Alejandro Agustines

You can find the above map here.

If you spend six months in Indonesia, you will be riding a lot of trains. I was surprised to learn that. From my experiences in Manila (where I never used public transport, and heard mostly negative publicity about it in the news and from people who did commute) I’ve had this idea that Southeast Asian cities (except for Singapore) were lagging far behind East Asian cities in terms of transportation. While it is true that East Asian cities like Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo indeed have some of the world’s best transit, Southeast Asia’s transportation systems are not as totally “in the dust” as I’d previously thought.

As I mentioned in my second CAPI blog, the public transportation here impressed me (again, if only for my ignorance of what transit is really like in Southeast Asia). I had no idea Indonesia had as many transportation options as it does, especially in Jakarta.

Being stuck in traffic is bad for arguably every aspect of society: productivity, human health, the environment, and obviously personal experience. Living in Jakarta, you will surely get stuck in traffic, but you’ll have other options too. So if you are considering the Jakarta internship and/or want to get a better understanding of the city and country, hopefully this blog post helps. Note that this is not a comprehensive explainer and I leave out things for brevity (so get ready for “brevity”, forgive me).

Overview, Indonesia

Of late, Indonesia has been experiencing a boom in mostly rail-based transportation projects (also toll roads, which I’m going to ignore for this blog), mainly due to the Jokowi government’s focus on building infrastructure for the previous 10 years. Almost all the systems discussed in this blog were opened in the last 5-6 years. Ongoing and upcoming railway projects frequently make the news, and appear in daily life: more Commuter Line stations are being equipped with escalators; the concrete trench that will become Phase 2 of the Jakarta MRT is currently visible in Central Jakarta; and the plans to extend the bullet train further east are getting a lot of publicity. Indonesia is not new to rail however, despite all these recent developments.

Indonesia’s railroads were mostly built between the 1860s and early 1900s by the Staats Spoorwagen (SS; state railroad) of the Dutch East Indies government and various Dutch private companies that connected the dots, so to speak, where the SS did not build tracks (Rodriguez, 2023). The motivation for building out the railroads was initially to transport for-export goods like rubber, copra, pepper and coffee from remote farming areas to port cities like Semarang, Batavia (now Jakarta) and Surabaya, and to improve access for colonial authorities (Rodriguez, 2023). Increased production brought about by the “forced cultivation system”, where farmers were required to plant crops for Dutch trade rather than food for themselves, necessitated a more heavy duty system than carts (Rodriguez, 2023).

While the origin of rail in Indonesia was about the colonial control of the islands, the railway system is nowadays (obviously) beneficial to Indonesians, particularly those in Java. The post-Independence government continued the upkeep of railroads and stations, using what the Dutch started. Look how a 1913 map (from Rodriguez, 2023) and a modern one (from Pinterest) compares below.

Thus, train travel has long been a mainstay of life in Java. With well-maintained stations right in the city centers, comfortable cabins, extensive coverage and online booking, it’s easy to see why.

After the Dutch period ended in 1945, most of Indonesian rail has been the purview of Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), a state owned company. The company was founded in 1950 under a different name and in 1998 became KAI (KAI, n.d.). KAI directly operates all intercity trains in Java, Sulawesi, and Sumatera (except the Whoosh bullet train) and through its subsidiaries, runs commuter and airport express services in metro regions across the country. I read somewhere (on a Wikipedia page I can’t find now) that “Kereta Api Indonesia”, translated literally into English, is “Indonesian fire cars”. This surely refers to the historic coal-fired steam engines. Note that Indonesian doesn’t use kereta for car anymore- car is mobil and trains are called just kereta, not kereta api.

Indonesia also manufactures trains through PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA), another government owned company. At their facility in Madiun, East Java, INKA makes locomotives, multiple unit (MU) trainsets*, and passenger carriages. INKA trains and carriages are used on KAI intercity services, LRT, airport expresses and commuter lines. INKA has also exported trainsets to foreign railway systems in the Philippines and Bangladesh (INKA, n.d.).

*multiple unit means the train is not pulled from the front by a locomotive. Instead, the power goes to the wheelbases, or bogies, of different carriages.

Overview, Jakarta

Greater Jakarta is known as Jabodetabek, which stands for Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi. These cities together contain more than 30 million people. That’s nearly the population of Canada!

