Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan shared his experience Thursday of riding a mass transit train being built in the Indonesian capital partially with Japanese financing.

"It was very fun, on time...it's very comfortable," Baswedan told reporters after riding a 15.7-kilometer section that is slated to go into service next March to serve an estimated 173,000 passengers per day.

(Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, center)

"I didn't feel like I was on a train because the bumps were minimal, like taking an escalator, very smooth. It was not bumpy like taking an ordinary train," he added.

Since Aug. 9, PT Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta, a company set up to operate the government-run railway, has been conducting some tests on the section built as the project's first phase.

The tests will continue until late December, followed by test runs. The railway is scheduled to start operating commercially in March, connecting Hotel Indonesia Circle Station in central Jakarta and Lebak Bulus Station in South Jakarta.

During his ride Thursday, Baswedan said he met with a Japanese man who is involved in the railway project to share his experience as a train driver.

The 67-year-old man, surnamed Tezuka, told him that the newly built railway uses one of the best trains he has ever been in, the governor said. "He is happy that this project uses the latest technology."

William Sabandar, president of the train operator, said that for the Thursday test ride, the maximum speeds were set to 30 km per hour on elevated tracks and 20 kph underground, requiring an hour to travel the entire section.

When the railway starts operating commercially, however, the maximum speed will be raised to 60 kph, and the duration halved to 30 minutes, Sabandar said.

That would be a considerable reduction in travel time as it currently takes two to three hours to travel by bus in each direction at rush hour.

The construction of the first phase is 98 percent complete. The railway is slated to be expanded to serve the greater Jakarta area.

The train will operate from 5 a.m. until midnight, with each train capable of transporting 1,950 passengers, and a waiting time of 5 minutes between trains during peak hours.

Construction is being partially funded by the Japanese government, with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan's foreign aid agency, providing a 125 billion yen (about $1.29 billion) loan for the first phase of the project.

Aichi Prefecture-based Nippon Sharyo Ltd. is making the train cars, and a number of major Japanese construction companies are part of the consortium involved in building the transit system.

When it starts commercial service, the train system is expected to alleviate severe traffic congestion in the largest city in Southeast Asia.