Jakarta Opens Its First Metro Line

Jakarta opened its first metro line in March 2019. It was inaugurated on the 24th and began commercial service on 1 April. The Indonesian capital is one of the largest cities in the world and had been, until then, the largest without an underground railway.

The line

The line runs for 15.7 kilometres from Lebak Bulus, in the southern suburbs, to Bundaran HI, the roundabout in front of Hotel Indonesia at the centre of the city. It has thirteen stations. The southern seven are on a viaduct and the northern six are underground, beneath the main avenue of Jalan Sudirman. The whole journey takes less than thirty minutes. By road at a busy hour the same distance can take two hours.

The project was paid for largely by a soft loan from Japan’s development agency and built by Japanese and Indonesian contractors. The trains were made by Nippon Sharyo. They are called Ratangga, an Old Javanese word for a chariot. Trains run every five minutes at peak hours and every ten at other times.

In its first month the line carried about 82,000 passengers a day. By 2024 the annual figure had passed forty million. An extension of 5.8 kilometres northwards, with seven stations, to the old town of Kota is under construction and is expected towards the end of the decade.

For travellers

The line is short, but it happens to follow the corridor in which most visitors spend their time. From north to south, the useful stations are these.

Bundaran HI. For the Selamat Datang monument, the Grand Indonesia and Plaza Indonesia malls, and the hotels around the roundabout, including Hotel Indonesia Kempinski.

Dukuh Atas. The interchange with the airport train and the LRT.

Istora and Senayan. For the sports complex built for the Asian Games of 1962, and the business district where The Langham stands.

Blok M. For the district of Japanese restaurants and bars known as Little Tokyo, and a lively quarter of cafés.

Fares are paid with a stored-value card or a bank card tapped at the gate. The stations are clean and air-conditioned, signs are in English, and the trains are crowded only at rush hour. For anyone staying on the central avenue it has made taxis unnecessary for a good part of the day.

Jakarta gained its first intercity high-speed service four years later, when Whoosh began running to Bandung. Elsewhere in the region, Ho Chi Minh City opened its first metro line at the end of 2024.