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CHINA’S JAKARTA-BANDUNG HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY ACHIEVES HISTORIC SPEED OF 350KM/H: JAPANESE MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS INSURMOUNTABLE GAP IN HIGH-SPEED RAIL TECHNOLOGY
June 30, 2023 by archyde2023-06-30 08:26:05
As the “first order” of China’s high-speed railway going abroad, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, the first high-speed railway in Indonesia and even Southeast Asian countries, has recently achieved a speed of 350 kilometers per hour for the first time. As China and Japan compete for overseas high-speed rail, the “China Plan” won the order from Japan for the first time, and the new breakthrough of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail has also attracted the attention of the Japanese media.
Japanese transportation industry media “Merkmal” issued an article on June 28 stating that the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail shows that Japan and China have formed an “insurmountable strength gap” in high-speed rail technology.
The article analyzes that, unlike Chinese state-owned enterprises that rely on the government and work together to build efficiently, Japan not only has to go through a complicated bidding design process when undertaking overseas orders, but also the various construction companies will compete with each other and subcontract and outsource layer by layer, which greatly slows down the overall construction process. Construction progress, and there are only a handful of domestic equipment manufacturers in Japan. “Contrary to the false ‘All Japan’, this is the real ‘All China’.”
The Japanese media also noticed that the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail and other overseas high-speed rail projects undertaken by Chinese companies have adopted the same standards and equipment as those in China. It continues to be applied to other overseas projects, which is “unable to be imitated by other countries.”
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway connects Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and Bandung, a famous tourist city, with a total length of about 142 kilometers. This is a landmark project for the construction of the “Belt and Road” and the practical cooperation between China and Indonesia. Chain’s overseas construction projects adopt Chinese technology and Chinese standards across the board. After it is completed and opened to traffic, the driving time between the two places will be shortened from the current 3 hours to 40 minutes.
On June 22, the running speed of the integrated test train for the joint commissioning and testing of the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway reached 350 kilometers per hour for the first time, marking that the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway has reached the design speed standard and achieved the phased task goal of the joint commissioning and testing.
“Merkmal” noticed that the stability and quietness of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail are also top-notch when running at the highest operating speed. The Indonesian rupiah coins erected on the edge of the window will not fall down. The report quoted Indonesian Minister of Transport Budi and Indonesian Marine Luhut, the Coordinating Minister of Investment and Investment, said, “(The riding experience) shakes less, and the sound insulation effect is better.”
According to reports, the Indonesian Ministry of Transport has entrusted a number of European railway consultants to conduct final assessments on matters such as safety before putting into operation. No later than October 1st. Earlier, Indonesian media had reported that the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway will be opened as scheduled on August 18 this year, which is the celebration of Indonesia’s 78th Independence Day (August 17).
“Merkmal” said that the progress of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail was not smooth at the beginning due to reasons such as the failure to keep up with the land acquisition work in Indonesia. After the Chinese side held the groundbreaking ceremony in January 2016, it was not until the middle of 2018 that the main project was officially launched.
“Although the construction failed to start as planned and experienced a (nearly) three-year blank period, China finally succeeded in reversing the backward situation of no progress in these three years.” Merkmal pointed out that China’s government and construction companies “concentrate their efforts on major tasks “The key to turn the tide is to work together from top to bottom. What Japanese companies face in the competition for overseas orders is not a specific company, but “the whole of China.”
According to the article, the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail is concentrated on several large state-owned enterprises in China and Indonesia. There is no complicated bidding for Japanese companies like the Japanese Official Development Assistance Project (ODA), and there will be no such thing as in the subway project earlier. In the past, Japanese companies held each other back and subcontracted and outsourced layer by layer, resulting in a lot of waste of time and cost.
“Especially in the sprint stage of the last year, all the contractors shouldered the majesty of China, and the way they united and cooperated to advance the work was jaw-dropping. This is the real ‘All China’, which is the opposite of the false ‘All Japan’.” Merkmal said with emotion.
On March 31, 2023, workers laid the last rail of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail line.
In particular, Merkmal noticed that the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway and the Hungary-Serbia railway being built by China have adopted the same standards and construction equipment as those in China, such as DF4 locomotives, continuous track laying equipment, track maintenance equipment, track inspection vehicles, etc.
This can save costs and lead to faster delivery time; and once the construction equipment breaks down, the Chinese side can transfer the same equipment from China at any time to ensure that the construction period and quality will not be affected; more importantly, these equipment can continue to be applied to the construction site after completion. Regarding other high-speed rail projects, the Japanese media commented that this whole set of models is “absolutely impossible for other countries to imitate.”
According to the report, in order to catch up with the progress, China has successively added some engineering equipment from China during the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. After the equipment was damaged at the end of last year, it quickly resumed work within a week. “This is China as the world’s largest railway power. The embodiment of absolute strength.”
In contrast to Japan, Merkmal said that for the same order, Japanese companies have to start bidding for design from scratch, and there are only a handful of domestic equipment manufacturers like Chinese companies, so it is difficult to say that they have the ability to undertake overseas orders.
The article ultimately criticized the Japanese government for “not even having the courage to protect the development of the country’s railway industry”, saying that it is neither willing to invest more funds in railway construction, nor is it willing to support local companies to compete for orders overseas.
Merkmal specifically mentioned that after the trial ride of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail, Indonesian Maritime and Investment Coordinating Minister Luhut announced that the country would no longer buy second-hand trains from Japan, and the Japanese emperor had just visited Indonesia. It angrily issued repeated questions: “If the contractor of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway is Japan, and the high-speed railway proposed by Japan requires a large amount of land acquisition and even runs through the urban area, we can really open it on time and within budget by 2023. “, “As long as China continues to invest huge amounts of state funds in the construction of railways, the strength of China’s railway infrastructure construction will not be shaken. Under such circumstances, how will Japan compete with neighboring railway powers?”
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