Tuesday 14 July 2015

Indonesian Railway Update: Freight Train Renaissance

"Aqua" train pulled by a DL, PT. KAI Class CC206, passes through Lenteng Agung Station
(Photo: Faris Fadhli)
 
Indonesia has been enjoying continued economic growth with an annual rate of 5% for nearly 10 years. Turning to the infrastructure of the country, however, the construction of public roads can't keep up with the sudden increase of motorcars. The domestic freight transportation, which relies on truck transportation, has reached its full capacity. Is there anything that can be done about it?

There is a solution. Use railways! In recent years, PT. KAI (Indonesian National Railways) has resumed rail freight transportation in the Jakarta metropolitan area. They introduced a new model of diesel locomotive (DL), Class CC206, in 2013, and started cement and mineral water transportation one and two years later, respectively. The CC206 is a 1,067 mm-gauge size DL with a diesel-electric transmission system. The axis arrangement is Co-Co (UIC notation). A total of 100 units have been built so far by GE Transportation.

Firstly, the cement freight train started operation in 2013 between Nambo on the Nambo Line and Kalimas in Surabaya, which is the second largest city in Indonesia. Currently, there are four cement rail freight routes on Java Island. The mineral water freight train subsequently started operation last year between Cicurug on the Sukabumi Line and Kampung Bandan in downtown Jakarta. The owner of the freight is PT. Aqua, which is the largest bottled mineral water vendor in Indonesia.

Faris Fadhli, an active Indonesian rail fan, kindly sent me the beautiful photos with a report. Faris-san, thank you very much.

Cement train pulled by a DL, PT. KAI Class 206, travels between Pondok Rajeg and Citayam
(Photo: Faris Fadhli)