OIKN: Airport Train Construction At IKN Targeted To Be Completed By 2025

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The Capital Archipelago Authority (OIKN) revealed that the construction of the train connecting Sepinggan Balikpapan Airport with IKN is targeted to be completed by 2030 and regional train construction is targeted to start after 2035.

"Now what is being prepared is the mode of train transportation. We have also prepared train lines from the airport train connecting Sepinggan Balikpapan Airport with IKN and regional railway lines connecting IKN, Balikpapan, Samarinda and surrounding areas," said Deputy for Facilities and Infrastructure OIKN Silvia Halim as quoted by Antara in Jakarta, Thursday, May 30.

Silvia added that the Sepinggan-IKN Airport train is targeted for construction to be completed by 2030.

"For trains that connect Sepinggan Balikpapan Airport - IKN, what was built earlier, because this is indeed expected to be completed by 2030," he said.

Meanwhile, regional railway lines connecting IKN, Samarinda, Balikpapan and surrounding areas are currently in the process of a study stage where the path plan is still under preliminary studies, and later further studies need to be carried out in the form of a feasibility study and basic engineering design before it can be implemented.

"And of course the implementation is that we will see in accordance with the development of the city of IKN. In the early stages, of course, we have not expected to be built, because based on our master plan, we expect that it may start construction after 2035 for regional trains," said Silvia.

He said that the plan to build the Sepinggan-IKN Airport train and regional trains was in line with the target of 80 percent of public transportation at IKN.

"This is precisely the target of our plan, because this is in line with IKN, which is the target of 80 percent of public transportation," he said.

For information, the Airport Train connecting IKN-Sepinggan Airport Balikpapan aims as a transit-based macro-transport mode connecting IKN and Balikpapan, as well as facilitating inter-city accessibility.

The presence of the airport train is expected to cut the travel time between the Central Government Core Area (KIPP) of IKN and Sepinggan Balikpapan Airport in approximately 34 minutes with a distance of about 46.06 km.