WHOOSH KCIC is a Joint venture
Between Indonesia & China PRC
Using 100% Chinese technology and
100% Chinese engineering and technical know-how.
Made in China
Service speeds of 350 KMH / 220MPH
Travel Time between Jakarta-Bandung reduced from
3 hours & half to just 40 minutes via Whoosh HSR Bullet Trains.
I visited Jakarta, Indonesia last year, June 2024 and I took the chance to ride the Whoosh HSR trains which had just opened in October of 2023. Trains are clean, quiet and very fast, of course.
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OK, then we will get one of our first insights into how this holds up in the real worldâŚunless of course China is running and operating this system. Though I might add a lot of the technology is not really 100% Chinese in origin but that is beside the point. The trainsets are assembled in China so China owns the overall reliability. I am curious how they age over time and comparative maintence costs. I read and heard via the trainsets in China that some of the foriegn parts that were replaced with domestic China parts are not holding up so well leading to very noticeable deviations in ride quality on the older trainsets in China.
I am not against a drive through tourist review of HSR. I am against mixing that with CCP talking points which I know to be probably untrue.
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I think that we wonât get much objective information or data until the system has been in service a number of years, and even then we might have to extrapolate from âconflictedâ sources if the Indonesians actually start seeing QoS issues but donât want to publicize them.
I have no love lost for the current PRC government, or its increasingly expedient tactics (the OneWeb disaster being a ghastly enabling technology for BRICS in our brave new world of tariffs, for example) but something g they seem to have done right is building out the infrastructure and equipment for effective 350 km/h railroads. Thatâs the discussion here, not whether the Chinese have a mortgage on Indonesia or Panama or anywhere else theyâve established an infrastructure or service bridgehead.
Faster and better than anything in the Americas! LOL 
Plus they have plans to expand it across Java to serve more people and cut down on air traffic.
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Post a pic of a train which I rode upon and factual info is somehow âpropagandaâ? Yes, Iâve been to China PRC as well. No, I didnât ride the HSR rail there. I did ride a long distance sleeper train across China from North to South and back again. When I went to Indonesia for a short trip my primary goal was to ride as many trains as I could in a short time frame. I took the airport connection train into central Jakarta then I rode the KAI Commuter trains around Jakarta and also took the LRT out to the Whoosh station and checked it out. I rode in the VIP service going out to Bandung and then I rode in the economy class on the way back to Jakarta. It was about $10 bucks to ride economy aboard a train which hit 348 KM/H speed. I wish them all the best and hope they can and do expand the services on Java in Indonesia.
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I think he meant that some of the tech was stolen and not actually Chinese. They DO have a history of stealing intellectual property.
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PWAFâFirst of all, nobody said anything about how large or fast their HSR network was, just that all their technology may not be all home-grown. Second, calling anyone the âpeanut galleryâ isnât going to win you any friends.
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With âfriendsâ like these, who needs enemies? LOL Didnât ask you for your comments, either. I posted a pic and if you or anybody does not like it, donât bother to comment.
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I think it was the
[quote=âPrewarAmericanFlyer, post:1, topic:411155â]100% Chinese technology and
100% Chinese engineering and technical know-how.[/quote]
that got the peanut gallery so riled.
Whether or not the current generation of equipment has âborrowedâ European or other Asian best practices is immaterial. (Any good modern American HSR system would likely do the same at present.) The question is only how well the equipment and infrastructure will âwearâ in service. One of the things the Chinese have gotten ârightâ in the past decade is a proper systems approach to construction and maintenance, so itâs possible that the concerns the Dutch had with equipment in Java will be continuously and effectively addressedâŚ
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OK, well I simply quoted Wikipedia. But what I got was treated like garbage here. Welcome a new forum member? I guess not. And not only here, either but the same feeling in another thread/topic. Quite the opposite of friendly/welcoming. If somebody has proof that the Chinese trains use technology that are stolen, then go tell the media about it. Is there an article in TRAINS magazine about it? Not a single question about the trains, how was the ride, were the staff friendly. All the comments here have been very xenophobic in nature and very combative to the point of insulting. I travel with an open mind and happy to see the rail infrastructure outside the USA. Onboard the Whoosh trains in Indonesia thereâs a small LCD screen that tells you the current speed. Quite fun to reach nearly 220 miles per hour and not feel it. Very smooth ride. Fun.
