Makassar to Barru

The Makassar to Parepare line is the first railway on Sulawesi and the opening stage of the planned Trans-Sulawesi network. Services currently run along the completed section between Mandai, north of Makassar, and Garongkong near Barru, covering around 110km of the eventual 142km route.

You cannot book this online, and that matters. It runs as a KA Perintis pioneer service, operated by KAI Daop 8 Surabaya, and it sits outside the normal ticketing system entirely. Tickets are sold only at station counters, which open daily from 06:00 to 16:00 WITA. Booking opens just seven days before departure, not the 45 days that applies to Java. Bring photo ID; counters take cash or QRIS.

Plan around those counter hours. Turning up in the late afternoon expecting to buy a ticket for the next morning will not work, and there is no app or website to fall back on.

Be realistic about what this is. Departures are infrequent, intermediate stations have little around them, and most passengers are locals or Makassar day-trippers rather than travellers going anywhere in particular. It is not yet a practical way to move around South Sulawesi.

Why take it anyway: the line runs past Rammang-Rammang, one of the largest karst landscapes in the world, and the limestone towers are clearly visible from the train. It is also built to standard gauge rather than the narrower track used across Java and Sumatra, making it a genuine oddity on the Indonesian network.

Further sections have been under construction in stages since 2022 and are expected to open as work completes.