Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia and Japan on September 24 signed an outline dealfor a medium-speed train project linking the Southeast Asian country’s capitalof Jakarta and its second-largest city, Surabaya.
Aftertwo years of negotiations, the two countries agreed to use a narrow instead ofstandard gauge on the railway track to better adapt to land characteristics indense and multi-networked areas on the island of Java.
Underthe agreement, the project will be split into two phases, with the firstbetween Jakarta and the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang and thesecond between Semarang and Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, stretching436 km and 284 km, respectively.
BothIndonesian and Japanese officials have said the initial investment value of theproject was estimated at 60 trillion rupiah (about 4.2 billion USD).
In aninterview with Japan’s Kyodo News several months ago, President Joko Widodosaid he expected construction of the railway to start next year.
Indonesia’sAgency for the Assessment and Application of Technology has predicted that 12.4percent of airline passengers between the two cities, about 8 million lastyear, will shift to the trains./.
