The train slowly backed out of Cikini Station in Central Jakarta. Motored by a locomotive, it stopped behind a house on Jalan Pegangsaan Timur 56, that afternoon of January 4, 1946. The machinist then shut down the engine and all the lights in the carriage.

As night fell in Jakarta, some people left the house and quietly boarded the train. They were President Sukarno, Vice President Mohammad Hatta and his wife and some of the cabinet ministers.