TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Japan Bank International Corporation (JBIC) CEO Tadashi Maeda said that the Jakarta-Surabaya high speed train project is still being discussed by the Japanese government.

Maeda revealed that the JBIC had just found out that the 800-kilometer railway project would be developed on the existing railway.

"It needs rehabilitation," Maeda said at the Finance Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday, October 20, 2016.

According to Maeda, not a single railway crossing should exist for a high-speed train track. In reality, there are hundreds of railway crossings with cross bars and thousands of others without cross bars along the Jakarta-Surabaya railway.

Currently, Japan is planning to fix the railway, so that it can accommodate train with a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. In addition, Japan will consider the travel time in order to attract public.

“Passengers will choose train if the travel time is four hours. Should the travel time be more than four hours, they usually prefer airplanes,” he said.

The Transportation Ministry had set a target to complete the feasibility study for the project by the end of this year. The government is currently waiting for a technical proposal from the Japanese government.

PUTRI ADITYOWATI