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n standby for the last two years, the Batara Kresna railbus system initiated by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo during his time as mayor of Surakarta is set to resume operations in the Central Javan city.

The railbus, developed with Rp 18 billion (US$1.5 million) in funds from the state budget through the Transportation Ministry, will serve as a pioneer train connecting Surakarta and the town of Wonogiri.

State railway operator PT KAI'€™s Yogyakarta Operation Zone deputy executive president Sunarjo said the railbus would resume operations before Christmas. '€œWe are still waiting for the order to launch,'€ said Sunarjo recently, adding that the transportation minister was slated to relaunch the Batara Kresna railbus.

PT KAI conducted two trial runs on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 this year to make sure the railbus was ready to operate. In the first trial run, overhanging tree branches were found along the route.

During the second trial run, the tree branches had been removed but the distance between the rooves of homes and the train was regarded as still too close.

Neither trial run found many faults in either the railway line or the signals. However, to avoid accidents, the railbus will run at a low speed of between 15 and 35 km/hour.

As a pioneer train, a large portion of the fare will be subsidized by the government. However, Sunarjo declined to reveal the exact price of a ticket, stating only that ticket price would not burden passengers.

The Batara Kresna railbus, launched in July 2011, originally served as a commuter train. It operated regularly in early August 2011, plying the Sukoharjo-Surakarta-Yogyakarta route.

At that time, fares were set at Rp 10,000 (US$8.09) for the Surakarta-Sukoharjo route, Rp 20,000 for the Surakarta-Yogyakarta route and Rp 30,000 for the Sukoharjo-Yogyakarta route.

The railbus ceased operations in October 2012 because of damage caused to its air compressors after being hit by tree branches on the Surakarta-Sukoharjo route.

After the train was restored at the PT INKA state-run rail yard at the end of 2012, a trial run was conducted, with service scheduled to resume in January 2013. However, only now is the plan set to be realized.

Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo, better known as Rudy, acknowledged that one of the reasons for the delay in the resumption of operations was the lack of operational funds.

Railbus fares, despite being higher than the Prambanan Express train fare, were unable to cover operational costs amounting to between Rp 2.5 and Rp 3.5 million for a single trip, and the number of passengers was only around 10 percent of the total capacity of 208 passengers.

The Surakarta municipality did at one point make efforts to include operational subsidies in the 2013 municipal budget, but the move was rejected amid concerns that the subsidies could not be accurately targeted solely at Surakarta residents. Mayor Rudy then decided to consult directly the Transportation Ministry and PT KAI regarding the fate of the railbus, leading to the current developments