Bangil railway station

Bangil Station (BG) is a class I (one) railway station located in Pogar, Bangil, Pasuruan Regency; entered within eastern border of Operational Area VII Surabaya of Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) at the height of ± 9 meters above sea level (railway line Surabaya-Bangil). To the east of this station, there are branches towards Pasuruan-Probolinggo-Jember-Banyuwangi and to Malang.

To the west of this station, before entering Porong there is Gununggangsir which is deactivated due to low income. Bangil is the main railway station in the west of Pasuruan Regency, so this is one of the most busiest station in East Java that most of the trains stop at here.

History
Bangil railway station was commissioned by Staatsspoorwegen Oosterlijnen (East Line) as a state railway company in Dutch East Indies on May 16, 1878, at the same time as the commissioning of Surabaya - Sidoarjo -Bangil - Pasuruan railway line which was among the first railway line construction. Bangil is classified as a huge station, it has an engine shed. Just after the Staatsspoorwegen (SS) commissioned Surabaya−Pasuruan line, the company continued to build a new line to Malang which was commissioned on July 20, 1879.

Malang is a cold mountainous area in the south, where its geographical condition, apart from plantation area, is also a city that is suitable for weekend getaway destinations for city residents, most travelers went to Batu area. The railway line to Malang is incline passing several plantations and mountain ranges. The line begins to encounter steep incline in the area of Sengon. So, at the beginning of the operation, the SS didn't have large and powerful locomotives yet to accommodate trains passing through the mountainous route of Malang. So an engine shed was established to accommodate train trips from urban areas. Initially, the shed was a stopover for small steam locomotives (flat and mountainous-tracks) from Fox, Walker & Co., England as well as several locomotives from Sächsische Maschinenfabrik (Hartmann), Germany just like 2-6-0T SS300 and SS400 classes (DKA/PNKA C11 and C12). Over time, the shed became a stopover for larger and more powerful locomotives, such as the mallet locomotive 2-6-6-0T SS520 classes (DKA CC10s), ex-Preanger (West Java) mountain locomotives 2-12-2T SS800 classes (DKA F10) also known as "Javanic" and the express steam engines 4-6-4T SS1100 and SS1300 classes (DKA C27 and C28) to serve the express train from Surabaya to Malang named Vlugge Vijf (The Fast Five) which at the first operational had five round trips serving passengers from Surabaya to Malang. The Vlugge Vijf had ever booked a record just only 75 minutes from Surabaya to Malang because the line from Surabaya to Porong was linked by double-track line (later was shut down to only single track during Japanese occupation in World War II, transported for railway construction in Burma or another region). This station also served both as a stop and double heading for the express train to tackled the steep line to Malang, while the line of Surabaya–Malang could be driven by trains up to 90 km/hour in the late 1930s. At the eve of 70s was the edge of steam ages, the PJKA or Perusahaan Jawatan Kereta Api at the time slowly replaced their old steam engines with the newer diesels. Meanwhile, the fate of the steams had been scrapped or become static exhibits. The last occupants of the shed which ever documented in late 1970 to 80s were Georg Krauß C21s which was belonged to Mojokerto Steam Tramway (MdjSM), Hartmann C1136 (ex-SS336), the Werkspoor DKA C5317 (ex-SS1017), the Hohenzollern Locomotive Works D11s ex-Malang Steam Tramway, Hanomag "Javanic" DKA F1007 (ex-SS807) and DKA C2843 (ex-SS1343). This station has the same facade and design as Kertosono that includes the main building, canopy and the emplacement. The main building of the station had been rebuilt, except for the platform canopy and a turntable also locomotive depot that both of them are not used today. In some records, the original main building was bombed and destroyed during 2nd Dutch Military Aggression against the Republic of Indonesia, (see Operation Kraai) in 1948. After the battle, the DKA-RI (the Department of Railways of the Republic of Indonesia) rebuilt the main building of the station at the following year. To the south of the station, behind an abandoned locomotive depot there was branch connected to Pandaan and Japanan operated by a private tramway company named Modjokerto Stoomtram Maatschappij (MdjSM) or Mojokerto Steam Tramway as for Bangil-Japanan-Mojokerto rail line which opened on May 4, 1919. The line itself was used for the freight route and along this line, there were Panda'an (Ardiredjo) and Japanan sugar mills. Actually, this line was a displacement railway line for MdjSM from the first line which was inaugurated on September 18, 1899. The first MdjSM line used this station from track no.1 to the east (to Pasuruan) and then curved to the south passing behind the prison. Then, around 1914 Staatsspoorwegen (SS) proposed a line construction using the actual Modjokerto tramway's line map to the north (Kaliredjo) which connected to Sumberredjo sugar mill as a freight route service and this also impacted the operation of MdjSM's asset with the move of their railway line. The move of MdjSM railway line to the south because the line to Sumberredjo was actually belonged to MdjSM as part of Panda'an-Bangil line based on Colonial Government's Decree No.1 on 31 of December 1895. After line to Panda'an finished and opened in 1899, the MdjSM didn't execute the line construction to the north (Kaliredjo) which connected to the sugar mill and they considered it less profitable for their business operations. Finally, this line was taken over by State Railway or Staatsspoorwegen to build it which started from track number one from this station connected to Sumberredjo passing Bangil town square (just north from the station) around 1914-16 and finished in 1919. After MdjSM moved their line to the south, they also built their own station (Bangil MdjSM) not far from Bangil station in the south which now become a resident house, just behind Bangil locomotive depot. The sugar mill itself was defunct around 1932/1933 followed by Pandaan and Japanan as the result of Great Depression, then Sumberredjo was re-acquired by ''NV. Textielfabriek en Handelsmaatschappij "Kantjil Mas" ''and changed to a textile industry named "Kantjil Mas" in 1937. During Independence War (1947-1949), Bangil-Japanan railway line was damaged so it couldn't be used so after the war the DKA (Djawatan Kereta Api) Building Service was forced to renovate this rail line around 1949-1950 so that these lines could be operated again. Finally, this line was deactivated in 1969 as a result of a mismatched with the urban planning of Mojokerto at the time, while the line to Kantjil Mas or called Kancil Mas today was deactivated around the 1980s.

Building Layout
Bangil railway station has 8 active tracks with two additional tracks to the warehouse located in southwest of the station. Track no.2 is straight-track to and from the east line (Jember–Ketapang (Banyuwangi)), while the track no.3 is straight-track to the south line (Malang – Blitar – Kertosono) and Surabaya is from the west. In addition, track no.6 to no.8 are used as loops to store fuel-tank wagons or another cars.

As of from May 2010, the station's signaling system has been replaced with an electrical signaling system based on Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) made by Len Industri, namely the 2nd generation Len Interlocking System (SIL-02).

Services
The following list of trains that are stopped at this station :

Freight Train
Pertamina Tanker, to Benteng and Malang Kotalama