In Jakarta/Jabodetabek, you will often see the name JakLingko on transit vehicles and stations. JakLingko is an ongoing program to integrate the various types of transit in the metro region (Sustainable Transport Award, 2021). A key result of this program include being able to use one cash card (e.g., TapCash, Indomaret E-Money, Jakarta Tourist Pass) for all public transportation systems within Jabodetabek. Bike and pedestrian infrastructure were also significantly improved in recent years, and while there are streets conspicuously lacking sidewalks, most streets with sidewalks have ramps and tactile paving (note that motorbikes often use the bike lanes, sometimes the sidewalks too).

Jakarta was awarded the Sustainable Transport Award (STA), an international award, in 2021 because of the transformations seen in the city from initiatives like JakLingko. As of 2024, no other Southeast Asian country has been awarded the STA.

Now that you have some background, let’s talk about the actual transportation services connecting Jakarta to itself and to the rest of Java. I’m focusing on Java because there’s more than enough to talk about here, but suffice it to say there are trains in Sumatera and Sulawesi as well.

TransJakarta

Did you know that Jakarta has the most extensive bus rapid transit (BRT) system in the world? A BRT system is characterized by dedicated lanes (busways) and shorter wait times compared to regular bus services. Essentially- and ideally- it’s a road-based metro. BRTs are cheaper and faster to build out than railways, and can be deployed more flexibly than trains, because they run on the normal roads.

6/6A/6B buses near the immigration office branch in Pancoran, South Jakarta.

The TransJakarta system currently has 244 km of dedicated bus lanes and was Southeast Asia’s first BRT system, opening in 2004 (Ramadhan, 2019?). Previously Jakarta’s urban buses were more decentralized, run by independent operators with separated fares while the government gave permits for the routes. This is according to one of my co-workers, Biyan, who has a background in urban planning.

TransJakarta is a massive improvement; it is considered a world-class BRT system and has been praised for effective integration with other modes of transport (physically and the fares) and route options that lessen transfers between buses (Ramadhan, 2019?; Sustainable Transport Award, 2021). TransJakarta is owned and operated by the Provincial Government of Jakarta, through the company PT Transportasi Jakarta (PT TransJakarta). The system does not depend on national government funding, instead it is sustained with city funding (Ramadhan, 2019?).

The TransJakarta system is actually composed of three types of services: TransJakarta, MetroTrans* and MikroTrans (angkot). TransJakarta runs on dedicated busways while MetroTrans and MirkoTrans run with the traffic.

There are over 30 dedicated busway routes in Jakarta, numbered 1 to 14 with route sub-variations indicated by letters. For example, route 6 includes 6A and 6B variations, all starting from Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta but terminating at different locations. I’ve used the No. 6/6A buses to get to the immigration office.

While TransJakarta (dedicated-lane buses) operates only within Jakarta, some MetroTrans bus routes go to neighboring Jabodetabek areas. For example, route D21 goes from the Universitas Indonesia campus in Depok to Lebak Bulus Grab station, the southern end-station of the MRT. The busway buses are all diesel but a decent number of MetroTrans buses are battery electric.

#Integrasi, there is some smart branding going on here!

The busway stations are located on road medians and there are usually pedestrian overpasses connecting them to the sidewalk. Note that road-level crossings- like the ones at Bundaran HI station (an MRT/TransJakarta station), are more convenient than overpasses, and the city is working on adding them to more bus stations (Sustainable Transport Award, 2021). Many stations have automatic platform doors as well, a good safety measure.

“Many stations have automatic platform doors as well…”

Angkots are a type of small van with bench seats, and sometimes no air-conditioning. The ones operated under JakLingko (i.e., MikroTrans, part of the larger TransJakarta system) are free to ride if you have a cash card (Sofa, 2022). These tiny “buses” can run on smaller roads that would be awkward for regular buses, like neighborhood streets. MikroTrans represents the latest round of comfort and route planning advancements of Jakarta’s angkots (Sofa, 2022). Non-JakLinkgo angkots still exist in Jakarta but are less common nowadays.

This one is bound for Lebak Bulus station, a major terminus for the JakLingko angkots.

I would not recomend trying angkots without a knowledgeable companion first, because the routes are very local (route start-end are displayed above the windshields) and stops are unassuming and sometimes unmarked. When I rode a JakLingko angkot with my Indonesian friend, he told me to be fast when getting out because drivers don’t wait long at stops, and we could trip getting off or be left on board.

