TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A senior economist from the University of Indonesia (UI), Faisal Basri, assessed that the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed train would be more ideal in terms of distance than the recently launched Whoosh high-speed train connecting Jakarta and Bandung. He said the Jakarta-Surabaya route could pass through Cirebon and Semarang and end in Surabaya.

“If it is extended from Jakarta-Bandung to Surabaya, the project will be even more chaotic. What will be the next [station or region] after Bandung?” Faisal said in a discussion on the debt burden of the country’s first high-speed train project in the State Budget at Paramadina University, South Jakarta, on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.

According to him, the route via Cirebon and Semarang is more economically feasible as the two cities already have purchasing power. Looking at the route in a straight line, the distance from Jakarta to Surabaya is approximately 663 kilometers, so the bullet train could be an alternative to air transport, rather than toll road-based public transport.

Faisal mentioned that a trip from Jakarta to Surabaya by plane could take up to half a day. By a high-speed train, it could take only 2.5 hours.

“That’s very superior. [The train could] end at Turi Market, for example. It's very close [to the central city of Surabaya,” Faisal argued.

He also said the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed train route is similar to the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur high-speed train route. However, the US$17 billion project was canceled even though there were more than 30,000 flights annually between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, making it the world's busiest international route.

A professor of transportation from UI, Sutanto Soehodho, seconded Faisal Basri’s statement. He opined that the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed train route via Java’s northern route (Pantura) has more economic value than via the southern coast. The northern route could also attract more riders.

“The Pantura passes through several cities that are more developed in terms of economic activity,” Sutanto told Tempo on Monday, October 9, 2023.

MOH. KHORY ALFARIZI

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