Antara News·Indonesia·Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 03:45 AM UTC

Foreign travelers boost demand for KAI rail services

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Ricky P, Rahmad Nasution

Bandung, W Java (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s KAI Group carried more than 760,000 foreign passengers nationwide in the first eight months of 2026, as international travelers increasingly use rail services to explore destinations including West Java.

The total reached 760,601 passengers, including users of conventional long-distance and local trains operated by PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) and the high-speed Whoosh service.

Of those passengers, 498,232 used KAI’s long-distance and local trains, while 262,369 traveled on Whoosh, which connects Jakarta and Bandung, according to the company's data that ANTARA quoted here Tuesday.

KAI Vice President for Public Relations Anne Purba said the combined foreign-passenger market along the Jakarta-Bandung corridor has exceeded one million when Whoosh is included.

Malaysia is the largest source market for foreign passengers using Whoosh, reflecting strong demand for rail travel between Jakarta and Bandung, Anne said.

Malaysians accounted for 403,626 Whoosh passengers from the service’s launch in October 2023 through August 2026, followed by travelers from Singapore, China, Japan and South Korea.

Singapore accounted for 113,356 foreign Whoosh passengers during that period, followed by China with 81,971, Japan with 45,046 and South Korea with 30,888, KAI data showed.

Anne attributed the increase in foreign ridership to tourism promotion through traditional and social media, as well as greater awareness of the convenience of rail travel in Indonesia.

Separately, KAI Group served 394.4 million customers across its rail-related services in January-September 2026, approaching 400 million in the first nine months of the year.

The total increased 7.06 percent from 368.43 million in the same period of 2025, according to KAI data.

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