At the start of the journey, the train travelled along the track beside Jalan Ahmad Yani. The street is notoriously known for its traffic jam, yet the adjacent railway line is rarely utilised to releive the jam!

I think this is also the first time I've ever seen a trackside babysitter service!

As the train arrived at Porong station, the commuter railcar is about to depart for Surabaya.

The commuter train (known as 'Komuter' by the local) was introduced in 2004 to reduce the traffic density between Surabaya and Sidoarjo. But, now the service have been extended to Porong.

In an interesting footnote the railway line between Surabaya and Porong was once a double track line. But it was single tracked during the Japanese occupation in Second World War.

Bangil is known as junction city, where the line that goes to Malang and the one to Banyuwangi separated.

For the passengers who wished to go to Bali, they can take the train to Banyuwangi, where they will then embarked on a ferry ride to Bali island, where the bus service await them on Balinese side.

During the steam period, Bangil was also used as a locomotive replacement point, where the express locomotive from Surabaya would be replaced by F10 1-12-1 steam locomotive, to negotiate steep grade near Malang.

The railway line between Bangil and Lawang (near Malang) is known as the second steepest non-rack railway line in Indonesia. The steepest being the one which connect Bandung and Cianjur.

And this photo could show you how steep it is. just pay attention to the station emplacement in the background.

Once we arrived at Lawang, the train made a long stop to gave way to the descending tanker train. This Surabaya-bound train made a small mishaps when its brakeman overreacted, and causing the train to stop too early. But the problem was eventually fixed.

Lawang, in English translate as 'Door'. Because the town used to be the gateway to the kingdom of Singosari, where the visitor from Mojopahit (a large kingdom near Surabaya) would pass through a 'checkpoint' in this town.

Nowaday, both Lawang and Singosari played only minor role compared to Malang ( a city to the south of both towns).

Just minutes after departed from Malang railoway station, the train arrived at 'Malang Kota Lama' station where it used to be the site of Malang's old town (kota lama=old town).

Malang Kota Lama is also a terminus point for the tanker trains from Surabaya, where the tank cars will then transported to the branchline on the left of the picture, and its content will then distributed to the petrol stations around Malang by truck.

To the south of Malang, there are two tunnels which was built as a part of Karangkates Dam project in 1960s.

This one is 'Dwi Bakti Karya' tunnel which is located on the nearer side to Malang.

Normally it would have been impossible to take the picture of tunnel interior from a moving train, without flashlight. But in this occasion, it was made possible due to the presence of ventilation holes (a rare feature in Indonesia) inside 'Eka Bakti Karya' tunnel.

Commisioned in 1969, the 'Eka' and 'Dwi' tunnel are the youngest railway tunnels in Indonesia, and they were the only railway tunnel in Indonesia which were built using tunnel boring machine (a similar method with the one used to build Channel tunnel). A stark contrast with those whose were built by Dutch colonial government, which were constructed using shovels and diggers.

The view of 'Eka Bakti Karya' tunnel facade.

The tunnel, along with its sister, was built as a bypass from the old alignment, which was sunk under the Karangkates Dam. Unfortunately, no remmants of the old alignment are visible today.

Unlike the average railway tunnel in Indonesia, where there's only just jungle above its roof, these tunnel have theme park and small town above them.

As the train approached Kertosono, the line rejoined with the mainline that connect Kertosono with Surabaya through Jombang and Mojokerto.

This mainline junction is the only operating railway junction in Indonesia that is located outside the station emplacement.

In the past there used to be another one in Rangkasbitung (West Java), where the line to Merak and Labuan separated. But the line to Labuan was closed in 1980s, making this junction as the only one of its kind, as the rest of mainline junctions in Indonesia are located within station emplacement.

The Kertosono locomotive depo is just a small shed which is used to perform minor maintenance, and used to park visitng locomotives these days.

But in the past there used to be a roundhouse, complete with turntable in Kertosono. Unfortunately, due to demise of steam locomotives, the roundhouse and turntable was demolished several years ago.

The remains of those facilites are partially visible behind the BB30125 loco, under the trees.

A view of Kertosono railway station. My train is waiting for the approaching Bangunkarta train from Jombang to arrive. The locomotive depo is visible in the background.