Bandung Area

On the way from Bandung and Jakarta, there is Sasaksaat railway tunnel which is said to be the longest operating railway tunnel in Indonesia. It is around 600 metres long, and located deep in the mountain in West Java.

Despite of its location, the tunnel is accessible by road (you could even drive your motorbike to the tunnel's portal) and it is surrounded by several large villages. And there is a railway station (Sasaksaat Station) nearby.

My first trip to this tunnel nearly ended in disaster, when I entered the tunnel with my friend to take photograph from the other end of tunnel, without proper lighting.

When I reached the middle of the tunnel, suddenly......the tunnel vibrated and there was a loud diesel noise and bright lights coming from our back!!! "THERE IS A TRAIN COMING!!!!!" I shouted. My friend jumped to the right whereas I jumped to the left.

Unfortunately, I hit the wall, instead of entering the safety gap.

So, rather than being hit by the train (there was very little gap between the train and tunnel's wall), I decided to lie down in the ditch on trackside, and waited until the train passed.

The train eventually passed, just inches above my head. It was a 'Parahyangan' train pulled by a CC203 loco.

After what was like an eternity, the train eventually passed. I met my friend, which turned out to be in a safety gap! We congratulate each other that the danger had passed and we were all still intact.

We continued our journey, and when we exited the tunnel, my friend was surprised that my face had turned dark, and my clothes were all dirty! Probably, it was because of the smoke from the loco!

After several photo shots, we decided to head back to the station end of the tunnel, through that tunnel again! But this time with the tunnel supervisor! After the journey which felt like eternity, we eventually made it back to the station!

I was glad that I had survived the ordeal, and able to return back home and make this website.

	The facade of that dreadful tunnel. At first glance, you may think it is unlikely that a train would pass this area at speed above 50 km/h. But the train normally entered the tunnel at speed around 70 km/h! The signal on the left is the only sign of modernity in this ancient looking countryside.
	A Parahyangan train was photographed when it about to enter the tunnel. The train, which nearly crushed me inside the tunnel had a similar configuration with this train.
	A view of the other end of the tunnel. With a CC203 loco blasting out of the tunnel. The journey to make this photo nearly cost my life!
	Another view of the tunnel facade, this time, with one train photographed when exiting the tunnel.
	CC203-41 (the last CC203 buit) approaching Sasaksaat tunnel at full throttle, while working on Argo Gede train (the cars itself looked new). The little boy on trackside seemed to pay no attention to the train at all.
	One train have just exited Sasaksaat tunnel. What makes this photo special is because the locomotive is the brand new CC204 locomotive, and it is working on its first ever revenue service.
	Near Sasaksaat tunnel (before it, if you're aprroaching from Bandung) there is a massive railway bridge named Cikubang Bridge. It is among the top three of the longest railway bridges in Indonesia, and it is actually crossing two deep gorges. But, it's strange, why the bottom right of the picture is covered with dust?