Indonesia to operate Southeast Asia's first high-speed rail in October

The high-speed rail is an approximately 140-km connection that links Jakarta to West Java province's Bandung city. (Photo: KCIC)

Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia's high-speed rail service, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, is set to begin commercial operations as early as October following repeated delays.

As reported by Nikkei Asia, the Indonesian-Chinese consortium Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) set October as the new opening date after pushing back the previous timeline of August. KCIC will use the extra time to conduct further test runs to ensure safety.

President Joko Widodo said last week that he expected to take part in September trial runs for the Jakarta Bandung High Speed Rail. He noted that as soon as everything is ready, the rail will be put into operation.

A trial launch is planned for September and October, when near-by residents can ride free of charge.

The high-speed rail is an approximately 140-km connection that links Jakarta to West Java province's Bandung city. The service will have a top operating speed of roughly 350km per hour, and the entire line can be traversed in as little as 36 minutes.

Test runs have been conducted since May, with speed steadily increased. The train reportedly traveled as fast at 385km per hour, the highest technically feasible velocity./.

VNA