A cargo of 12 Japanese-made train cars has arrived in Jakarta as the first batch of rolling stock for a government-run mass rapid railway project partly financed by the Japanese government.
The carriages — constituting two Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta trains, manufactured by Nippon Sharyo Ltd. — arrived at the port of Tanjung Priok in the Indonesian capital on April 4 after departing from Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, on March 7.
Nippon Sharyo has produced dozens of types of electric train cars, including for subways and shinkansen bullet trains.
"They have been producing trains since 1896, so it's already 120 years (that) they have developed train technology," said Tubagus Hikmatullah, head of the corporate secretary division at PT MRT Jakarta.
"So, we believe they will produce good-quality trains based on their experience."
MRT Jakarta will have 16 trains in total in the first phase, operating 14 of them on daily runs on a planned 36-kilometer-long (22-mile-long) line and keeping the others as spares.
Of the line, a 20-km portion has already been built.
MRT Jakarta plans to complete the project, aided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, before the 2018 Asian Games opening in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia on Aug. 18.
"It will be complete in July but fully commercial operations will be from March 2019," explained Tubagus.