Workers in Fangchenggang port, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, load the 50-meter long steel rails onto a cruise tanker ready to be shipped to Indonesia. Photo: People's Daily

China's high-speed railway exports ushered in a new business in addition to technical standards and contracted construction - as steel rails export heading for Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway (HSR) was on sea voyage, making the nation as one of the few countries in the world that can export long steel rails.

The first batch of steel rails, produced by Pangang Group Co based in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, were loaded on to a cruise tanker in Fangchenggang port, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and departed for Indonesia on Saturday, the People's Daily reported.

According to negotiations between China's railway authority and several companies including Pangang Group, the steel rail's transport plan was made as follows: the 100-meter long steel rails were first shipped to Fangchenggang port by rail, and then cut into 50 meter sections for shipment to Indonesia.

As the largest sea port in western China, Fangchenggang serves as an important transfer base for premium trade such as minerals, building materials and coal, and an important import and export trade channel for Pangang Group.

The Jakarta-Bandung HSR is one of the key projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and one of the Indonesian government's national strategic projects. The landmark project will not only enhance the partnership between China and Indonesia in line with the BRI development, but also promote Indonesian economic development.

With construction expected to be completed by the end of 2021, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railroad, with a designed speed of up to 350 kilometers per hour, is the first standard high-speed railway in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia as a whole, as well as China's first contracted overseas high-speed rail project.

The railway completed another major milestone earlier this month with Tunnel 7, the first over-1-kilometer tunnel in the project, successfully bored through.

The China Railway Group Limited (CREC) Indonesia has overcome many difficulties such as shallow burying, biased pressure, inlet road relocation, land sliding and the COVID-19 pandemic, strictly following the design and regulations with reasonable technology methods and innovation, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

When the Chinese-built 142.3-kilometer HSR project is completed, the travel time between Jakarta and Bandung will be reduced to 40 minutes, compared to more than three hours at the moment.