Unlike these forums.
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What I would have done in retrospect â and what I think you should still do â is post in detail about your experience with rail systems in Java, including WHOOSH, without discussing where the trains might have come from. The experience is the thing of importance, not the politics or implied one-upsmanship.
We have had a number of threads about the Chinese development of HSR over the years, and it is an interesting story to see how it transitioned from its sometimes amusing first steps to the very effective systems development it has now. This is in remarkable distinction from COMAC, which is little more than a disaster and I think can be expected to do little better despite all sorts of âtechnology transferâ.
The usual-suspects posters here are often curmudgeons. Some of us are native New Yorkers and FIBs (which are much the same thing to the rest of the United States) and are not inclined to do BNBR as some versions of Netiquette might require. It is not intended as personal insult or disparagement.
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Well said, Woke! Welcome American Flyer!
I will simply say that I have ridden Chinese trains starting in 1990. In 2000 the trains around Shanghai and Hangzhou were slow but not steam. By 2006 services were fast and the magnev train (seemed to me to be a Siemens design) was running to the new Pudong airport at very high speed for a short ride. Later I rode HSR, fast, comfortable frequent and reliable between various points.
As to origin of the designs for the HSR equipment, the first units were built by Siemens (in Germany). Later equipment was built in China. Former German Chancellor Merkel complained to Xi about IP theft to no avail. Later equipment seems to have been home-grown evolved.
I think we should respect the observations of members who have actually witnessed rail systems first,-hand instead of the ranting against those systems by folks who lack any such experience.
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Hello and thanks for a balanced reply, Charlie Hebdo. I dunno about the issues or claims about the HSR equipment and tech. What I do know is I first rode it in Indonesia. And I was pleasantly surprised by the ride. Very smooth and very quiet. I can only wish I had been to China back in 1990 and had a chance to ride aboard and see some of the trains there before. Around Asia Iâve managed to ride trains in a few countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, China, India, Japan and I also count Taiwan but there it was the Metro and Light-rail. Last 1 was Indonesia, and I had a chance to ride the train to/from the airport into Jakarta, the LRT train, KAI Commuter trains (I believe made in Japan) and of course, the Whoosh HSR train Jakarta to Bandung and back.
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Not exactly accurate, they did a partnership with Japan as well in respect to the mentioned trainset. All you really need to do is Google.
I define âhomegrownâ as development and engineering from scratch or at least with majority parts content being domestic. China has a far different interpretation of that term. So we need to be clear on that. Now doing the engineering yourself and sourcing to another country, probably OK but just replacing an foriegn made part with your own cheaper made copy is more along the lines of reverse engineering.
I think members that have been in country and have ridden the train sets should realize they are not the one stop shop for factual information. First post in the thread, how many times is 100% usedâŚred flag for critical thinkers, reads very giddy to me. OK for a tourist review or another perspective. However, does not convince me in the least that I should change my view. Still skeptical on China HSR AND METRA.
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My goodness, that is such a beautiful, futuristic looking train.
Thanks for posting.
Rich
Your interpretation perhaps you should engage.
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No disputing that, like it or not!
Rich
You donât read accurately because your bias against Chinese technology is constantly showing.
My suggestion that later HSR in China was largely home grown is true. It isnât made in Japan or Germany.
The first comment about 100% might be inaccurate or not. Not my comment.
Your dismissal of reports by forum members who actually have had first hand eyewitness experiences with passenger rail is weird. Perhaps it is because you havenât any such experiences or none recently. Instead we are supposed to yield to your knowledge based on blogs or Wiki while you work from home as a temporary contract worker?
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