Airport railway in Benda, Tangerang city, undergoes construction on Wednesday (9/8). The railway is a new route linking Batu Ceper and the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport along 12.1 kilometers. The new airport trains are expected to start operation in September 2017.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) is scheduled to commence operations of the Soekarno-Hatta Airport trains by the end of 2017. The trains will depart from Manggarai Station, via Sudirman Baru Station, Duri Station, Batu Ceper Station and end up at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
PT KAI president director Edi Sukmoro said all preparations had been carried out. Land acquisition was completed last July. Activities being undertaken are soil flattening and construction at a number of points. "We are optimistic the trains will be ready for operation in November. We know the public has been waiting for them," Edi said in a press conference, Tuesday (15/8).
To meet the target, Edi said, all preparations were expected to be completed by October, including the load testing and the availability of trains to operate. "Hopefully all train sets will have entered, undergone the load testing as well. Their licensing has been issued," Edi said.
Now there is only one train set out of the total 10 sets. Each set, consisting of six cars, is capable of transporting 272 passengers at a cost of Rp 80,000-Rp 100,000. The traveling time from Manggarai Station to the airport station will be 54 minutes. The airport trains are produced by state-owned train maker PT Industri Kereta Api (Inka) and will be operated by PT Railink, a subsidiary of PT KAI.
Kompas checked the interior of the airport trains shown by PT KAI. Each car consists of 40 lines with four seats each. The first 20 lines in the front side face backward and the 20 lines in the back side face forward, the same as the premium economy trains currently in operation. At the back of the car, there are four seats for the disabled. Moreover, there is one toilet in each car. On one side of the coach there are two TV monitors.
PT KAI will also evaluate the Duri-Batuceper route. Initially the route was deserted, but in line with the rising number of passengers it is now served by 12 diesel-fueled train sets, up from 8 train sets.
Skytrain in September
Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi tested the automated people mover system (APMS) or skytrain at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Tuesday.
"The skytrain will operate in stages, with the first on September 2017 linking Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. In November 2017 it will link Terminal 1, 2, and 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport,” said Budi.
He explained that the skystrain, the first ever to be operated at an airport in Indonesia, will have the capacity of transporting 176 passengers in each ride.
In the first stage, there will be only one skytrain set with two cars each. Later, there will be three skytrain sets linking all the passenger terminals and be integrated with the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport train. With the three sets, the skytrain will be able to transport 528 passengers in each ride.
With the operation of the skytrain, it will only take 5 minutes to go from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, covering a distance of 3.2 kilometers and 3 minutes from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3, covering a distance of 1.7 kilometers.
State-owned airport management company PT Angkasa Pura II has invested Rp 950 billion. For the procurement of the skytrains, which are prepared by
PT LEN Industri (Persero) and Woojin from South Korea, PT Angkasa Pura II invests Rp 530 billion.
Additional funds for MRT
Meanwhile, PT MRT Jakarta has asked the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD DKI) to immediately approve a variation order of Rp 2.56 trillion to fund the construction of first phase of Lebak Bulus-HI traffic circle section.
Now the MRT loan proposal status in the bluebook of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) has been advanced to the green book stage or just waiting for approval from the DPRD DKI.
Finance Director of PT MRT Jakarta Tuhiyat explained on Tuesday in the discussion of the Regional Budget changes in Commission B of the DPRD DKI that the variation order had been proposed to Bappenas a while back.
"For the realization, it is still waiting for approval from DPRD DKI. We urge that the approval is given as soon as possible," Tuhiyat said.
A member of Commission B of DPRD DKI, Prabowo Sunirman, said after the meeting that with regard to the proposal, Commission B did not have any objection, as long as the proportion of the JICA debt financing remained 51 percent for the Jakarta City Administration and 49 percent of the central government.
"We will immediately discuss it in the budget agency. Next week hopefully the meeting in the budget agency can be held and we will explain all of it," Prabowo said.
