The erection of the “extra-large” 32 meter by 2.6 m box girder follows the development of the Walini tunnel in May and the connection of the first continuous beam in October this year, the company said in a statement.

“CREC has made a new breakthrough in the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway, and has laid a solid foundation for the early completion of the project,” the company said in statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

China Railway Group Limited (CREC) is not to be confused with China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., also known as China Railway (CR). CREC is part of the PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC) consortium. Four other state-owned enterprises (SOE) have joined the consortium as well, namely railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), builder Wijaya Karya (Wika), plantations firm Perkebunan Nusantara VIII and toll road operator Jasa Marga. The SOEs fall under the consortium of Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia.

KCIC in October installed the project's first box girder which will support an elevated section in West Cikarang, West Java. In total there will be 2,000 box girders to be built to support the elevated structure, which makes up majority of the project, said KCIC president director Chandra Dwiputra.

The 142.3 kilometer high-speed railway will be serviced by a train with a maximum speed of 350 km an hour. The train is expected to cut travel time between Jakarta and Bandung to just 40 minutes from more than three hours previously.

The railway project is one of the government's national strategic projects in the transportation sector. The project kicked off in January 2016 with a total investment of US$6.07 billion.

The railway project will serve four main stations: Halim in Jakarta, Karawang in West Java and Walini and Tegaluar in Bandung regency. A total of 80 km of the railway will be elevated, while there will be a further 16.9 km of tunnels.

On Nov. 5, SOE Minister Erick Thohir said he would establish a task force led by KCIC president director Chandra Dwiputra so the project would not miss its completion deadline of 2020 and operation target of early 2021.

“We are trying to prevent delays of the [Jakarta-Bandung] high-speed railway project because the railway will also connect to Surabaya. If there are delays, it will also slow economic development,” Erick said on Nov. 5 as quoted from kompas.com. (mfp) 

Editor's note: This article has been updated to contain background on the first box girder installation by KCIC in paragraph five, and to specifically cite the project as China Railway Group Limited (CREC) first box girder installation in the title and first paragraph.

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