The Transjakarta is obviously the most convenient among the road based options, with similar convenience to the train (just more stops and slower speed). Unfortunately, MetroTrans and MikroTrans are at the mercy of the traffic. Also, only the TransJakarta routes are shown on city transit maps (in MRT and BRT stations), not Metro- and MikroTrans. On the plus side all the options are quite comfortable: the buses are clean and airconditioned; the angkots are relatively clean too, in my experience, with padded benches.

*(There are smaller buses branded MiniTrans, though these are essentially the same “class” of vehicle and service as MetroTrans. It’s similar to the smaller BC Transit buses that run on some routes in Victoria.)

MRT Jakarta

The first metro rail transit (MRT) line in Jakarta opened in 2019. It is a north-south line with thirteen stations, connecting people to some of South Jakarta’s most important districts like Blok M, SCDB and Senayan. The line runs from Lebak Bulus, a more residential area in South Jakarta, to Thamrin in Central Jakarta , an upscale district with fancy hotels, corporate towers and big malls (stations: Lebak Bulus Grab – Bundaran HI Bank DKI). During peak hours trains come every 5 minutes, and every 10 mins in off-peak hours (Jakarta Travel Guide, n.d.).

Departing Fatmawati Station

The MRT is probably the most high-end experience in Jakarta’s public transport (high-end meaning world-class, not luxury). The stations are expansive concourses with elevators, escalators, security scanners, platform doors, convenience stores, coffee shops and nice bathrooms. Tickets are predictably more expensive: the entry fee is IDR 3,000 with additional IDR 1000 for each station passed (Jakarta Travel Guide, n.d.). Compare this to the KRL (discussed next) where there is a flat rate of IDR 3000 for any trip up to 25 km (Jakarta Travel Guide, n.d.). Overall, the MRT is still affordable, certainly for Ana and I considering the CAD to IDR exchange rate is approximately 1:12,000.

Underground platform at Istora Mandiri Station (late at night).

The MRT project was financially and technically supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The system uses electric multiple unit (EMU) trainsets built by Nippon Sharyo in Japan. The line was constructed from 2013-2019 and cost 1.2 billion USD. The entire route shadows a major road, which- I assume– made the project easier and cheaper to build since the right-of-way for basically the whole corridor was already owned by the government.

Some of the stations connect directly with BRT lines, such as Bundaran HI, making inter-modal transfers quite convenient and providing traffic-free options beyond the MRT’s extent (like BRT routes 1 and 2, which pass Bundaran HI). For the record, “bundaran” means roundabout, and here specifically is the one with the famous fountain and statute (Selamat Datang Monument).”HI” stands for the Hotel Indonesia.

The road-level BRT platform at Bundaran HI station; the MRT is underground.

The MRT is actually Phase 1 of a multi-phase project. As of this writing, Phase 2A is more than halfway built, and is planned to start service in 2027 (Preston, 2024). Phase 2A is a 5.7 km continuation of the North-South Line connecting Bundaran HI station in Central Jakarta and Jakarta Kota Station in North Jakarta. Jakarta Kota is the terminus for two KRL lines- the Bogor Line (on maps, red) and Tanjung Priok Line (pink)- and the #1 route of the Transjakarta BRT. The first phase of the East-West MRT Line, between West Jakarta and Bekasi, began construction in September 2024 (Fajri, 2024). Look at any transit map in Jakarta and you’ll see they’ve included these future routes in faded colors.

Among future expansions ideas is a plan to extend the North-South Line from Lebak Bulus station in South Jakarta to the city of South Tangerang. This might begin construction works in 2025 (Preston, 2024). It would greatly improve people’s commute options to Jakarta as the only train to South Tangerang is the KRL Rangkasbitung Line.

The MRT project is also being used to support more sustainable urban planning in Jakarta. Areas around stations are marked for Transit Oriented Development (TOD), where more mixed-use, pedestrian friendly, development are prioritized (MRT Jakarta, n.d.). In my experience, Blok M is the best example of this. The MRT station there sits right in the midst of malls, hotels, street-level shops and restaurants, several public parks and lots of street food. The below image is from the MRT website.

The TOD focus area around Blok M Station.

