and would be underground. A better departure point at the Jakarta end would be the inner city railway station of Gambir but because construction of the Gambir-Halim leg was seen as adding complications, the line was planned from Halim (Jakarta) to Tegalluar (Bandung) with a cost of $5.135 billion. The concession period is 50 years from 31 May 2019 and cannot be prolonged, except in a force majeure situation. Groundbreaking was done on 21 January 2016. The HSR is a project of 60 percent Indonesian consortium and 40 percent China Railway International. The Jakarta–Bandung high-speed rail was planned to begin its operations in 2019. The Japanese proposal would have seen operations begin only by 2023. The Bandung-Surabaya sectio, though a priority section due to heavy congestion, has been officially shelved for budget reasons since early 2015. In October 2016, the Indonesian government announced its intention to build a medium-high speed railway between Jakarta and Surabaya, and invited Japan to participate in this project. Japan's proposal Since 2008, Japan has long nurtured a plan to export their Shinkansen high-speed railway technology to Indonesia. During the Indonesia-Japan Friendship Festival in November 2008, Japan showcased their Shinkansen technology to Indonesian audiences. The idea of high-speed rail backed by funding through soft loans has been proposed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the Indonesian island of Java, linking up the densely populated corridor from the capital Jakarta to Surabaya (). The island, similar in many respects including terrain and urban density to pre-HSR Honshu, suffered greatly from both freight and passenger congestion. The idea had been around for some years. However, a new proposal to divide the project into stages emerged, with the first stage being built from Jakarta to Bandung. The conventional train time of 3 hours would be reduced to 35 minutes at a price of 78 trillion rupiah. JICA finished the detailed feasibility study in 2014. This succeeded an initial study in 2012. By 2013 Indonesia had been undergoing a revival in railway expansion and upgrades. High-speed corridors had been proposed but not implemented. Japan – with its reputation as a world-class train-maker – seemed destined to win the contract. However, in 2014 the Indonesian government changed, as Joko Widodo was sworn in as the new president in October of that year. In January 2015 the Widodo administration halted preparations for the high-speed rail project, citing cost reasons and more