I've received the latest picture from an Indonesian railfan. It's the last active set of the EMU ex-Tokyu 8000 series being operated in Jakarta. My thanks go to Faris Fadhli, who kindly sent me the beautiful picture.
To start, let me quickly review the EMU Tokyu 8000 series. It was a direct current commuter train model operated on the Tokyu lines in Japan from 1969 to 2008. 187 cars in total were built by Tokyu Sharyo. After retirement from Tokyu, 45 cars were transferred to Izukyu Railway; meanwhile, 24 cars were exported to Indonesia as secondhand trains.
When I lived in Jakarta, Indonesia from 2007 to 2011, I often used trains. My favorite one was the ex-Tokyu 8000 series, as it's filled with my school days memories in Japan. When I was a high school student, I used the 8000 series on the Tokyu-Toyoko line to go to school. Whenever I came across the 8000 series in Jakarta, I was always encouraged by this train, because it still worked well in operation, and was in good condition same as in my school days.
As years went by, the 8000 series' second life is coming to an end... but wait a moment! The last set, namely 8003F, still remains on the track and carries lots of commuters every day. It's composed of 12 cars, and has beautiful red and yellow-colored bodies. I would like to thank the local railway engineers in Indonesia, and hope it'll be operated as long as possible.
