Java] and Purwokerto [Central Java] will be finished in December this year,'€ Hermanto said over the weekend. '€œWe will complete the whole railway in 2017.'€

The ministry still has to complete more than half the railroad, or around 350 km, according to Hermanto.

'€œThe Purwokerto-Kroya [Central Java] section may take around two years to finish because we have to build a tunnel in that section. Meanwhile, the Kroya-Kutoarjo [Central Java] section, which will be constructed in cooperation with Japan, will also take around two years to finish,'€ Hermanto said.

The ministry has assigned Japan Transportation Consultants (JTC) to supervise the construction of 76-km railway double tracks
linking Kroya near Cilacap and Kutoarjo under an Rp 185 billion ($15 million) contract signed earlier this year.

The government has since 2007 completed the Kutoarjo-Yogyakarta-Solo section in Central Java. Meanwhile, the 56-km long track connecting Prupuk (Central Java) and Purwokerto was inaugurated last year.

'€œWe haven'€™t started construction of the Solo-Surabaya section yet,'€ he added.

With the operation of the Southern Java double track, trip frequency between Cirebon and Surabaya would be able to double to around 200 trips per day, according to Hermanto.

'€œTo get optimal use out of the double tracks, there should be regulation issued that forbids heavy vehicles from using the roads. Such regulation is also needed to prevent continuous damage to roads across Java,'€ he said.

The government is also finishing construction on a 727-km double-track railway project across the northern part of Java connecting Jakarta and Surabaya, the island'€™s two economic and business centers.

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