KRL Commuter

The KRL Commuter system is the oldest operating urban railway in Jakarta, having existed in some form since the Dutch period. Currently, it consists of 5 lines: Bogor, Cikarang, Tanjung Priok, Tangerang, and Rangkasbitung. The routes of the current Bogor and Tanjung Priok Lines were the first in Indonesia to be served by electric trains, in the 1920s (Wikipedia). KRL stands for Kereta Rel Listrik, or “electric rail car” (Wikipedia).

The Bogor line is a 54 km north-south line running from Jakarta Kota Station near the historic old town (Kota Tua) in North Jakarta, to Bogor Station, south of Jakarta. It also has a branch going west, to Nambo station.

Tanjung Priok is the shortest KRL line in Jakarta, at just over 8 km, and runs east-west from the port of Tanjung Priok to Jakarta Kota Station, entirely in North Jakarta

The Cikarang line is an east-west/loop line connecting Dukuh Atas Station (different station from the MRT) in Central Jakarta to Bekasi City, east of Jakarta. It’s loop section reaches up into North Jakarta. In terms of overall track length, it is the longest in Jabodetabek, at 87 km.

Tangerang Line runs east-west from Duri Station in West Jakarta to the city of Tangerang, in the neighboring Banten Province, for a distance of 19 km.

The Rangkasbitung Line goes from Tanah Abang Station in Central Jakarta to Rangkasbitung station, in the middle of Banten Province, covering a distance of 73 km. Along the way, it serves the city of South Tangerang.

*Distances from Wikipedia

From Independence until 2009, commuter services in Jakarta were run directly by KAI. It was only in 2009 that KAI incorporated a subsidiary, PT KAI Commuter Indonesia (KCI), to run the commuter system (Pratama & Galih, 2018)

In the last decade there have been significant changes to the commuter experience with KRL. Non-airconditioned trains-the economy class- were removed in 2013 (Pratama & Galih, 2018). Until the change in 2013, people would ride on the roofs of these economy class trains! Nowadays, all commuter train cars are airconditioned, and people no longer ride on the roofs. The trains still get really crowded during rush hour though. As mentioned, the ride costs 3000 IDR (less than 50 cents Canadian) for up to 25 km.

The rolling stock (yes that’s a technical term for train) are second-hand Japanese subway trains from Japan, notably the Tokyo Metro. The Japan Railways (JR) logo can still be seen on them, a little “easter egg” for the nerds.

The more remote stations are usually more basic than the MRT, often just a shaded outdoor platform with bathrooms and a few food stands. From what I’ve seen, they are basic but quite well-kept.

I’ve used the Bogor Line several times to visit Bogor and Universitas Indonesia Campus. The trains are clean and quite frequent (you don’t need to check the departure times before going to the station). However, for some reasons the ride is quite bumpy compared to the MRT. Perhaps it’s the older tracks.

A downside with the KRL is that is quite disconnected from the MRT system. Dukuh Atas BNI in Central Jakarta is the closest MRT station to a KRL Line, the Cikarang Line at Sudirman Station. A pedestrian tunnel, which was given a special mention in the Sustainable Transport Awards, connects these adjacent stations. Elsewhere besides at this link you’d need to travel a farther distance, realistically with wheels. However, if future MRT expansions happen as planned, there will be improvements in the inter-connection of the MRT and KRL.

Note that there are KRL Commuter Lines outside Jakarta as well. The one from Yogyakarta to Solo City handily stops near Prambanan Temple at Brambanan Station. This line is quite new, built in 2021, and uses INKA-made trainsets (Wikipedia). It is much less frequent than the Jakarta KRL Lines though.

Crossing the tracks at Brambanan Station, Yogyakarta

LRT

The difference between light rail transit (LRT) and MRT is literally that LRT is lighter: LRTs are smaller trains and carry less passengers compared to their larger counterparts (Karla, 2021). In Jakarta there are two different LRT systems: LRT Jakarta and LRT Jabodebek.

LRT Jakarta is a short line that travels 5 km from the neighborhood of Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta to the Jakarta International Velodrome, a sports stadium in East Jakarta. The route has some interchange with the BRT, like the #2 from Central Jakarta to Pulomas LRT station (I haven’t tried this). It is operated by LRT Jakarta, a provincially owned company. Photo below from LRT Jakarta.

