Solo Balapan railway station

Solo Balapan Station (also known as Balapan Station, station code SLO) is a major railway station in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. The name "Balapan" is taken from the name of a village which is located to the north of the station. The station is located on the railway line that connects the cities of Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya, and Semarang. Solo Balapan Station is the largest station in Surakarta and Central Java.

History
Solo Balapan Station is one of the oldest major stations in Indonesia (after Samarang NIS), built by the first Dutch East Indies railway company, Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij (NIS) in the 19th century, namely during the reign of Mangkunegara IV and is located in the territory of the Duchy of Praja Mangkunegaran. The major station in Surakarta for the Surakarta Sunanate and Staatsspoorwegen areas is Solo Jebres Station.

This station was built on the equestrian owned by Mangkunegaran. As a substitute, the Mangkunegaran received land in Manahan from the Kasunanan to build horse racing facilities and other sports activities.

The laying of the first stone took place in 1864, enlivened by a ceremony which was attended by Mangkunegara IV and invited the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, Baron van de Beele. This station was opened on 10 February 1870 simultaneously with the opening of the Kedungjati–Gundih–Solo line, previously the Gundih–Solo line was planned to open on 1 September 1869. The next line, namely the Ceper–Solo line, was opened on 27 March 1871. The construction of all railway lines planned for NIS, Samarang–Vorstenlanden and Kedungjati–Ambarawa was completed and inaugurated on 21 May 1873.

In 1927, a building to the south of the station was built with Javanese-influenced architecture with a three-story roof. This is in line with the construction of the Staatsspoorwegen double track which is parallel to the NIS Solo-Yogyakarta railway line. The construction of the south side of the station building was designed by Herman Thomas Karsten, a well-known Indisch architect.

This station is the second train station in Indonesia that uses an electric signaling system after Bandung Station in 1972, produced by Siemens and given the DrS60 series. The signal was then replaced by the latest signal produced by Len Industri in October 2020.

Building and layout
Initially, Solo Balapan Station had twelve railway lines which were divided into two emplacements. The south emplacement has five lanes with line 4 being a straight line to and from Yogyakarta and line 5 being a straight train to and from Madiun, while the north emplacement has seven lanes with line 7 being a straight train to and from Semarang. After the Solo-Yogyakarta double-track was operated in 2007, line 4 was used as a double-track straight line from Yogyakarta, while line 5 was used as a double-track straight line to Yogyakarta as well as a single track highway to and from Madiun. Then, after the double track to Solo Jebres is operational as of 7 October 2020, line 4 is used as a straight line towards Madiun, while line 5 is used as a straight line towards Yogyakarta.

The southern emplacement is generally used for intercity passenger train services, and the Yogyakarta–Solo Commuter Train, while the northern emplacement is for goods train services and departures for Adisoemarmo Airport Rail Link and Joglosemarkerto local trains. To the east, there are two major rail lines: north to Semarang and east to Surabaya. The northern emplacement has cement loading and unloading facilities.

On the east side of the station there is an rail wye which allows the train series to completely reverse direction using the shunt principle. The sides of this inverting triangle also allow trains from the east (from Solo Jebres Station) to go directly north (Semarang) without entering Solo Balapan Station or vice versa. Near this inverting triangle, there used to be a branch route to the Pertamina Gilingan Fuel Depot, which is also part of the side of this inverting triangle. The branch line has now been completely dismantled because it was affected by the construction of the double track to Solo Jebres Station. On the west side of the station there is a locomotive and train depot.

Currently, it is also equipped with a passenger crossing bridge to the east of the station which is directly connected to the road around the Tirtonadi Bus Terminal—functioning as an intermodal link so that train passengers can continue their journey by bus or vice versa.

After the new railway line to Adisumarmo International Airport was completed, the station underwent an overhaul on its northern platform. Therefore, the old line 9 has been demolished and a new building has been built on it which functions as a waiting room as well as a platform. The new building for airport train services has an area of 200 m² with two floors; can accommodate 200 passengers, and is connected to the existing distribution bridge. On 29 December 2019, the airport train waiting room was officially fully operational after the route to the airport was completed.

