Rail talk: Are South-east Asia’s high-speed rail ambitions on track or running out of steam?

WHEN a bullet train aptly named Whoosh first sped off from Jakarta to Bandung last October – reaching a top speed of 350 km an hour and reducing travel time from three hours by car to just 45 minutes – Indonesia hailed the occasion as it laid claim to launching South-east Asia’s first high-speed railway (HSR).

The US$7.3 billion project – part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and largely funded by China – was viewed by observers as a big step towards Asean’s push for seamless integration and connectivity in the region.

This year’s Asean chair, Laos, has adopted the theme of “enhancing connectivity and resilience”, with a pledge to intensify cooperation by promoting – among many other things – infrastructure connectivity.