It began construction in 2016 and was completed in 2019, built by provincially-owned infrastructure companies (Wikipedia). The goal was to have it done in time for the 2018 Asian Games, but full operation was delayed by a year (Wikipedia). Currently, it is said to be underperforming in terms of ridership (Wikipedia).

The EMU trainsets were built by Hyundai Rotem in South Korea, the same manufacturer of the Canada Line trains in Vancouver. They are powered via a third rail, also like the SkyTrain in Vancouver, rather than with overhead cables like the MRT and KRL (Karla, 2021). The main benefits of using a third rail are cost reductions from cheaper installation and upkeep: it’s a steel beam on the ground rather than suspended wires. However, it’s also only practical for shorter and slower services because of less effective power delivery than cables (Nilson, 2023). So with the 5 km LRT Jakarta line, third rail seemed like a good choice.

LRT Jakarta is thankfully unfinished (it’s so short!), and since October 2023 a 6.4 km second phase (1B) has been in the works, connecting the Velodrome Station to Manggarai Station in South Jakarta. Manggarai is a major commuter hub, with stops for the Bogor and Cikarang KRL lines, as well as the airport train to Soekarno- Hatta Airport. As of October 2024, Phase 1B is a third of the way complete (Karla, 2021). Future phases will extend it down to Halim, where the bullet train and another LRT line stops (Wikipedia).

Lots of planned extensions (faded); LRT Jakarta is orange in the top right.

LRT Jabodebek consists of two lines, the Cibubur Line and the Bekasi Line. There is a different name because these two lines serve Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok and, sometime in the future, Bogor: JaBoDeBek. It is operated directly by KAI (Wikipedia). Photo below from Kompas News.

The Cibubur Line is currently abour 25 km long and goes from Dukuh Atas LRT station (in the same area as the Dukuh Atas MRT station, but a walk apart) to Cibubur Station in Depok, a city just south of Jakarta. As mentioned, the Cibubur Line will eventually include Bogor, extending farther south, but the start date hasn’t been announced (Wikipedia). The Bekasi Line is basically a branch of the Cibubur Line. At Cawang station in East Jakarta the tracks split and the Bekasi line goes west to, um, Bekasi.

Phase 1 of the Jabodebek LRT project was the building of the Cibubur and Bekasi lines. Work began in 2015 and the line was completed by 2023 (3 years after the intended year, 2019) (Wikipedia). The whole line is elevated, and follows existing roads, same as the MRT and the shorter LRT Jakarta.

The rolling stock are INKA-made EMU trainsets. Interestingly, these trains are driverless (Simorangkir, 2023). Though autonomous, there are still personnel onboard for the passengers, and in case the train needs to be manually driven.

CNN Indonesia (2024) reported that the Jabodebek LRT had over 2 million passengers within July 2024, so it is doing quite well in terms of growing ridership.

I haven’t tried any of the LRT lines, or seen them, yet because they are not on my regular route. As I understand, they are a similar experience to the MRT, with large, well-appointed stations. This higher-end experience (again, not excessive by world standards) seems to be the standard that Jakarta is going for with its new transit projects and improvements.

Intercity trains

Java’s intercity trains, operated by and branded as KAI, reach almost all of Java, from Jakarta in the west to Banyuwangi in the east. There are two main routes across Java, via the north and via the south, both of which have been there since Dutch times. The south route is said to be more scenic because it passes alongside high plateaus and tall mountains in Central and East Java.

Passing another KAI train on the way to Yogyakarta

I think the importance of the railways during Dutch times is evident in how far reaching the intercity tracks are in Java. Most cities and towns have had tracks between them for more than 100 years; the whole thing is reminiscent of a time when rail travel was booming. Even with good toll roads and airplanes in the present, the trains continue to be very popular. I think this comes from a combination of price and the quality of the rail services, because flying locally is quite expensive in Indonesia.

Mt Ciremai (3,078 masl), near Ceribon, seen from the north route

Unlike the urban EMU trains (which, recall, means each carriage is powered), KAI intercity trains are diesel locomotive-hauled carriages. It’s pretty exciting (also deafening) to be at a station when one of those heavy grunting machines passes by going 90 km/h. Many of the locomotives were made by General Electric in the US, but INKA makes some too (Wikipedia). INKA makes all the new carriages (Wikipedia)

The main thing to understand about the intercity trains are the types of services. Seat classes are economy, business, executive/eksekutif and luxury. Note that most trains have more than one seat class, even though they are called economy or executive trains.

