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Soekarno-Hatta airport train expands operation to Bekasi
On the fast track: An airport train is on its way from Jakarta to Bekasi, West Java, on Wednesday
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O
n the fast track: An airport train is on its way from Jakarta to Bekasi, West Java, on Wednesday. Airport train operator PT Railink opened a new route from Bekasi to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, recently. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
Residents from Bekasi, West Java, can now board the popular airport train to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, as operator PT Railink has expanded its service.
Railink announced that a trial run for the new route commenced this week.
The train departs four times daily from Bekasi during off-peak hours between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The trip is estimated to take 76 minutes.
“It is more about improving the service from a new spot,” Railink president director Heru Kuswanto told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He said that, thus far, services at current stations for the airport train, including New Sudirman Station in Central Jakarta, were not yet optimized.
Railink stated that the promotional fare for a trip from Bekasi to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was Rp 70,000 (US$5.06) and would last until the end of this month.
After the promotional period, passengers from Bekasi will be charged a normal fare of Rp 100,000 per trip to travel to the airport.
To travel from Bekasi to New Sudirman Station and Batuceper Station in Tangerang, passengers will be charged Rp 35,000 and Rp 70,000 respectively.
Heru also said that the company might extend its operations to Pasar Minggu Station in South Jakarta.
“Realistically in the short term, maybe [we will expand operations] to Pasar Minggu,” he said.
The airport train, which began operating in January, operates 50 trips daily with a 30-minute gap between each trip.
The trip from New Sudirman Station — also called BNI City Station — to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Station takes 46 minutes on average.
In the future, the airport train will operate 120 trips using 10 trainsets.
The railway spans 37.6 kilometers, with a 25.3 km track between Manggarai Station and Batuceper Station and a Railink-developed 12.3 km track from Batuceper to Soekarno-Hatta airport.
The train currently stops at three stations: New Sudirman Station, Batu Ceper Station and the Soekarno-Hatta station. This year, it will also stop at Manggarai Station.
The airport train, considered an achievement for the country in modern rail-based public transportation, connects the capital to the airport as Jakarta, its capital city, grapples with congestion on its roads, which are packed with private vehicles and public buses.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo stated that the train was a means to persuade people to shift from using private vehicles to public transportation, aligning with the government’s other ongoing projects such as the MRT and the light rail transit (LRT).
The end game is to get 20 percent of the roughly 200,000 daily airplane passengers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to use trains instead of other means of land transportation, including private vehicles.
Separately, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi urged those living near Bekasi, Manggarai and Jatinegara in East Jakarta to try the new service.
“If we take taxis or private vehicles, the trip [to the airport] can take a long time,” he said.
He also stated that he hoped the train would help to improve access to the airport.
