Indonesia's national railway to focus on renewing over 1,100 railway vehicles in the next 5 years

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Indonesian state railway company PT KAI recently announced a railway vehicle renewal plan for the next five years. At present, about 39% of the company's railway vehicles have exceeded their technical service life. The renewal scope includes 151 locomotives, 26 diesel-electric multiple units, 15 diesel multiple units, 328 passenger cars and 653 tank cars, covering multiple vehicle systems for passenger transport, commuting and freight.

Among the 151 locomotives to be renewed are some GE U18C locomotives placed in service in 1977. PT KAI said that the failure rate of these old locomotives continues to rise, and they cannot meet Indonesia's B50 biodiesel application requirements. The company plans to jointly develop a new locomotive with Indonesian state-owned rolling stock manufacturer PT INKA and an international technology partner, and to upgrade the traction system from DC to AC to improve adhesion performance, traction capacity and operational reliability. From 2023 to 2026, the existing vehicles experienced a total of 395 traction motor failures.

The designed axle load of the new locomotive will reach 18 tons, while some existing lines can currently withstand only 15 tons of axle load. To support the entry into operation of the new trains, PT KAI plans to invest about 200 billion Indonesian rupiah in 2026-2027 to reinforce 275 bridges and culverts, with the goal of meeting the infrastructure conditions for the new locomotives to operate on the Java railway network by 2027.

In terms of the Jakarta metropolitan commuter railway, PT KAI plans to add 30 electric multiple units, with an estimated investment of about 8.7 trillion Indonesian rupiah. At the same time, the company will gradually replace the existing 84 Japanese second-hand electric multiple units, which have an average age of about 40 years, with new trains produced by PT INKA. The related renewal plan will support the expansion of the Jakarta commuter railway, with the goal of increasing daily average passenger capacity from about 1.1 million person-trips to 1.4 million person-trips by 2030.

PT KAI also plans to introduce battery electric multiple units on the 42-kilometer Padalarang-Cicalengka line. The train is planned to adopt a dual-mode operation mode using catenary and batteries, using catenary power supply on the Cicalengka-Bandung section, and switching to battery power on the Bandung-Padalarang section because some bridges cannot be equipped with catenary. In the first phase, one 12-car train is planned to be procured for testing, with procurement planned to start in September 2026, delivery in the second quarter of 2027, and entry into passenger service in the third quarter; after testing is completed, the subsequent scale can be expanded to 12 trains.

PT KAI currently has a relatively large fleet. As of June 2026, the company manages 551 locomotives, 1,064 electric multiple unit cars, 2,238 passenger cars, 8,907 freight cars, and 96 diesel-electric multiple units and diesel multiple units. The company had previously launched its 2023-2027 vehicle renewal plan, which includes procuring 612 new-generation stainless steel passenger cars from PT INKA to form 56 trains, with a contract amount of about 5.5 trillion Indonesian rupiah.