In addition to Jakarta’s eagerly anticipated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system that is scheduled to begin commercial operations in March, the capital’s other long-gestating public transportation project, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, is set to start operations on its first route on Feb 25 or Feb 28.
That’s according to the director of the LRT project for PT Jakarta Propertindo, Iwan Takwin, who said that LRT’s phase 1 route, connecting North Jakarta’s Kelapa Gading with the new Velodrome in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, was on track to be ready soon.
“We are targeting this 25th or 28th, so basically by the end of February, we are trying to do that. Until now, it’s on track,” Iwan said today as quoted by Kompas.
Iwan said construction on the line’s five stations and railway had already reached the 98 percent mark and just required the final finishing touches, including testing and safety certification tests.
He added that, before the LRT starts operating commercially for the general public in the coming months, they would conduct limited operation trial runs starting this Friday.
However, we suggest you take all of these dates with a grain of salt, considering that authorities had previously promised that the LRT would begin operating in time for the start of the Asian Games in August of last year. But, when it became clear that there was no way that was going to happen, the new completion date was set for December… which they also missed.
But perhaps it’s a good thing that the LRT and MRT will both open in such close proximity to one another. Hopefully the synergistic effect of their openings will encourage even more Jakartans to hop onto these new mass transit options and off of the capital’s ridiculously congested roads.
