The train from Medan to Rantau Prapat is the longest railway journey in North Sumatra (266 km). It’s not a route that is useful from a tourism perspective, but if you are curious to take a trip then here is what to expect.
Tickets
I bought my ticket at Medan station on the morning of travel. I tried booking online on the KAI website but it was not user-friendly in English.
I was offered Bisnis or Eksekutif seats. I was surprised there wasn’t an “Ekonomi” option, so I went with Bisnis and decided to try Eksekutif on the way back.
A Bisnis ticket from Medan to Rantau Prapat cost 155,000 IDR ($10 USD).
Medan to Rantau Prapat
There are three trains a day in each direction. The stations have easy-to-read timetables for every service. If only the website was designed as user-friendly.
Each service has a service number and name. I got the morning service KA Sribilah (KA U52).
This service departs Medan at 8:15 and arrives at Rantau Prapat at 13:57.
The platforms are not aligned with the trains, so steps are wheeled to the door.
The Bisnis Class carriage.
I was wondering if I entered the right carriage as the seats were bench seats. At least they were padded seats.
The carriages are air-conditioned, and the A/C units appeared to be household air conditioning that are just bolted to the ceiling. The carriage had an ideal temperature (not set to freezing as I have experienced in Malaysia).
Food and drinks
A drinks cart goes through the carriages, so I got a coffee (instant coffee) for 13,000 IDR ($0.84 USD).
There is a little table by the window for everyone to share. There are power outlets by the window, but no wifi.
I had the mie goreng for lunch (20,000 IDR / $1.29 USD), and they were selling chicken rice for breakfast. If you have dietary restrictions then you probably already know to come prepared when travelling in Indonesia.
Toilets
Toilets onboard have the option of squat or seat toilets.
Scenery
If you’ve never been to Sumatra, your image of Sumatra might be of jungles with Sumatran tigers roaming around, and plantations would be of the coffee variety. The reality is that most of the scenery along this route is palm oil plantations (and the tigers are critically endangered).
Rice farms are also a common sight along this route.
There are some big river crossings as well, which I kept track of when we were crossing on my mobile map.
The windows of the train were tinted with this unnatural purple colour, which spoiled the view. I took some photos at the door windows.
Rantau Prapat
Rantau Prapat (or Rantauprapat) is the last station on this line. The platforms are low here as well, so stairs are wheeled to the train doors.
There was a swarm of motorbike taxis waiting out the front. The station is not far from the city centre (by my standards at least) so I walked into the city (about 20 minutes). I got a motorbike taxi to the station when I left for 20,000 IDR.
There is a plan to extend the line to Pekanbaru, which would eventually form part of the Trans-Sumatra Railway. This is years away from being a reality, so don’t wait up for it.
I spent two nights in Rantau Prapat, and I didn’t see any foreigners while I was there. I always figure that I can spend a day in any city, but two days was more than enough. I will have a separate trip report for Rantau Prapat (subscribe to my travel newsletter to get updates on my latest posts).
Eksekutif
On the return journey I went in “Eksekutif” class (Executive). I booked the ticket at the station and there was no problem in getting a seat.
I like how the stations display the distances to each station.
Given the name, I was expecting that Eksekutif would be a single seat (which can be found on train services in Java). This seat configuration looks more like a regular economy.
The tickets are cheap so I wasn’t complaining, it is just an odd naming convention. It’s always nice to be on a train instead of a bus when you have legroom like this.
The seats in Eksekutif have a tray so you don’t have to eat on your lap like in Bisnis.
On this section I got off at Tebing Tinggi so I could get the train to Siantar (and then bus to Lake Toba).
Thoughts on the Medan to Rantau Prapat service
This was an interesting experience as this is not a well-known train service. It’s a better travel option than getting the bus, so I hope they continue to expand the network.
My concern is with how slow the service is. The trip takes 5h 42m to travel 266 km. That works out to be 44.91 km/h. If this is going to be part of the Trans-Sumatra Railway, then what’s the point of building it if it’s going to take days to travel from one end of Sumatra to the other.
This train travel article is part of the Southeast Asia rail travel series.