All about railways in Indonesia (beware of HD pics)

[HISTORIC CORNER]


This video tolds us about the classical Prairie-type C24 series tank locomotive (former NIS 270 series) that was specially designed to haul any kind of trains at both flat and mountainous region. In fact, C24 is the only non-rack rail steam locomotive of NIS that was capable to haul trains at rack rail section of Ambarawa Line (outside the rack rail-enabled B25 a.k.a NIS 230 series), though the locomotive was only capable to haul 8 cars at its max power when climbing the rack rail section. Luckily C2407 (NIS 277) was successfully preserved at Ambarawa Rail Museum, and this year C2407 is now 114 year old, since the locomotive started its career in year 1908.

Just two photos of the Java heritage unit's latest roadshow taken by me. Both units (CC2018331, CC2018334) were involved in this roadshow lasting from 2/9 to 2/17.

[LATEST UPDATE REGARDING THE REACTIVATION OF CIKAJANG LINE]



(original photo by aluqman_bj)

With the reopening of Cikajang Line's Cibatu - Garut section became nearer to reality, Indonesian Railways began to perform trial run between Cibatu and Garut in a higher frequency, including the ones carried out today. As stated by Mr. Rudy Gunawan (the current Regent of Garut Regency) on his speech at Pasirjengkol station, from February 23rd there would be a 1-month free ride between Garut and Cibatu that intended by both government of Garut Regency and Indonesian Railways to promote the usage of passenger train to citizen of Garut Regency (in an attempt to reduce traffic jam on national road that already put local people into stress when they travel to Bandung and even Jakarta by using intercity bus or private car).

And here is the video by official YouTube channel of Garut Railfans community that reported the event at Pasirjengkol station and later at Cibatu station:


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Bonus:



This is the photo of new building of Garut station, uploaded by official Twitter account of Indonesian Railways. The older building (actually the 2nd generation building, as the 1st one was burnt down due to Politionele Acties back in 1947) is located next to the new ones (which is the 3rd generation station building).

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[ADDITIONAL UPDATE]

Government of Garut Regency made an official statement that they want Indonesian Railways to use "Cikuray Express" instead of "Kamojang Express" as the name of express train that would serve Pasarsenen - Garut after the line reopens for train traffic. The main reason of this statement is the fact that Mt. Kamojang is geographically nearer to Bandung Regency instead of Garut Regency, in contrast to Mt. Cikuray that is located within Garut Regency itself.

Recently one of my classmate in the highschool who is also a railfan uploaded photographs of steam-hauled tourist train "Sepur Kluthuk Jaladara" that runs between Purwosari and Solo Kota stations on his Twitter account, and since the locomotive that hauled the tourist train is D1410 (SS1410) I thought that Mr. Daveric a.k.a zsuda would be very happy to see the photographs taken by my classmate:











All of photographs are taken by Fikri M. Ghazi (Twitter screen name: Argo Muria)

Some sources said that this (slightly) heavy tank engine-type Mikado was originally intended by Staatsspoorwegen (SS) for performing switching duties at freight yards etc, but due to its very good performance they were transferred to mountainous line between Bogor (at that time it was still known as Buitenzorg) and Padalarang. Even after the independence and its class name changed from SS1400 to D14, they continued to haul trains between Bogor and Padalarang (and even most of them, if not all, were converted to oil-burning) until its retirement in early 1980s. Although D1410 was converted to wood burning at the time of its restoration work in 2019 to eliminate need for constructing refueling facility at Purwosari station (if it kept as oil-burning locomotive just like before its retirement), but this locomotive had been successfully resurrected by Indonesian Railways from its very long hibernation at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah's Transportation Museum.

Regards,

Arya.

.. terima kasih banyak, arya .. sangat dihargai ..
.. thankz a lot, arya .. much appreciated ..
grtz

You're welcome, Mr. Daveric! I'm very sure that your late father up there in the heaven is very happy to see that his Indonesian successors are successfully resurrected the D1410 (SS1410) back into steam, since this locomotive is the only one that could be saved from scrap torches back in 1980s - early 2000s.

Slightly personal thing, but I thought that it must be shared here:

Because I was infected by COVID-19 on yesterday, I would put this thread on hold for several days until fully recovered. While the symptoms are just like an ordinary influenza, unfortunately it is still very annoying myself when I want to take a rest but being interrupted by cough or sneeze.

I hope everyone is well

Arya.

.. be well, arya .. recover soon ..
grtz
daveric

Best wishes for a quick recovery Aryadwi!

Thanks for your support! Hopefully next week my health recovers in a better state.

Some news regarding both private and the railways in Indonesia in general:

1. Private News

Thanks to complete vaccination (including booster), I've successfully recovered from COVID-19 with only light symptoms (just like an ordinary influenza). With this, I could continue to fill this thread with new topics etc. :wave:

2. Rail News from Indonesia

[BIG NEWS]


March 24th, 2022 became a very historical day in Indonesia, as Indonesian Railways, Ministry of Transportation and Garut Regency officially inaugurated the reopening of Cikajang Line from Cibatu to Garut, along with the reopening of Pasirjengkol, Wanaraja and Garut stations to passenger services. While the ceremony itself was held at Garut station, many local people gathered along the line, as they finally saw the return of train to this line 39 years after the closure of Cikajang Line in 1983.

