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].”

Budi said the Japanese government has also agreed with the Indonesian decision to use the existing railway tracks and to complete the study by mid-November.

The railway project was one of the three issues discussed at the meeting. The two other projects were the Patimban port project in West Java and the mass rapid transit (MRT) project in Jakarta.

Budi said the Jakarta MRT project, which is still under construction, would be completed in 2019.

“We have also managed to resolve our differences over the Patimban port project. During the meeting, we agreed that the three projects would be completed based on the schedules,” he added.

Editor: Wahyu T.Rahmawati