KONTAN.CO.ID - The Indonesian and Japanese governments have agreed to design the Jakarta-Surabaya railway project to cut travel time to 5.5 hours from about nine hours, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said. He said the agreement was reached during a meeting with Japanese Defense, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism Minister Takao Makino on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting's (ASEM) Transport Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Wednesday. “With a travel time of 5.5 hours, the train can become an alternative to planes,” said Budi, according to tribunnews.com.
“With such a [high] speed, the train could be operated twice a day. It would help increase the capacity of the train. I have told the Japanese side to study it and Mr. Makino agreed [to my proposal].”