And here is the news about reopening of Cikajang Line:

https://redigest.web.id/2022/03/selamat-beroperasi-kembali-jalur-ka-cibatu-garut/





(all images are from official Twitter account of Indonesian Railways)

With the reopening of Cikajang Line, from March 25th, 2022 there are two trains operating regularly from Garut: the local train that served Garut - Purwakarta (as well as Garut - Padalarang), and the long-distance express train "Cikuray" running between Garut and Pasar Senen (yes, it is literally connecting Jakarta and Garut!). The former is technically Cibatu-bound local train, having its route extended to Garut, and the latter is a completely brand new train that was intended by Indonesian Railways, Ministry of Transportation and government of Garut Regency as the solution for reducing traffic jam on national road (including Purbaleunyi toll road) between Jakarta and Garut. In fact, the Regent of Garut Regency said almost one month ago that the train would be useful for citizen of Garut Regency that had their family (primarily son or daughter) living in Jakarta, as they would have no need to worry about traffic jam.

Hopefully many people from Garut would use this line for their daily activities.

Cheers,

Arya.

Great to hear you have recovered and always a pleasure to discover that a railway has been reopened!

According to 2021 train timetable revision, the name "Cikuray" was originally reserved for an executive-class passenger train planned to serve Garut - Gambir route, but the name was diverted to Garut - Pasar Senen economy-class passenger train due to request from the government of Garut Regency for correcting the train name (as the name "Cikuray" is technically represents the whole Garut Regency itself, since the name was taken from Mt. Cikuray).

aryadwi_ef641030 said:

Thanks for your support! Hopefully next week my health recovers in a better state.

Click to expand...

My Humble apologies Aryadwi,

Somehow I missed this most important post about your health, glad to here you are still with us and back.

Thank you for latest update on reopening of the Cikajang Line from Cibatu to Garut, along with the reopening of Pasirjengkol, Wanaraja and Garut stations to passenger services.

Great news for people to have choice to take a Train over heavy Traffic.....

I live in Southern California, and we have close to the worst traffic in the Nation, nothing to proud of either......!

https://cal.streetsblog.org/2020/10...tive-on-los-angeles-traffic-congestion-fight/

They have not been able to fix it as of yet, only band aids here and there.....

Please keep those pics and articles coming, they very interesting to read about how another part of our World deals with difficult Traffic problems. :wave:

Thanks for your kind words!

Just another update: according to latest video uploaded by Yusril Rizky Pratama (a local railfan from Garut area) on his YouTube channel, the first local train from Garut had been already packed by lots of passengers boarding from Garut station (presumably those residing in central and southern part of Garut Regency), where it would be even packed with more passengers from Leles station (which functions as the gateway for passenger trains serving northern part of the same regency). On the other hand, intercity passenger train "Cikuray" is also having relatively good ridership from the start, which means that one day the traffic jam problem for national road between Garut and Bandung would be solved (at least reducing the rate of traffic jam to 60%).

This is the video of Garut-bound local train (hauled by CC201 100 of Bandung locomotive depot) in the night, taken by Mr. Yusril himself. We can see that the train is still packed by lots of passengers, even after some of them had already getting off the train at Cibatu station. This means that the revival of Cikajang Line brought a new alternative for reducing traffic jam between Bandung and Garut, as well as improving public transport for those living around Pasirjengkol and Wanaraja stations (as the two stations are located in the rural eastern part of Garut Regency).

Mr. Yusril himself interviewed one of the passenger who experienced the day when Cikajang Line trains were still operated by steam locomotives, especially those hauled by CC50 (SS1600) during its late period in 1970s to 1983. The passenger said that the situation of today's Cikajang Line train is completely different, as he could board the comfortable train without need to worry about safety etc (thanks to the complete extermination of beggars etc done during the tenure of Mr. Ignasius Jonan as the CEO of Indonesian Railways). He (Mr. Yusril) also encountered another passengers sitting on the opposite seat, which some of them said that they boarded this train from Maswati station (located in West Bandung Regency) all the way back to Garut station. :hehe:

There are unique facts about each of each stations along the line:

1. Pasirjengkol station

Until its closure in 1983, this station was just a small halt without sidings and signalling equipment; however, it was revived as a station with 1 siding and fitted with Siemens & Halske mechanical signals. While the whole part of this station is located on the border of Sukahaji and Sukasono villages (both in Sukawening district), the station's address is listed as "Sukahaji village, Sukawening district" due to the station building located on the Sukahaji village side.

2. Wanaraja station

This station was originally having more than 2 tracks and equipped with Krian-type roundel (disk) signals until its closure in 1983, but after its revival the station is now having just 2 tracks, but with Siemens & Halske mechanical signals replaced the original Krian signals. To the north of this station, there was a sulphur processing factory that has been closed and abandoned more than 20 years ago.

Just found an image from a tweet posted by Japanese residing in Indonesia who recently boarded the Pangrango train (after the train resumes its operation due to the completion of track rehabilitation and double-tracking works between Bogor and Cicurug):



(original photo by YY (@sloUR4TPkFcGmJU))

This photo reminds me with Mr. Daveric's late father, who was the station master of Spoorwegstation Soekaboemi back in 1940. Although the station is now completely managed by Indonesians and lots of things had changed from year to year (including the installation of internet connection and modern computers for managing online ticketing system, as well as modern telephone connection for communication between stations and with crossing gate guard posts), but this station retains its classical atmosphere until today (even the overkapping for covering the platform itself is still the original). I'm very sure he (Mr. Daveric's late father) is very happy to know that Spoorwegstation Soekaboemi once managed by him during his career at Staatsspoorwegen is still used by many people.

Curious what is that fruit being sold near the Bogor station (not the photo with the kids, but lower down where he has the train pics)?

Even I don't know what kind of fruit is that, but it would be interesting if I could see that fruit with my own eyes there.

Thanks for checking! and for all your posts!