Governor Khofifah Tests MRT Elizabeth Line London, Absorbs Mass Transportation Technology For East Java

East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa (right) at MRT Station line Elizabeth Line, London, England. BETWEEN ANTARA/HO-Biro Adpim East Java

The Governor of East Java (Jatim) Khofifah Indar Parawansa tried the newly operational public transportation tool "Mass Rapid Transit" (MRT) Elizabeth Line in the UK.

"This public transportation tool is operated by Crossrail Ltd, a company that has submitted a Letter of Intent for transportation sector investment projects to the East Java Provincial Government during a business meeting and investment in London on August 29," Khofifah said in a written statement reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 31.

At the facilitation of the British Embassy in Jakarta and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) in London, Khofifah had the opportunity to explore knowledge from Transport for London (TfL), the team responsible for almost the entire transportation management in London, including the Elizabeth Line route which was recently operational under the Crossrail Ltd operator, one of the local-owned enterprises.

MRT's public transport line Elizabeth Line was built by Crossrail Ltd spanning more than 100 kilometers from Reading City and Heathrow in western London via underground tunneling lines along Sheffield and Abbey Wood.

The subway stopped at 41 stations, 10 of which have just been built, which is recorded as of a year serving around 200 million passengers.

Elizabeth Line is different from other MRT lines that have been built previously because it is built under the already densely populated city of London with buildings on it.

Governor Khofifah had the opportunity to learn about planning an environmentally friendly and high-tech train station, to the "Transit Oriented Development".

"After this, the transfer of knowledge process will be carried out virtually by TFL with a team from East Java," he said.

By trying out the MRT Elizabeth Line, Khofifah hopes that the team from the East Java Provincial Government can also learn and try out the latest mass transportation technology developed by Crossrail Ltd to be implemented in East Java.

According to him, in East Java, a feasibility study has been prepared for "Surabaya Regional Railways Line" and "Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan" from Germany, as well as pre-feasibility study "Urban Mass Rapid Transit System" from Japan to build connectivity between points in the Surabaya agglomeration area, which includes Gresik, Bangkalan, Mojokerto, Sidoarjo, and Lamongan.

Khofifah assessed that the development of public transportation connectivity is important to facilitate the mobility or movement of the community as well as goods and services, especially for industry and tourism.

"The preparation of the planning document is part of the reacity criteria in public transportation development. The results of the study are expected to be the basis for building more concrete cooperation by providing solutions to overcome traffic congestion in Surabaya agglomeration through public transportation," he also said.