Semarang's stations have own place in history

Semarang's stations have own place in history

By Tjahjono Rahardjo

SEMARANG (JP): It was to be the greatest exposition ever held
in the Netherlands East Indies, an unabashed celebration of
colonial supremacy.

And the venue was Semarang.

As the colonial administrators drew up their plans for the
exposition celebrating the centennial of Dutch independence, they
hoped the Koloniale Tentoonstelling would draw many visitors and
an influx of revenue to the city.

New hotels and pensions were opened; car rental companies were
set up. The city was galvanized into activity for the grand
event.

Unfortunately, by the time the exposition opened on Aug. 20,
1914, rumblings of war in Europe, triggered by the assassination
of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, cast a dark
shadow on the event.

Due to the tense political situation the patron of the
exposition, governor general W.F. Idenburg, was unable to attend
the opening ceremony. And even though Japan, China, Australia,
India, French Indochina and the United States were represented by
their respective pavilions, all of the European countries were
noticeably missing.

Of the expected million or so visitors, only about 670,000
visited the three-month-long exposition.

Among those who had been excited about the exposition were
three railway companies, all privately owned, that served
Semarang at that time.

The Nederlandsch-Indies Spoorweg Maatschappij (NIS), the
Samarang-Joana Stoomtram Maatschappij (SJS) and the Semarang-
Cheribon Stoomtram Maatschappij (SCS) were expecting huge numbers
of visitors to travel to Semarang on their trains. They vied with
each other to be able to give the best service, including
constructing new stations.

As early as 1913 the SJS already had a new iron structure
built to replace the wooden station building on the same site at
Jurnatan that had been in use since 1882. The old station
initially served the four-kilometer-long city tramway the company
operated to Semarang's Jomblang district, at the foot of the New
Candi hills.

Here, in the 1920s, a new, modern housing development was
built to the design of the famous architect and town planner
Thomas Karsten. This tramway was later extended to the Bulu area
and the harbor. The station also served the SJS line that
connected Semarang with towns along the eastern coast of Central
Java such as Kudus, Pati, Rembang and Juana.

Grand station

The NIS soon followed suit by building a new station but at a
completely new location. This grand station, based on a NIS in-
house design, came into use on June 1, 1914. The old station at
Tambaksari, which was located near the harbor, was the starting
point of the first railway in the Netherlands East Indies, the
25-kilometer Semarang to Tanggung line opened in 1867.

It was a small, two-storey building with identical wings on
both sides. It was what the Dutch call a kopstation, a typical
layout for end-of-the-line stations. Some examples of similar
kopstations are the Jakarta Kota Station and the Den Haag Central
Station, which are similar in layout but not in size.
Unfortunately, to allow for the extension of the line to the new
station at Tawang, which was located nearer to the city center,
the old Tambaksari Station was pulled down.

The SCS contributed to the station-building spree with the
construction of the Semarang West Station at located at Poncol,
near the Prince of Orange Fort. This station was officially
opened on Aug. 6, 1914, just in time for the Exposition. It was
designed by Henri Maclaine-Pont who also designed the Bandung
Institute of Technology (ITB) campus. Formerly, the SCS had a
small nondescript station building at Pendrikan, southwest of
Poncol.

Pendrikan was never really meant to serve passengers, thus its
small size. Instead, SCS trains would continue their journeys
along the city tramline and finally stop at the SJS station in
Jurnatan.

Of the five railway stations -- Tambaksari, Jurnatan,
Pendrikan, Tawang and Poncol -- only the latter two are still
extant. Jurnatan stopped being used in 1974 and for a short time
it became Semarang's bus station. It was eventually dismantled,
with a plan, never realized, to reerect it at Ambarawa Locomotive
Museum. Pendrikan is now a dense kampong.

Tawang now still serves as Semarang's main passenger station.
All kinds of trains, mainly business and executive class
passenger trains, including the pride of the Indonesian railways,
the high-speed Argo trains, stop at the station. However, it is
facing a constant battle against chronic flooding. Hopefully,
the polder system currently being constructed by the municipality
will solve the problem once and for all.

Poncol is mainly an economy class and cargo station. It is now
a somewhat plain, dull looking edifice, mainly because its large
clock and elegant porcelain tile ornaments have been removed. In
addition, part of its formerly open platforms have been walled
in, and seen from the outside the station has lost most of its
light and airy quality. The recent addition of a canopy in front
of the entrance has not been of much help either.

Semarang is today the bustling capital of Central Java, known
more as a commercial center than a tourist stop. Instead, its
near neighbor Yogyakarta has become famed for its tourist
attractions.

And it seems highly unlikely that Semarang will have any new
station building projects in the near, and even the not so near,
future to resemble those of the 1900s. Thus, it would be wise to
maintain those which do remain. After all, they are all well
designed, soundly constructed edifices in their own right.

The writer works at the Center for Urban Studies,
Soegijapranata Catholic University, Semarang.