File photo: Photo taken on May 14, 2019 shows the first completed tunnel project of Jakarta to Bandung High Speed Rail in Walini, West Java, Indonesia. The 142.3 km-long Chinese-built High Speed Railway (HSR) project will connect Indonesia's capital Jakarta and West Java's Bandung in the southeast. (Photo: Xinhua)

The high-speed rail project linking Indonesia's Jakarta and Bandung, carried out by Chinese builders, has successfully balanced construction progress with COVID-19 prevention and control measures this year. 

Thanks to excellent prevention measures, strict management, thoughtful planning and reasonable process scheduling, the construction project has made steady progress as the building of the main roadbed, bridges, tunnels and stations have moved forward as planned, China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, reported on Friday. 

So far, the No 5 tunnel and No 3 tunnel have been completed, with the DK23 continuous beam on many supports also having been closed. 

In addition, the No 1 tunnel shield and track-laying work have achieved phase milestones. 

According to a video post by the commission, the project stores three months' worth of relevant medical supplies and living materials to support the construction workers' living and working.

The Jakarta-Bandung railway is one of the key projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and one of the Indonesian government's national strategic projects. 

The railway line is 142.3 kilometers long and will be used for trains with a maximum speed of up to 350 km an hour. The journey between Jakarta and Bandung, which previously took more than three hours, will be shortened to 40 minutes.

In the future, China and Indonesia will continue to work together and speed up project construction in a safe manner in order to put the railway into use as early as possible, the commission said. 

Global Times