The first high-speed rail line in Indonesia will make flight-free travel around the country easier.

The first high-speed rail service in Southeast Asia will be introduced by Indonesia the following year, with trains capable of traveling up to 350 km/h.

At the Tegalluar station for the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Railway, a woman snaps pictures of a model high-speed train. AP/Dita Alangkara

Beginning in June 2023, a railway line will link Bandung, the bustling city of the West Java province, with Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The three-hour travel time between the two cities will be reduced to around 40 minutes.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious strategy by China to create new trade links with the rest of the world, provides the majority of the funding for the bullet train.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed his expectation that "the mobility of commodities and people may be faster and improved, and our competitiveness will also be stronger" as the rail project's Jakarta-Bandung segment neared 90% completion today.

After the G20 conference in Bali next month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping might travel there to ride the country's bullet train, though Widodo told reporters the plan "is still not definite yet."

What is known about the railway between Jakarta and Bandung?

Long overdue is Indonesia's new Jakarta-Bandung railway. Originally scheduled to begin operating in 2029, rail construction started in 2016 but was delayed by four years due to environmental and land use concerns.

On Java's main island, the Jakarta LRT line will pass through four provinces. Getty Images/syahrir Maulana

PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (PT KCIC), a joint venture between an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned firms and China Railway International, is building the 142.3 kilometer railway for $7.8 billion (€8 billion).

According to the Chinese CRRC Qingdao Sifang railway firm, which designed and constructed the train cars, the trains will be the quickest in Southeast Asia. It states that the vehicles will navigate curves with a minimum radius of 150 meters while traveling at 350 kph (217 mph) (492 feet).

Additionally, they will have electric motors with a combined output of 625,000 watts.

There will be three classes of passengers onboard: VIP, First, and Second. Several cars with spacious aisles between the seats will be reserved for people who have trouble moving around.

The train's builder claimed that the modifications were made expressly to help the trains cope with Indonesia's tropical environment and that they also had a better security system that could monitor earthquakes, floods, and other emergency situations.

What other brand-new rail routes are being built in Indonesia?

The undertaking is a section of a 750-kilometer high-speed train line that would travel through four provinces on the Javan main island before arriving in Surabaya, the second-largest city in the nation.

Widodo's main policy, infrastructure improvement, assisted him in securing a second term in the 2019 elections.

A Japan-backed project, Jakarta's subway system debuted in 2019 as part of the city's efforts to reduce traffic.

On October 13, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visits the construction site of the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Railway station in Tegalluar, West Java. AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, copyright

According to Indonesia's transportation minister Budi Karya Sumadi, the country has received soft loans from the United Kingdom and Japan for its third phase, which will shortly be completed.

Other rail projects by the government are now complete, including Palembang and Jakarta's light-rail transit (LRT) systems.

Bali, a well-known tourist destination in Indonesia, is one of five cities with LRT plans in the works.