Indonesia's New COMPARTMENT SUITES Train: Is it Worth the VERY HIGH Price?

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Bloody hell that wifi on the train is faster than my internet at home here in Australia

Lived in Indonesia from the early 90s to the mid 2000s and I’m astonished by how Indonesia have developed A LOT for the past few decades. Before 2004, they didn’t even have a highway from Bandung to Jakarta so we had to drive around 10hrs to reach the capital but now? Luxury sleeper train, high speed rail and a metro system..just wow

The concept of sleeper train was actually existed in Indonesia long time ago. The Bima train was actually the sleeper train first launched in 1967. It was an overnight train with sleeper and couchette facility just like the overnight train in Europe (well, the original Bima train's rolling stock was made in East Germany). Unfortunately, the sleeper train service discontinued in early 90s due to many reasons. It has been a discussion among Indonesian railfans questioning why apparently KAI insist to reluctant using bed for sleeper train. It started when KAI launched Luxury class, an airplane business class-like accommodation without compartment. The price is expensive for the average Indonesian wages yet it doesn't give the comfort of real sleeper train. There are many speculations about why KAI never interest to use bed for sleeper train. One of the most believed is that the regulation from Minister of Transportation prohibiting the use of lie-flat bed for the land transportation, although it's actually only referred to the bus only. Another speculation is the cost of the operation as sleeper train have less capacity compared to seat train, and KAI always looking for more capacity to gaining more profit. This also has been debated as Thailand also have sleeper train with more capacity, more comfort and cheaper ticket price. Personally, I wish KAI are looking for inspiration into Thailand or Japan who have sleeper train that run on the small gauge railway and still managed to get more capacity, more comfort, and cheaper ticket price. Anyway, congrats for your experience and thanks for the video. Great job as expected.

13:57 The reason KAI uses seats instead of real beds is because there is a regulation in Indonesia that prohibits travelling in a 180-degree reclining position for vehicles/land transport (For safety reasons). Even the sleeper buses that existed before this train also use seats.

KAI must watch this video

I hope that more and more tourist comes to Indonesia shortly because in my opinion Indonesia is the best country to visit recently I am so amazed that Indonesia has to over the culture, nature, food, and transport, the most of all the Indonesian people are so friendly😊😊 thanks for sharing.

The constant horn is actually for safety protocol here in Indonesia it is called Semboyan 1 and Semboyan 35. It definitely takes years to settle this issue if they want since the protocol usually is very rigid and difficult to change. Semboyan 1 (one long horn inside train station) must be applied when the train is departing as reply from station master whistle and the train machinists have to depart, clear the train from the platform and they have clearance to pass to the next halt. While Semboyan 35 (one long horn outside train station) must be applied before the train passing to level crossing (you can found the sign on the side of the rail with S35 marking) which compare it to Europe, we have a lot of it. Although this thing is getting better especially in urban area or certain region who have better fiscal space to build bridge and underpass.

15:10 that train on the opposite platfom is the "Argo Semeru", the only another train services that overing compartment suites class. with the same route as Bima but with day time journey. Oh btw the Compartment suite coaches it self is made from 2008 built Eksekutif class coaches. Its been modified by KAI's own Manggarai Workshop in Jakarta. KAI first planned to buy a brand new coaches from INKA, (there are even a double decker option...). But its turn to be too expensive.. Oh currently Bima also has "Luxury" restaurant coaches that refurbished with Compartment suite interior vibes.

I think the ride is not so smooth not because the track quality, but it's because the boogie quality that's been our issus for years. Our last comfy car was K9 air suspension boogie, developed together with Alstom. But due to the high cost maintenance and it's not suitable with mountainous terrain (it's frequently got derailed because of that), K9 was discontinued. Most of Indonesia carriages are now using K10 boogie, and that's what you felt. Hope INKA can develop more comfy boogie 😅

From the look of that I definitely agree that a bed would be a better solution. Given the space, they could have had a decent seat and a bed that folds down over it

I personally wouldn't call this a sleeper train, but rather just "compartment suite train/class". The design and service reminds me about some Japanese luxury limited express trains

I would like to be there too because now I'm freezing with a fever at home in the Czech Republic.

I have done the same journey on the Compartment train but I did the daytime trip. The daytime trip was fantastic as there was a lot of amazing scenery. I enjoy train travel in Java and do it a few times a year but I would never contemplate on overnight train journey in Indonesia as I know I would not be able to sleep. If I was leaving Surabaya for Jakarta at night, I would take a flight.

Ada Indonesia coy anyway, nice to see you back here :) the last time the bed method was introduced in 67 - 1990, it had some "social" related problems

I think you would like the Genoa - Casella railway, it uses trains from 1998 but also one from 1928 renovated in 1953, and also one from 1929 which has recently been renovated in its original condition, It's 25 km and takes about 1 hour, obviously narrow gauge of 1000mm

The friendly voice of train travel, thank you for your great videos!

love this video ❤️❤️❤️ such a beautiful train

Hi, from indonesia here, love your video, actually I want to say thanks for providing very nice review, as your video helped me to decide on my recent trip to europe on taking the thalys amsterdam to paris route and whether to take the sncf inoui from paris to milan or the frecciarossa train from paris to milan route, keep up the good videos👍 Regarding review on the Bima compartment, yes I agree with you that KAI could improve more on the placement of the coach, preferably on the rear end of the train configuration like their counterparts on Argo Sumeru, also maybe you should try the new luxury train on Argo Lawu or Argo Dwipangga Jakarta-Yogya/Solo route, as they’re given new 2023 trainset by INKA, the new coach actually better at noice cancellation and ride better at bumpy tracks, but overall it’s still not as smooth as any european rail networks

12:39 I think its more about the coach than the track itself. all the track was already upgraded to R54