Soekarno Hatta’s Skytrains to be fully operational by August

Three skytrains connecting terminals at the capital’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport are part of the government’s push to modernise Indonesia’s infrastructure

The construction of three Skytrains at Jakarta’s state-owned Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the capital’s main airport and one of the busiest in Asia, will be completed by August, according to Sea-globe.com.

“There will be a commissioning process – making sure that everything is ready before becoming fully operational in the second half of this year. Commissioning takes about one month,” Yado Yarismano, public relations manager for the company that manages the airport, told local media outlet Kompas.

Initially, two train cars with a capacity of 176 people will connect Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, according to state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Putra II (AP II).

“Meanwhile, in August, the skytrain will be fully operational, with three trains with a capacity of 528 people connecting Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3,” AP II president director Muhammad Awaluddin said in its press statement on Wednesday.

He added that the headway of the skytrain would be 5 minutes, with 7 minutes needed to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.

The skytrain itself is built by state-owned company PT LEN in cooperation with Woojin from South Korea, while the infrastructure will be handled by state-owned construction company PT Wijaya Karya Tbk and PT Indulexco.

The Skytrain is one of many similar developments being undertaken by President Joko Widodo, who has made investment in infrastructure central to his pre-election target of achieving annual economic growth of 7%. Growth was just above 5% in 2016.