The South Sumatra Light Rapid Transit
(, lit. "South Sumatra Integrated Rail Line", shortened to LRT Sumatera Selatan or LRT Sumsel), colloquially known as LRT Palembang or Palembang LRT, is an operational
light rapid transit
A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...
system in
Palembang
Palembang (, Palembang: ''Pelémbang'', Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the ea ...
,
South Sumatra
South Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the southeast of the island of Sumatra. The capital and largest city of the province is the city of Palembang. The province borders the provinces of Jambi to the north ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
which connects
Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport and
Jakabaring Sport City
Jakabaring Sport City ''(sic)'', also known as Jakabaring Sports Complex () is an integrated sports facility complex in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. The complex is located 5 kilometers southeast of Palembang city center, across the Musi Ri ...
. It is the first practical modern light rapid system to operate in Indonesia. It was also the first rail line as a rapid transit system in the country.
The system is owned by Directorate General of Railways,
Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia, Government of
South Sumatra
South Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the southeast of the island of Sumatra. The capital and largest city of the province is the city of Palembang. The province borders the provinces of Jambi to the north ...
, and Government of
Palembang
Palembang (, Palembang: ''Pelémbang'', Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the ea ...
; PT
Kereta Api Indonesia
PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) (, abbreviated as PT KAI or simply KAI) is a major railway operator in Indonesia and one of the Public transportation, public railway companies in the country. It is State-owned enterprise, state-owned and pa ...
was appointed to operate the system.
Starting construction in 2015, the project was built to facilitate the
2018 Asian Games
The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...
and was completed in mid-2018, just a few months before the event. Costing
Rp 10.9 trillion for construction, the system utilizes trains made by local manufacturer
PT INKA. The system's only line has a total of 13 stations, fully grade-separated by viaduct.
Construction and costs
By 2012, the provincial government already had plans for a transit system in the city, signing a
MoU with investors to construct a
monorail
A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...
system connecting the
city's airport and
Jakabaring Sport City
Jakabaring Sport City ''(sic)'', also known as Jakabaring Sports Complex () is an integrated sports facility complex in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. The complex is located 5 kilometers southeast of Palembang city center, across the Musi Ri ...
. However, the monorail project was replaced by a higher capacity
Light rapid transit
A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...
(LRT) line in 2015 since Governor of South Sumatra
Alex Noerdin thought that LRT is more effective in reducing traffic congestion.
Because Palembang was chosen to host the
2018 Asian Games
The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...
, the project was pushed to be completed before the event was scheduled to begin. Groundbreaking for the project occurred in November 2015, with state-owned company
Waskita Karya being appointed as the primary contractor following the issuance of Presidential Regulation 116 of 2015 on Acceleration of Railway Train Operation in South Sumatera Province.
The contract, which was signed in February 2017, was initially valued at Rp 12.5 trillion.
Construction was scheduled for completion in February 2018, with commercial service beginning in May 2018. However, the completion date was moved to June 2018 with operations beginning in July, only one month before the Asian Games.
A test run was done on 22 May 2018. It was later inaugurated by President
Joko Widodo
Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...
on 15 July 2018.
Operations for the LRT started on 1 August, several days before the
Jakarta LRT began running, making it the first operational LRT system in the country.
The final value of the contract was Rp 10.9 trillion (US$755 million).
The reduction in cost was due to a review by supervising consultants from
SMEC International.
Close to the start of the event, the trains often encountered operational issues. Waskita initially paid for the construction, with the government reimbursing the fees over a four-year period.
Prominent opposition figure and
Gerindra
The Great Indonesia Movement Party (), better known as the Gerindra Party, is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in Indonesia. Since 2014, it has been the third-largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), having won 86 s ...
leader
Prabowo Subianto
Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo (born 17 October 1951) is an Indonesian politician, businessman, and former four-star Indonesian Army, army general who is serving as the eighth and current president of Indonesia since 2024. He was previously t ...
criticized the cost of construction, claiming that typical LRT lines worldwide cost US$8 million/km to construct while the Palembang LRT cost US$24 million/km.
As a comparison, the cancelled
Sheppard East LRT in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
would have cost US$56.7 million/km. The Palembang LRT project leader compared the higher cost to those of other projects in neighboring countries: the
Kelana Jaya line (US$65.52 million/km) and the
Manila Light Rail Transit Line 1 extension (US$74.6 million/km).
Infrastructure
Rolling stock
As of August 2018, the service operates eight sets of trains delivered in April 2018, each with 3 carriages for a total of 24 carriages. Weighing 88 tons per carriage, a full train has a total capacity of 722 passengers, 231 in the first and third carriages, with the remaining 260 in the center carriage. Of this, the seating capacity is 78.
The electrical trains operate on 750 V DC voltage. Individual carriages, made from
stainless steel
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
, have a roof height of and a floor height of . The gap between
bogie
A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...
s is , with the total length of the current trains (3 carriages) at . The trains are assembled by
PT INKA, with around half of the components manufactured locally.
Stations
The only line of the system serves 13 stations, all elevated. Six stations were initially opened to public in August 2018, with the rest gradually opening in the following months.
Track
The train uses a
ballastless, elevated track. The signalling for the track uses
fixed-block signalling. Stretching between the airport in the northwest and train depot in the southeast, the track is supported by 9 electrical substations and a
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...
.
After passing
Ampera station, the train crosses the
Musi River next to the
Ampera Bridge
Ampera Bridge (, for andate of People's Suffering a now-rarely used colloquial name for the preamble of the Constitution of Indonesia), formerly Bung Karno Bridge (, after President Sukarno) between its opening and the 1966 De-Sukarnoization c ...
.
Operation
The train runs from 05:05 am to 08:43 pm, with 94 trips per day and a headway of 17 minutes.
A full trip of the only line takes up to 49 minutes. In each station, the trains have a transit time of approximately 1 minute, except for the two terminuses at the depot and airport, where they stop for 10 minutes.
Fares
The fare separates passengers riding to and from the airport and those who do not, with the former paying a higher fare of Rp10,000 while the latter paying Rp5,000. Students can apply for unlimited-ride transit passes with the low price of Rp25,000/month. The fares are subsidized by the central government, which spent Rp120–180 billion annually to cover the operating cost of the system.
Ridership
The government targets a daily ridership of 96,000 with an increased figure of 110,000 by 2030. Between July 2018 and February 2019, around 1 million passengers travelled on the LRT. In November 2019, the operating company reported around 6,000 daily riders on weekdays and 10,000 on weekends, and that by October 2019 3 million trips had been completed. Daily ridership declined sharply in 2020 and 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
However, by the first half of 2022, daily ridership had risen to exceed the pre-pandemic number.
Notes
References
{{Rapid transit in Asia
Airport rail links in Indonesia
Rapid transit in Indonesia
Light rail in Indonesia
Railway lines opened in 2018
2018 establishments in Indonesia
Transport in Palembang