In Australia it takes an age to travel between Sydney and Newcastle on a rattling old train.
In Indonesia, they are this week celebrating the launch of south-east Asia’s first high-speed bullet train.
The Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Hebat (WHOOSH) train was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo and runs from the capital Jakarta to Bandung in West Java.
The China-backed project has cost around $10 billion.
It is mostly funded by China under a deal with Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, a consortium of Indonesia and China companies.
The new train cuts a journey time of three hours to under an hour on the 142km route and trains are capable of reaching speeds of 350kmh, Travel Mole reports.
“The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train marks the modernisation of our mass transportation, which is efficient and environmentally friendly,” Widodo said.
The project construction began in 2016 but experienced multiple delays including due to the pandemic
The trains have seating capacity for over 600 passengers.
Image: Xinhua
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