JAKARTA: The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway (HSR), the first of its kind in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has set a target to serve 31,000 passengers per day throughout this year, said PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), a joint venture consortium between Indonesian and Chinese state-owned firms that constructs and runs the HSR, reports Xinhua.

KCIC’s manager of corporate communications, Emir Monti, told local media on Wednesday that the HSR, locally known as Whoosh, can serve 31,000 passengers with 68 trips per day, an outcome of study by the University of Indonesia, said Monti.

He said that KCIC is continuing the work on increasing the number of trips while improving services and facilities at stations and providing attractive promotions for passengers. “Our trips are still limited to 40 trips per day with a volume between 15,000 and 17,000 passengers per day. So we will continue to gradually increase the number of trips, occupancy, with various service improvements,” he said. According to him, Whoosh has delivered more than 1.3 million passengers since it was officially put into commercial operation in October last year.

Monti said achievements over the past three months showed a high public demand for modern public transportation and that he is optimistic that the number of passengers will continue to increase. With a design speed of 350 km per hour, the 142.3 km HSR cuts the travel time between Jakarta to Bandung in West Java province from over three hours to around 40 minutes. “People feel comfortable enough to use this high-speed train to have a one-day tour in Bandung, or have a one-day business in Jakarta and return the same day,” Monti said.  - Agencies