The Sawunggalih train was first time operated on 31 May 1977 and at its launch it used the locomotive
BB201 08 as a pulling locomotive with mixed classes, namely business and economy class. It was only in 1984 that Sawunggalih became a full business class train. Meanwhile, the full economy train was served by Kutojaya Ekonomi. Actually, the forerunner of Sawunggalih has existed since 1964, namely as Fajar/Senja JKA400 which served the route
Jakarta Kota Station to
Purwokerto,
Kroya,
Gombong to
Karanganyar. In 1990s, The government is actively improving the quality of train services, especially executive and business class. On 31 May 1996 (the Sawunggalih trains birthday), the Sawunggalih Plus train was launched on the – route, which provides 5 business class plus trains (K2 manufactured in 1991 and 1996) plus 4 executive class trains and is always pulled by the official locomotive
CC203. Uniquely, the Sawunggalih Plus doesn't stop at or . The Sawunggalih Plus train no longer, due to the
1998 Monetary Crisis, people's purchasing power decreased, resulting in one Sawunggalih train, the Sawunggalih Plus, being discontinued in 1999. In 2001, the Sawunggalih journey was again served by two trains. One train with 1-2 executive cars and 7 business cars remained named "Sawunggalih Utama". Meanwhile, another train with 8-9 business sets was named "Kutojaya Bisnis". Not long after, the full business class Kutojaya Bisnis train was merged into the full business class Sawunggalih Utama train, with one other train still carrying executive class. In 2012, all Sawunggalih Utama business class trains were equipped with
air conditioning (split AC). Sawunggalih Utama became the first business class train to be equipped with air conditioning, along with the
Argo Parahyangan,
Gumarang, and
Purwojaya train. In 2018, all Sawunggalih Utama trains were replaced with
stainless steel trains manufactured by
PT INKA in 2018, with a formation of 2 Stainless Steel Executive and 6 Premium Economy. On 19 June 2022, the Sawunggalih train will adding a stop at . However on 1 December 2025, the Sawunggalih train will passed in (for 111 and 114), (for 112 and 116), and (for 113), that meaning the Sawunggalih train no service in Sumpiuh (111 and 114 only), Gombong (112 and 116), and Bumiayu (113 only) station for the passenger service, only the 115 Sawunggalih train that stopped at three stations after the day. ==Station==