Despite years of planning and promises to get Jakarta’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) system up and running in time for the start of the Asian Games on August 18, the Jakarta Provincial Government failed to meet that deadline due to delays preventing the public transport system from being properly tested before the start of the huge regional athletic competition.
After Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan finally conceded that the LRT wouldn’t be ready in time for the games, officials pushed back their target to December and state-owned management company PT LRT is now claiming that train system’s first phase, linking up North Jakarta’s Kelapa Gading with the new Velodrome in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, will be operational and open to the public before the end of the year.
“The end of the year (is our operational target),” said PT LRT Jakarta director Allan Tandiono at the Velodrome LRT Station yesterday as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Allan said the Jakarta LRT began its trial testing period on August 15 and that it would last for one month. During the trial, the LRT trains will operate from 2pm to 5pm every Monday to Friday and at reduced speeds of 15-25 km/h (compared to their normal top speed of 40 km/h).
Once fully operational, Allan said the LRT would be capable of transporting around 20,000 passengers per day. The price of tickets have not yet been determined.
The completion of the LRT was supposed to be one of the Jakarta administration’s most crucial infrastructure accomplishments ahead of the Asian Games as it was always intended to be ready in time to transport passengers during the major sporting event. In December, Governor Anies said he was confident that the Kelapa Gading-Velodrome line would at least be operational by July (obviously that didn’t happen) while Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said he was pessimistic that it would be ready for the games at all.
The LRT is funded and constructed in two parts: the lines within Jakarta (including Kelapa Gading-Velodrome) are being built by the Jakarta Provincial Government, while the lines connecting Jakarta to its satellite cities of Depok, Bogor and Bekasi are being built by PT Adhi Karya, a state-owned infrastructure construction firm.
The Jakarta LRT construction began again under former Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo’s term in 2015 following lengthy legal issues with previous tender winners. When completed, the LRT will link up with other rail-based transportation systems like the existing KRL Commuterline and the MRT, the first phase of which is estimated for completion in March 2019.
