JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation and an Indonesia-China joint venture firm for the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway on Wednesday signed a concession agreement.

Under the deal, the government gave a 50-year concession period to the PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), starting from May 31, 2019 when the high-speed railway is expected to be ready for operation, Indonesian Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan said.

"Based on analysis, the break-even point will be reached in some 40 years," the minister said after witnessing the signing.

The concession agreement dealt with construction, operation, maintenance of facilities, business, and operation of the railway, according to the ministry.

With the signing of the agreement, the transportation ministry would immediately issue a business permit and a license for the construction of the railway, the minister said.

The concession agreement is one of the ministry's requirements for issuing the license.

"With the signing of this deal, a new era of train transportation in Indonesia has come," said Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan, president director of PT KCIC.

He said that the construction of the railway would create many jobs and include a transfer of technology.

"For the smooth construction of the high-speed railway, we will train many workers who will join PT KCIC," said Wiryawan.

The $5.5 billion railway project links Indonesia's capital Jakarta and the fourth largest city of Bandung with a distance of about 150 km.

Travel time between the two cities will be cut from more than three hours at present to less than 40 minutes once the project is finished.