Indonesia’s HSR as a lasting legacy of Widodo’s presidency

WITH the launch of Indonesia’s Whoosh high-speed railway (HSR) in end-2023, this writer finally experienced it first-hand recently. The HSR is aptly named – Whoosh stands for Timesaving, Optimal Operations and an Outstanding System in Indonesian – and the end-to-end process of purchasing the tickets to the journey itself, was smooth and highly digitalised. Passengers can use a range of mobile payment solutions and are issued a QR code ticket to scan at the station gantries before boarding.

Built by a joint Indonesia-China consortium PT KCIC, the US$7.3 billion project was co-funded with a 3/4 loan from China Development Bank (CDB), with the remaining amount co-funded in a 60:40 split between the consortium’s Indonesian and Chinese partners.

Whoosh’s economic viability had previously been called into question, with a construction cost per km higher than comparable HSR projects in China and even Europe. With the CDB Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loan spread over a period of 40 years (with a grace period of an additional 10), it is unique both in terms of its scale and technical complexity, as China’s most expensive BRI project, and the first comprehensive export of its HSR technology.