Indonesia: the first high-speed railway line is being built at a snail's pace

On the one hand JakartaIndonesia's sprawling capital, home to 13 million people and all the country's ministries, institutions, banks and corporate headquarters. On the other, 150 km, Bandung, Indonesia's third-largest city with a population of 2.5 million. Capital of the province of West Java, Bandung is the country's leading university centre. A city where the creative and entertainment high-tech have taken up residence.

And yet getting from one town to another is like a nightmare. There is, of course, a motorway, inaugurated in 2005, linking the two towns. Officially, the journey takes 1h30. In reality, however, it often takes as long as five o'clock to get from one point to another - especially at weekends. There are also relatively comfortable trains. But here again, the average journey takes between 3 and 3.5 hours.

Hence the idea, more than a decade ago, of building a high-speed rail link between the two cities. It would constitute the first stage in a network of high-speed trains criss-crossing the island of Java. This would particularly concern the Jakarta-Surabaya route, Indonesia's largest port with a population of over 3.5 million.

The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train project, 150 km in length, was put out to tender. Japanese and Chinese went head to head. And it was China that won the contract. For China, this is the most important project under its "Belt & Road in Indonesia, which will enable the development of land-based infrastructure throughout Asia.

Nearly four years behind schedule

Except that nothing seems to be going according to plan. The project is almost four years behind schedule. La Covid crisis is the first reason why slowed down the work. But there are other factors. The geological relief along the route is complex, with mountain crossings and the risk of earthquakes requiring special techniques. Added to this soaring prices for materials and raw materials. And finally, there is the notorious difficulty of working with the endemic Indonesian administration.The Jakarta-Bandung route is currently the only line. The continuation of the route to Surabaya has since been replaced by a less costly Jakarta-Cirebon-Semarang-Surabaya high-speed train project (140km/h to 160km/h) developed by Japan (Source: Wikimedia Commons).

Cost inflation and chain delays

All in all, the project is expensive, much more so than originally planned. Estimated at 5.5 billion in 2015It should now represent a total investment of 7.9 billion. We are now talking about 40 years to recover the investment - twice as long as expected.

In fact, China has refused to put its hand back in its wallet. So it is the Indonesian state that will pay the difference, causing a political stir. Many Indonesians believe that it would be necessary to get rid of the Chinese partner in the consortium created for this line. The Indonesian state owns 60% of the shares, with the remainder in Chinese hands.. With a real dilemma. From now on, whatever the Indonesian government provides to cover the costs is likely to be taken from other infrastructure spending…

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel: at the beginning of the year, the KCIC consortium announced that the project was complete at 80%. Only the stations on the line are still a long way from completion, with rates ranging from 40% to 60%.

The governor of West Java province said this week that the first train trials would begin in November. The trains will offer three classes of service, VIP, First and Second Class, as well as a restaurant car. The Indonesian TGV is due to enter service in June 2023 - four years after the original date. And to finally offer a journey time of 35 to 40 minutes between Jakarta and Bandung.