Regarding the electrification of the Yogyakarta–Solo commuter rail project, there is an EMU (KRL in Indonesian) stabling depot near the west side of the station emplacement. In addition, the track layout at this station was overhauled. The old line 3 has been dismantled for the expansion of the island platform so that now there are only ten lines at this station and there are four additional lines for KRL stabling. The electrification project has now been resumed to the east until it reaches Palur Station.

Services
The following is a list of train services at the Solo Balapan Station.

Executive Class

 * Argo Wilis, to Bandung via Yogyakarta-Tasikmalaya and to Surabaya Gubeng via Madiun-Jombang
 * Argo Lawu, to and from Gambir via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto-Cirebon
 * Argo Dwipangga, to and from Gambir via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto-Cirebon
 * Gajayana, to Gambir via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto-Cirebon and to Malang via Madiun-Blitar
 * Bima, to Gambir via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto-Cirebon and to Surabaya Gubeng via Madiun-Jombang
 * Turangga, to Bandung via Yogyakarta-Tasikmalaya and to Surabaya Gubeng via Madiun-Jombang

Mixed Class

 * Fajar/Senja Utama Solo, to and from Pasar Senen via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto-Cirebon (executive class and premium economy class)
 * Lodaya, to and from Bandung via Yogyakarta-Tasikmalaya (executive class and premium economy class)
 * Sancaka, to Yogyakarta and to Surabaya Gubeng via Madiun-Jombang (executive class and premium economy class)
 * Bangunkarta, to Pasar Senen via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto-Cirebon and to Jombang via Madiun (executive class and economy plus class)
 * Malabar, to Bandung via Yogyakarta-Tasikmalaya and to Malang via Madiun-Blitar (executive class, business class, and economy plus class)
 * Mutiara Selatan, to Bandung via Yogyakarta-Tasikmalaya and to Surabaya Gubeng via Madiun-Jombang (executive class and premium economy class)
 * Kertanegara, to Purwokerto via Yogyakarta and to Malang via Madiun-Blitar (executive class and economy plus class)
 * Malioboro Ekspres, to Yogyakarta and to Malang via Madiun-Blitar (executive class and economy plus class)
 * Ranggajati, to Cirebon via Yogyakarta-Purwokerto and to Jember via Madiun-Jombang-Surabaya Gubeng (executive class and business class)
 * Wijayakusuma, to Cilacap via Yogyakarta and to Jember via Surabaya Gubeng (executive class and premium economy class)
 * Sancaka Utara, to Surabaya Pasar Turi and to Kutoarjo (executive class and business class)

Premium Economy Class

 * Jayakarta Premium, to Pasar Senen via Lempuyangan-Purwokerto and to Surabaya Gubeng via Madiun

Economy Plus Class

 * Joglosemarkerto, loop line through Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta via Purwokerto and Semarang Tawang

Commuter rail and airport rail link

 * KRL Commuterline Yogyakarta Line cleaner icon.png Yogyakarta Line, to Yogyakarta and Palur
 * Adi Sumarmo Arport Line.png Adisumarmo Airport Rail Link, to and

Supporting transportation
The Balapan bus stops of Batik Solo Trans is located near Solo Balapan Station, serving Corridor 2 and 6.

To the east of the station is a skybridge that directly connects the station with Tirtonadi Bus Terminal, making it easier for train passengers to continue their journey by bus or vice versa. Tirtonadi Bus Terminal is currently serving intercity buses to destinations across Java and Sumatra, as well as Corridors 4, 7FS, and 11FS of Batik Solo Trans and Corridor S1 of Trans Jateng BRT.

In popular culture
The station became an inspiration for one of the most popular campursari songs in the 1990s from Didi Kempot Setasiun Balapan. For his work on about the station, PT Kereta Api Indonesia officially appointed Didi Kempot as a "railway ambassador" after the Indo pop music group ST 12.

Incidents

 * On 11 January 2019, glass panel walls and part of the steel frame of the bridge connecting the Tirtonadi Terminal and Solo Balapan Station broke due to the heavy rain and strong winds that hit Surakarta. There were no casualties in this incident, but the bridge could not be used to change modes of passengers until the next day.