Jakarta. The government is planning to connect the Greater Jakarta light rail transit or LRT with the Soekarno-Hatta Airport train to further cut travel time for many travelers.

A year has passed since the Jabodebek LRT project -- which connects Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, and Bekasi cities -- got launched. Earlier this month, State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir revealed that Indonesia was mulling linking the LRT with the Soekarno-Hatta Airport line. Indonesians can hop on the airport train from Manggarai Station in South Jakarta, among others. Erick, however, stopped short of going into more details of the LRT integration plans. On Monday, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi confirmed that work had already been underway to find ways to integrate the two transport systems.

“It’s true that we are working on it. We are now trying to identify the points or areas where we can possibly connect the LRT and the airport rail link services,” Dudy told reporters in Jakarta.

Dudy said that the government was hoping to finish the LRT-airport rail integration soon.

“The quicker [the integration], the better,” he added.

The Jabodebek LRT, which cost Indonesia Rp 32.6 trillion or around $2 billion to build, has recorded at least 18 million passengers so far this year. The state-run railway firm Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) is the operator of the Jabodebek LRT. At present, its subsidiary KAI Commuter is the operator of the Soekarno-Hatta Airport train, which recorded 1.9 million passengers throughout 2023. Its ridership reached 1.6 million people in January-September 2024.

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