Indonesia asks Japan to build new rail link

• 6 December 2016
• Uncategorized
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Indonesia has rejected competitive tendering and offered Japan the opportunity to build a USD3 billion rail link connecting Jakarta to Surabaya.

The request to Japan to build the 786km railway, which came in a direct letter to Tokyo, follows a bitter and failed bidding contest with China earlier in the year over building Indonesia’s first high speed rail link between Jakarta and Bandung.

The move by the Indonesian government is widely seen as aiming to improve relations with Japan.

Indonesia’s Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister told the Jakarta Post that the railway will upgrade an existing track, with trains running at up to 200km/h to shorten the travel time between Jakarta and Surabaya to 3.5 hours from 11 hours.