Jakarta’s long-awaited MRT railway system had a landmark moment today as the first two of its trains arrived in the capital following a trip by sea from Japan.
The two trains, consisting of six carriages each, arrived at Tanjung Priok port on the Danish cargo ship Ellensborg this morning after it embarked from Toyohashi port in Japan a month ago.
Welcome to Jakarta, Kereta MRTJ! pic.twitter.com/1Z7YdUmHuT
— MRT Jakarta (@mrtjakarta) April 3, 2018
The trains, made by Japanese manufacturer Nippon Sharyo, are going to be gradually transported to a depot in Lebak Bulus station — the southernmost station of the MRT’s first line connecting Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Hotel Indonesia Roundabout in Central Jakarta — until April 8.
Fourteen more trains are expected to be shipped to Jakarta by October of this year.
Much hope has been placed on the MRT to alleviate the capital’s traffic woes. Minister of National Development Planning Bambang Brodjonegoro said last year that Jakarta’s macet — a consequence of the city’s lateness in constructing rail-based transportation systems like the MRT — causes the country US$5 billion loss each year in lost productivity.
The MRT is expected to go into operation in early 2019, later than its previous target of 2018 (which would have made it available for the 2018 Asian Games co-hosted by Jakarta in August).
