Ministry to reactive rail line to Tanjung Mas

JAKARTA. The Ministry of Transportation will reactivate the rail line between Semarang Gudang train station and the Tanjung Mas seaport in the northern part of Semarang municipality.

"The total cost to reactivate the dormant rail line is expected to reach at least Rp 35 billion, mainly to lay down new railway tracks," the Transportation Ministry's Director General for Railways Hermanto Dwiatmoko noted here on Friday.

The rail line from Semarang Gudang train station to Tanjung Mas seaport covers a distance of about 5 kilometers. Earlier, there was a functioning rail line but was damaged after being submerged in sea water. The construction of the new rail line is expected to be completed in two years.

According to him, the reactivation of the rail line is being carried out to move the regular transport of goods via road to railways, with the objective of reducing the travel time and saving fuel costs on logistics shipments.

The ministry has signed a cooperation agreement with four other stakeholders for the construction project: Directorate General of Sea Transportation Ministry of Transportation, Central Java province, PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III (Persero), and PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero). The agreement has been inked to synergize programs between the five stakeholders.

In addition to the agreement related to the reactivation of the rail line to Tanjung Mas, the Transportation Ministry has also signed a cooperation agreement with PT KAI related to railway travel chart in 2015. Dwiatmoko explained that the graph will be evaluated periodically for trajectory adjustment for train transportation.

Moreover, the ministry will soon commence reactivating other rail lines in Central Java, located between Kedungjati train station in Grobogan district and Tuntang train station in Semarang district.