In Jakarta, the main intercity departure stations are Gambir and Pasar Senen (Senen is also a popular public market, or pasar). Gambir takes more of the executive class trains while Senen caters to economy class trains.

Economy class is the most basic class, and naturally has less legroom, and is tighter with a 2-3 seat layout. Business class has a 2-2 seat layout, but is apparently rarer these days, being replaced by Executive Class (Ela, n.d.).

Executive Class cars are arranged in a 2-2 seat layout. The seats are very comfortable and can recline pretty far back (Ela, n.d.). On booking websites, you’ll notice Executive seats are labelled as A, AA AC, etc. These are the rankings of the seats based on their location in the carriage, with more “optimal” seats locations being more expensive (Traveloka, n.d). Honestly, I’m not sure how placement within a carriage affects comfort.

Luxury Class ranges from having a solo pod, like business class on an airplane to a personal compartment, like first class on an airplane! The seats can fully recline to become a flatbed (Ela, n.d.) For the comfort and opulence advertised, the prices are relatively affordable. For example a Luxury (pod-style) seat from Jakarta to Surabaya costs around 110 CAD and the Compartment seats for the same route will be under 200 CAD, one way.

The trains named “Argo-” are higher end, with more executive and luxury class seating and significantly fewer stops (Wikipedia). For example, the Argo Bromo Anggrek from Jakarta to Surabaya only makes 4 stops on the almost 800 km journey. Not all high-end trains have “Argo” in their names, though, such as the Taksaka between Jakarta and Yogyakarta.

Besides the “Argo” designation for some lines, the other way to tell apart trains is by the number of stops they take and trip time. Shorter trips = higher-end trains.

Tip: you can use Google Maps to see which route a train takes by selecting a station and clicking on the train name. It can’t be said enough, book early!

Ana and I took the Taksaka to Yogyakarta, an executive train with only 5 stops over the distance of 512 km. Despite some bumpiness, the ride was really comfortable because of our Executive class seats. There was also a dining car with good prepared meals, though they had limited stocks. The bumpiness was more of a problem coming back to Jakarta because we took a night train and it was hard to sleep. I doubt Luxury class seats would have made it better.

Whoosh

Finally, the newest addition to Indonesia’s rail portfolio- Whoosh or the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway, is Southeast Asia’s first high speed railway (HSR). It makes the 142 km trip from Jakarta to Bandung, West Java’s cool-climate provincial capital, in just over 30 mins, non-stop. Compare this to the KAI trips, which are around 3 hours. The name Whoosh stands for “Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Hebat”, meaning “Timesaving, Optimal Operation, Outstanding System”.

The rolling stock are a variation of China Railways (CR) Fuxing CR400AF trains built by China International Railway Co, configured as eight cars long. With a top cruising speed of 350km/h, these are the fastest non-maglev trains currently operating in China and the world. As of this writing, there are only two non-maglev lines that go up to 350 km/h: The Intercity Express (ICE) in Germany and Fuxing CR400s in China and Indonesia. Yup, I rode the world’s fastest bullet train… in Indonesia of all places!

Note that the trains do not consistently go 350 km/h; they’ll sustain it for relatively short intervals when there is nothing to slow down for (tunnels and stations). When I rode it, we maxxed out at 348km/h.

Woosh has its own stations (4 but only 3 are used) and tracks, separate from the KAI network, and so does not actually stop in the main KAI stations of either Jakarta or Bandung. Whoosh trains depart from Halim Station in East Jakarta and terminate at Tegalluar Station on the outskirts of Bandung. Tegalluar is also the depot where the 11 trainsets are stored and maintained.

Padalarang station is the primary Bandung-area station and it is connected to the heart of the city by a feeder train. This increases the total time travel time by about 20 minutes but is still insanely convenient compared to the other ways one could get to Bandung. Also, use of the feeder train is included with the Woosh ticket. I made the mistake of leading myself, Ana and Patrick and all the way to Tegalluar, not realizing there was no feeder train from there. Tickets are predictably more expensive than regular KAI trains, starting at about 22 dollars (250k IDR) one way. For that base price you get comfortable seats and lots of legroom though. KAI Economy Class seats from Pasar Senen to Bandung can cost as low as 4 dollars (45k IDR), but these are less comfortable.

