Construction of Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway continues
during Spring Festival

Chinese and Indonesian builders of the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Railway (HSR) are working during the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, to ensure the progress of the project amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Ma Jinchi, chief engineer of PowerChina Jakarta-Bandung HSR Division, they are focusing on the construction of tunnel No. 2 of the railway with a complicated geographic and geologic environment.

Ma said they hope to achieve "the overall goal of completion in April."

"Some of our employees haven't returned to China for over two years, and most of us haven't returned home (in China) for more than one year," said Zhou Chaode, project manager of Sinohydro Bureau 7.

The Chinese workers celebrated the biggest holiday for family reunion together with their local friends with dumpling making, basketball and badminton games, and other entertainment activities.

"We are from different cultures and nations. We are glad to celebrate the Chinese New Year together with them, and we support their big holiday," said Hendri Firnanda, health, safety and environment coordinator of the project.

"I highly respect my colleagues from China, because they are highly enthusiastic about this project," Firnanda said.

The railway, regarded as the link between China's Belt and Road Initiative and Indonesia's Global Maritime Fulcrum strategy, will hopefully be put into operation in June 2023.

With a design speed of 350 km per hour, the railway built with Chinese technology will cut the journey between Jakarta and Bandung, capital of West Java province, from more than three hours to around 40 minutes.