Saketi–Bayah railway

The railway was constructed during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in World War II, primarily for transporting brown coal from the Bayah mines.

[3] Since transporting brown coal by road would be unreliable in the tropical rain climate and limited due to truck capacity, construction on a railway to Bayah started in July 1942.

[1] An Indo-European and Javanese resistance group, headed by a certain communist called Diponegoro from Purwokerto, sabotaged the railway line several times during its construction, including blowing up a bridge pillar in December 1943.

[2] Exploitation continued after the surrender of Japan in August 1945, although the Indonesian railway companies Angkatan Moeda Kereta Api (AMKA) and Djawatan Kereta Api Repoeblik Indonesia (DKARI) had difficulty maintaining it after the forced labourers left and civil unrest swept across the region.

[3] After the local Islamist insurgency had finally been put to rest, the Saketi–Bayah railway was used again in January 1951, but only to move out machinery and tools.

Narrow gauge lines connected 20 mining shafts at 3 locations with the railway around Bayah and Mount Mandur.

[3] Each station had at least two tracks, a small building and wooden lever frames for railway signalling, except Bayah and Gunung Mandur.