President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) rode a Light Rail Transit (LRT) train for a trial run from Harjamukti Station, Cibubur, Depok City, to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) Station here on Monday.

Jokowi stated at the TMII LRT Station that the domestically made train ran at a high speed and could be operated without a driver.

“(I) just tried (using) the LRT from Harjamukti Station to Taman Mini Station that has a distance of nine kilometers and takes 12 minutes,” he noted.

The president expressed pride that the state-owned train and railway manufacturer PT INKA (Persero) was able to build an LRT train, with a capacity of 420 passengers and a sophisticated driverless operation system.

He expected that the LRT project, called Trans-Cibubur LRT Route, can be completed and be fully operated in June or July 2023 to coincide with the inauguration of the Jakarta-Bandung fast train project.

“Currently, (the work on) it has been 87-percent completed. There are still some depots to be completed and small details regarding system synchronization — which I had also reviewed earlier,” he remarked.

Furthermore, Jokowi assessed that the LRT operated in Jakarta and several of its surrounding cities is comfortable and fast and barely produced any noise.

“I think, there was only very small noise when the train ran right at the turn,” he stated.

President Director of state-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya (Persero) Entus Asnawi Mukhson had earlier estimated that the LRT for Jakarta, Bogor, Depok and Bekasi (Jabodebek) or Greater Jakarta area will begin operation in June 2023.

The state-run corporation serves as developer of the project.

The LRT will be operated with the level three Grade of Automation (GoA), or driverless, and controlled through a system in a 11-hectare depot unit located in East Bekasi Sub-district, Bekasi City.

The train will have a 44-kilometer (km) line with three routes of East Bekasi – Cawang, Cibubur – Cawang, as well as Cawang – Dukuh Atas.

Source: Antara News