Indonesia's High-Speed Train Project: Expansion to Surabaya Amidst Debt Concerns

Jakarta. Indonesia is planning to form a national committee on the high-speed train project that got derailed by mounting Chinese debt, amidst plans to expand the railway to the East Javan capital of Surabaya. In recent months, Indonesia has been preoccupied with the debt hanging over the $7.3 billion high-speed train that links the capital Jakarta and West Java’s Bandung. Indonesia had taken out a Chinese loan to cover 75% of the construction costs. Last year, the sovereign wealth fund Danantara even revealed intentions to fly to Beijing for in-person negotiations to make the debt more manageable. And now the government intends to establish a national committee dedicated to the bullet train heralded as one of Former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s infrastructure milestones. “Well, this is a new administration, and there are plans to extend the train to Surabaya. The committee will involve different ministries,” Chief Infrastructure Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday. Agus admitted that his ministry would take the front role in the committee. Agus, at the time, had just had a meeting with Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on the railway project. He signaled that Purbaya would have a role in the yet-to-be-established team as it will deal with the funding matters. “This way, we will not come across any [financial] trouble in the execution. We want to learn from the Jakarta-Bandung rail,” Agus said. Indonesia will use other countries that are more advanced in high-speed train connectivity as a “benchmark”. A government regulation on the railway project is also in the works, although its details remain scarce. On the Surabaya expansion, Agus said that Indonesia wished to focus on the debt restructuring first, “as it deals with the Chinese side and the fiscal health of the companies involved”. The Jakarta Globe asked Agus whether Indonesia planned to take out Chinese loans again to extend the tracks to Surabaya — a question that the minister did not respond to. He also remained tight-lipped on the Beijing talks plans. Back in October 2025, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Guo Jiakun commented on the railway project as its financial burden continued to take over the news cycle in Indonesia. Jiakun said at the time that “one must also take into consideration its public benefit and comprehensive returns” when assessing a high-speed railway project. The Jakarta-Bandung rail, popularly known as Whoosh, recorded 6.2 million passengers throughout 2025. Whoosh is managed by the joint venture Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC). PSBI — a consortium of four Indonesian state firms — holds 60% of the shares, while five Chinese companies make up 40% of the shares. Within PSBI, railway operator KAI is the majority shareholder at 58.53%, thereby bearing the brunt of the financial stress. In November 2025, Danantara — whose portfolio includes KAI — announced that it would deal with the train’s operational matters, and leave the infrastructure obligations to the government. Tags: Keywords: