Indonesia on Monday launched Southeast Asia's first high-speed railway network, built with Chinese technology as part of China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
The bullet train service named "Whoosh," inaugurated after several delays and a cost overrun, will link Jakarta and the West Java provincial capital of Bandung, the country's fourth-most populous city.
The train can run on the 142-kilometer line at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, cutting travel time from approximately three hours to about 40 minutes.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo attended the launch ceremony and rode on the first train departing Halim Station in East Jakarta, getting off at Padalarang Station in West Java, one station before Tegalluar Station in the suburbs of Bandung.
The president, popularly known as Jokowi, said during the ceremony that the new railway "marks the modernization of our mass transportation, which has become more efficient, environmentally friendly and integrated with other modes of transportation."]
Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan, who attended the event, said the railway was completed thanks to cooperation among the project stakeholders, including China and its state-run companies.
Indonesian-Chinese consortium PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China, which funded and built the project, had been offering the public a two-week free trial run before the launch.
Construction began in 2016 and was initially expected to be completed in 2019. But the project was delayed several times due to such problems as land acquisition, environmental issues and the COVID-19 pandemic.
China won the bidding over Japan for the project in 2015. While Japan insisted on a government guarantee for the project, China agreed with Indonesia on a business-to-business contract without a government guarantee or state financing.
The cost was originally expected to be around $6 billion but ballooned to some $7.3 billion after the delays.
In 2021, the president reneged on the government's earlier promise not to tap the state budget to finance completion of the project, drawing criticism from the public.
Dissatisfaction was also voiced over the location of the railway stations as many of them are away from city centers.
Despite these issues, thousands of citizens enthusiastically rode the train during the free trial run period.
Nur Widiyanto, a civil servant from the ancient city of Yogyakarta on Java Island, said, "I am happy and very proud that finally we have had a high-speed train," as he rode the train Saturday.
Pandjaitan said during the launch ceremony that the government will continue providing free-of-charge trial tickets to the public, including people from other countries, until mid-October amid the high popularity of the railway.
The name "Whoosh" is an abbreviation for "time-saving, optimal operation, reliable system" in Indonesian.
