Wendy Aritenang, Director General of Transportation Ministry said the ministry was working on plans with state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api to provide rail services to airports in Medan, Padang and Surabaya, the Jakarta Globe announced.

Construction work on the Medan project was expected to start this year, while the Padang and Surabaya projects would begin in 2010, Aritenang said.

According to him the Medan, Padang and Surabaya projects were more straightforward than the Jakarta rail link because the land was already available.
“With those cities, we don’t have to free up any public land,” he said.

Each of the three lines would be no more than 10 kilometers, while the Jakarta- Soekarno-Hatta line would be about 30 kilometers.

“In Medan, we’re hoping to finish construction by the time the new Kuala Namu airport is opened,” Aritenang added.

Rail services in each case would be under the full operational control of PT KA.

Meanwhile, the opening of the Jakarta airport line is expected to be delayed because the six consortiums interested in undertaking the work have requested more time to prepare their proposals.

The government has said that it wants work to begin on the Jakarta rail link in the second half of 2009.

According to Jakarta Globe, PT RaiLink, a joint venture of PT KA and airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II, was in the process of creating an Environment Impact Analysis, or Amdal, for the Jakarta project.

The Indonesian Transport Society chairman, Bambang Susantono, said the planned Jakarta airport rail link needed to be well managed.

“Existing train management is still unreliable,” he said, adding that delays were all too frequent.

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