November 12, 2014
In the Republic of Indonesia, a newly established commuter rail line in the Surabaya metropolitan area of the country’s province of East Java first went into service. (Surabaya is second only to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, as that country’s largest city.) The introduction of the commuter service known as KA Jenggala marked the first time in about 40 years that any such trains had operated on that particular transit route. The initial runs of KA Jenggala’s trains originated at the station in the city of Mojokerto, which is 24.8 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Surabaya.
A dozen days later, the official dedication of KA Jenggala took place at the station in Sidoarjo Regency. This regency (administrative division) shares its northern boundary with Surabaya. Ignasius Jonan, who had been named Indonesia’s 37th minister of transportation towards the end of the previous month, was on hand for the inaugural festivities for KA Jenggala. During his remarks for the occasion, Jonan highlighted how the line had already been functioning for nearly two weeks by that time. “The community has actually been able to enjoy this pioneering train service since its soft launch,” he said.
KA Jenggala is currently one of five commuter rail services operated by the government-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia. The trains used by each of those lines are multiple-unit trains powered by on-board diesel engines. These trains are built by the government-owned rolling stock manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (Persero).
Photo Credit: Rizal Febri Ardiansyah (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
For more information on commuter rail lines in the Surabaya metropolitan area of Indonesia, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_rail_in_Surabaya
Transportation History 
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