After getting off the Railink from Sudirman Baru (BNI City) station, I transferred onto the Kalayang (Skytrain) to get to Terminal 3 where my AirAsia Indonesia flight back to Singapore was departing from*. As the Airport Railway Station is not physically connected to any of the terminals, a transfer to the Skytrain is necessary.
*NOTE: Effective 12 December 2018 at 3.00am local time (GMT+7), all AirAsia international flight arrivals and departures at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) will be relocated from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2. AirAsia no longer operates flights from Terminal 3.
Heading to the Skytrain station from the Airport Railway Station.
Heading up the escalator to the platform.
The island platform of the Airport Railway Station Skytrain station.
Departure information can be found on the train platform.
The Airport Railway Station as seen from the Skytrain platform.
It appears that Track B was “under maintenance”. As such, there was only a single train running on Track A between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, and a transfer at Terminal 2 to continue on to Terminal 3 was necessary.
I had to wait 10 minutes for my train to Terminal 2 – not something ideal in an international airport with a compulsory Skytrain transfer.
My train coming in from Terminal 2 to head to Terminal 1.
Inside the manually-driven Skytrain to head to Terminal 2.
The route map of the SHIA Skytrain.
Approaching Terminal 2 station.
A handwritten script by the announcer was present at the driving console to inform passengers about the transfer at Terminal 2 for passengers heading to Terminal 3.
Approaching Terminal 2, my “transfer stop” to Terminal 3.
As the journey times for the T2 – T3 and T2 – T1 routes matched up, it was a simple cross-platform transfer to the waiting train.
Heading into the Track B train to continue my journey to Terminal 3.
Departing from Terminal 2.
My previous Track A train heading back to Airport Railway Station and Terminal 1.
The apron between Terminal 2 and Terminal 3.
Approaching the futuristic Terminal 3.
Disembarking from the Skytrain at Terminal 3. With this short-working trip arrangement, the driver and announcer will have to change train directions every 5 minutes.
Heading to the terminal building from the Skytrain platform.
The Skytrain departing back to Terminal 2 beside the linkway to the terminal building.
Heading up the escalator to the departures level of Terminal 3 to check-in for my flight back to Singapore.
Overall, it was quite a bit of a hassle this time to get from the Railink train to Terminal 3 with 2 train transfers transfers needed in total for this short journey – the first from the Railink to the Skytrain, and the other between Skytrains at Terminal 2. Hopefully, the fully automatic system will kick in soon along with the points at Terminal 3 and Terminal 1 stations so that trains can run on a pinched loop at higher frequencies.
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