Yogyakarta Airport Train Construction Reaches 83 Percent, It Is Targeted To Operate In August 2021

Yogyakarta International Airport (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi confirmed that the construction of the Yogyakarta International Airport railway line has reached 83 percent progress.

In his statement, the Minister of Transportation said that the construction of the airport train is an inseparable part of the Yogyakarta International Airport.

"The government believes that this airport train is a facility and this infrastructure will support the movement of people both from within the country and abroad, so it must have good connectivity and intermodal integration", he said as quoted on Saturday, March 13.

The Minister of Transportation added that this train line has a distance of 5.3 km from Kedundang Station to the Yogyakarta International Airport Station which is built elevated with a budget of not less than IDR 1.1 trillion.

"It is built on a multi-year basis, starting in December 2019, and is targeted for completion in the middle of the year. Then in July, a series of trials will be carried out and it is targeted to be operational in August 2021", he said.

Furthermore, he also explained that Yogyakarta International Airport can accommodate around 20 million passengers per year. Later this mass transportation will also be connected with Tugu Station in the city center.

"This strategy is also to support Borobudur as a priority tourist destination. The public can also be more comfortable using the airport train", said the Minister of Transportation.

The plan is that the number of train trips from Tugu Station to Yogyakarta International Airport along the 40.23 km is 24 trips using 4 train sets of diesel-electric trains (KRDE) and a carrying capacity of 4.800 passengers per day.

Meanwhile, the waiting time between train arrivals (headway) is around 30 minutes. From Yogyakarta Tugu Station, this airport train journey will stop at two stations, namely Wates Station and Yogyakarta International Airport Station.

The maximum train speed can reach 80 km/hour with a travel time of only about 45 minutes or faster than passing through the highway which can take 1-2 hours. Then the applicable rate is estimated at IDR 25.000.