"Mud Express"

On Friday, June 30th, I went to Malang by hopping on a new executive and business class train called Malang Ekspres. This train, also known as "Mud Express" for passing through the hot mud flow area in Porong, Sidoarjo, served the Surabaya-Malang route.

That day did not seem to start off well. It began with the train arriving late about 10 minutes at Surabaya Gubeng Station. The train was supposed to depart at 10:20 AM. The train consisted of 1 locomotive numbered CC20315, 4 K2 (business class) cars, 1 dining and power car (KMP2), and 1 K1 (executive class) car .

The train departed 5 minutes later. On the way to Wonokromo Station, two passengers complained about their "invalid" tickets. Their tickets showed they were assigned seats 17D and 17x (I forgot the exact seat), but the passenger car's seats were numbered 1A-D to 16A-D. Since there were empty seats, they were allowed to choose any vacant seat.

The train arrived at Wonokromo Station at 10:42 AM and left for Sidoarjo Station 2 minutes later.

I was on the passenger car's vestibule when I felt the train suddenly brake. Initially I thought it was stopped before the home signal of Sidoarjo Station. When I looked around, the train stopped after passing a level crossing in Pagerwojo. A passenger said the train "hit" something. It turned out the train collided with a truck at the level crossing. One person died.

A few minutes later, the conductor announced semboyan 41 (clear to depart). But the train didn't budge. It seemed like there was an issue with the locomotive. The train crew tried to fix it, but it remained still. Word had it the air brake system got busted due to sudden braking.

Not long after, the sound of a locomotive's horn could be heard from behind the train. A locomotive numbered BB30108 serving the Penataran train (economy class) slowly moved behind the Malang Express. It looked like Penataran was about to be coupled with the Malang Express.

I did not think that the BB301 locomotive could push the entire Malang Express train and pull 5 Penataran passenger cars at once. But, the rare formation of CC20315 + 4 K2 + 1 KMP2 + 1K1 + BB30108 + 5 K3 moved slowly and entered platform 1 of Sidoarjo Station at 11:54 AM.

The Penataran train uncoupled from Malang Ekspres, switched to track 3, and a few minutes later continued its journey to Malang.

Meanwhile, Malang Ekspres was still on track 1. Some photos of the CC20315 locomotive's condition:

Since the braking system of CC20315 could not be fixed, a locomotive numbered CC20301 was sent from Bangil, Pasuruan.

The locomotive arrived at Sidoarjo Station at 12:35 and was immediately coupled with CC20315, which had been detached from the Malang Express train. CC20301 moved CC20315 to track 2, then returned to track 1 to couple with the Malang Express.

The Malang Ekspres train departs from Sidoarjo Station at 12:50.

As the train passed by Tanggulangin Station and just before reaching Porong Station, passengers were greeted by the smell of sulfur and the sight of bulldozers building a dam to prevent hot mud eruptions from reaching the railway tracks and Porong Highway.

Malang Ekspres stopped at Porong Station to cross paths with an economy class train from Bangil Station.

Malang Ekspres continued its journey, making stops at Bangil Station, Lawang Station, and finally arrived at Malang Station at 2:45 PM, over 2 hours late.