Solid legroom; those are batik patterns on the seat covers

PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), meaning “Fast Train Indonesia China”, was incorporated in 2015 to build and operate the bullet train service. China funded the project and supplied the technology. The company is majority owned (60%) by a group of Indonesian government companies including KAI and minority owned by Chinese railway companies including China Railways (40%) (Anggina, 2023).

Construction on the Whoosh project started in 2015 and cost US$7.3 billion dollars overall, though the initial budget was actually only US$ 4.3 billion (Emir, 2023). After numerous setbacks, including the pandemic, the service opened in October 2023. As an interesting aside, Japan also fielded a bid to support the project, and publicly announced their disappointment when China was chosen. However, Japan is still involved with the MRT projects in Jakarta.

So, how does the Whoosh stack up against the claimed “Optimal and Outstanding”?

In terms of ridership, Whoosh has indeed been very successful. The demand has shown up, with almost 6 million people served as of October 2024 (Estherina, 2024). KCIC added 4 additional trips in 2024, so currently there are 24 round trips each day (Jennings 2024).

Again, the trains are very comfortable, running really quietly and smoothly. I recall hearing some of the wind-roar from outside as we were getting close to 300 km/h. Before that there was only a mild hum from the wheels. Unlike the KAI intercity trains, the Whoosh ride is not bumpy.

In terms of socio-economic returns, the Woosh has noticeably increased tourism in and around Bandung from Jakarta by making day trips there even more realistic. KCIC began offering package deals to some tourism spots in Bandung with the Whoosh ticket (Alfarizi, 2023). Whoosh also addresses traffic costs to the economy, expected to be over US$6.5 billion (Emir, 2023). This electric bullet train certainly has environmental benefits over cars and highways, however, with Indonesia’s power grid running predominantly on coal (IEA, n.d.), the Whoosh is not really zero-emission. In my opinion though, if using coal and oil is what it takes to power better transit at present, then go for it. The sooner the ball is rolling, the better.

On the downside, as we learned, high speed rail is incredibly expensive. Whoosh cost more to build per km than the HSR systems in Japan, Spain and France (not combined!), partly due to the rough terrain (Anggina, 2023). The Indonesian government had to cover excess costs (US$ 1.2 billion) outside the loan agreement, and the domestic side of KCIC had to do a lot of initial spending as the majority shareholder, such as buying up land (Anggina, 2023). Critics note that government companies with a stake in KCIC are facing large deficits from being part of the Whoosh project, and if they cannot pay it off with their own funds, the government will have to cover for them (Putra, 2024). An additional criticism is that the Jakarta-Bandung corridor was already very well connected by KAI trains (also toll roads, I might add) and that the Whoosh was thus unnecessary (Anggina, 2023).

However, KCIC is currently in the planning stages to extend Whoosh to Surabaya, which would cut the travel time to less than 4 hours from just over 8 hours with the current fastest KAI trip (Wikipedia). This would make the rail option more competitive with the 1:30 hour flight (which itself is probably closer to 3 hours because of the airport procedures). Competing with short flights is where HSR can really shine.

Closing thoughts

As you can tell, Indonesia is going places with its transportation investments. It’s an interesting time to be here because it seems like I’m seeing a country in the process of realizing a major development milestone: reliable and convenient public transit. Indeed, the existing transit is already quite reliable and convenient. As someone with a personal interest in developing countries and their urban environments, this is fantastic to see.

It’s crazy to me how recent many of the changes were, and I can’t picture how different life in Jakarta used to be. Until 10 years ago people rode on the roof of commuter trains! Until 5 years ago there was no MRT!

This blog will probably be outdated in two years, but that’s what we like to see with transportation.

Sources

Introduction

Sustainable Transport Award, 2021. Past Winners – 2021: Jakarta, Indonesia (a good read)

Rodriguez, 2023. The Dutch East Indies Railway in Java (a good read)

KAI, n.d. A glance at KAI.

INKA, n.d. Produk

TransJakarta

Sofa, 2022. Jakarta Transportation from Time to Time

Pohan, 2022. The Unprecedented and Successful Integration of Mikrotrans into JakLingko

Ramadhan, 2019? 15 Years of Transjakarta: Building a New Culture of Transportation (a good read)

TransJakarta. Layanan/Services