History Railways, This Is First Railway Line in Indonesia

 

INDEPHEDIA.com - The history of railways in Indonesia has a long journey. This started after van den Bosch imposed Cultivation in 1825-1830. The idea of ​​an Indonesian railway was put forward with the aim of transporting agricultural products from the Cultivation System.

One reasons that supports the availability of trains is that the use of roads is not optimal anymore at that time. Finally, in 1840, Colonel J.H.R. Carel Van der Wijck submitted a plan to build a railway line in the Dutch East Indies.

At the request of King Willem I for military purposes in Semarang as well as agricultural products to the Semarang warehouse, the first train in Indonesia was built in 1867 in Semarang.

The first railway line in Indonesia by NISM, N.V. (Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij) takes the Samarang - Tanggung route, which is 26 km away with a track width of 1,435 mm. The SS - Staatsspoorwegen line width is 1,067 mm or currently in use.

Then in serving the need for shipping crops from Indonesia, the Dutch colonial government since 1876 has built various rail networks, with estuaries at the ports of Tanjung Priok Jakarta and Tanjung Perak Surabaya.

At that time Semarang, although strategic, had no port for goods, so goods were sent to Batavia or Soerabaja.

The presence of trains in Indonesia begins with the first forging construction of a railroad in Kemijen Village, Friday, June 17, 1864, by the Governor General Dutch East Indies, Mr. L.A.J Baron Sloet van den Beele.

The development was initiated by "Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij" (NIS) led by Ir. J.P de Bordes from Kemijen to Tanggung Village (26 km) with a track width of 1435 mm. The road was opened for public transportation on Saturday, August 10, 1867.

The success private sector, NIS built a railway road between Samarang-Tanggung Station, which then on February 10, 1870 could connect the city of Semarang-Surakarta (110 Km), ultimately encouraging investors to build railway roads in other areas.

Due to this success, it is not surprising that the length railroad between 1864-1900 grew rapidly. If in 1867 it was only 25 km, in 1870 it became 110 km, in 1880 it reached 405 km, in 1890 it became 1,427 km and in 1900 it became 3,338 km.

After success in Java, the construction of railroads was also carried out in Aceh (1874), North Sumatra (1886), West Sumatra (1891), South Sumatra (1914), even in 1922 in Sulawesi a 47 km long railway was also built between Makassar. -Takalar, whose operation was carried out on July 1, 1923, the rest of Ujungpandang-Maros have not been completed.

At that time for Kalimantan, although it had not yet been built, the study 220 km Pontianak-Sambas railway line had been completed. Likewise on the islands of Bali and Lombok, a study of railroad construction has also been carried out. (FABRIC/*)