The wistful ride that started in Semarang

The wistful ride that started in Semarang

By Tjahjono Rahardjo

SEMARANG (JP): It certainly was not as luxurious as the Venice
Simplon Orient Express, nor could it match even a fraction of the
speed of the TGV or the Shinkansen. Even by Indonesian standards
it was not an impressive train. It was just a slow, third-class
train with an antiquated passenger coach that had seen better
days and a couple of modified freight cars fitted with benches to
accommodate passengers.

A 1957 BB 200 class General Motors diesel locomotive pulled
the whole affair. It was no wonder then that when the daily
Pekalongan to Surakarta Pandanaran passenger train stopped
running a couple of months ago, nobody really seemed to notice.

Yet despite its obscurity, the Pandanaran claims a certain
distinction. The Pandanaran was the last passenger train to
travel along Indonesia's historically most important railway
line. The Semarang to Surakarta and Yogyakarta (the
vorstenlanden, or land of the princes) line was the first ever to
be built in the then Netherlands Indies.

On June 17, 1864, then governor general Baron Sloet van de
Beele officiated a ground-breaking ceremony to start the
construction of tracks running 25 km from Semarang to Tanggung.
Shortly after its completion on Aug. 10, 1867, King Chulalongkorn
of Siam, who was planning to start a railway system in his own
country, visited Semarang to have a look at the short line.

Having faced various technical and financial problems, the
whole 205 km line was completed in 1873. This included a line for
military purposes, the Kedungjati-Tuntang-Ambarawa line, which at
the time was called Willem I. This line was later extended to
Yogyakarta through Magelang, passing the Merbabu and Merapi
volcanoes and the Borobudur temple.

A section of this line, between Jambu, Bedono and Gemawang, is
a rack line, the only one in Java. Part of this line, between
Ambarawa and Bedono (with plans to extend it to Tuntang), is used
occasionally by the vintage Mountain Express to carry tourists.

Meanwhile, Ambarawa station is now a popular locomotive
museum. This railway system, built by a private company, the
Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij (NIS), was to improve
communications between the port of Semarang and the agricultural
heartland of Central Java. That is why the NIS station was
originally located at Tambaksari, near the harbor, while the
"new" Tawang Station only started to be used in 1914. It is
rather ironic that this historical line was unprofitable, since
its main raison d'etre was originally for its economic viability.

The rich and famous

But the NIS trains did not transport agricultural products
only. The rich and famous of the day also traveled on these
trains. Pakubuwana X of Surakarta (r.1893-1939) for instance, who
ruled in sumptuous (albeit impotent) splendor, was a frequent
traveler along the NIS line. When he was to be married to Ratu
Mas (the Golden Princess), daughter of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII
of Yogyakarta, he rode to Yogyakarta on his private coach
decorated with the three colors of the Dutch flag. And when he
died in 1939 his last journey to the royal mausoleum at Imogiri
was made on a glazed rail-hearse.

The Dutch had tried to dissuade Pakubuwana X from making
official tours beyond his tiny realm, as they were afraid that
these visits might stir up commoners who still thought of him as
the "King of Java". But the wily ruler simply told them that his
excursions were "incognito", although this did not prevent him
from having an entourage of up to 100 retainers, much to the
dismay of the Dutch. Pakubuwana X's private railway carriage, for
which incense is burned and flowers are strewn, is now kept at
the Surakarta keraton.

Besides the NIS line, which was a real railway, Semarang also
saw the construction of the first steam tramway, a light railway
unsuitable for heavy and fast traffic, in the East Indies.

Another private company, the Samarang-Joana Stoomtram
Matschappij (SJS), built this tramway to connect Semarang with
the teakwood forests and oil fields at Cepu.

The SJS terminus in Semarang was the Station Centraal in
Jurnatan. Other companies soon followed suit and new tramway
lines sprung up in Java and Madura, in Sumatra (Aceh, North
Sumatra, West Sumatra and South Sumatra) and even in South
Sulawesi, which unfortunately proved to be unprofitable and was
closed after a few years.

Among these new tramway lines was the Semarang-Cheribon
Stoomtram Matschappij (SCS), connecting Semarang with Cirebon.
This was often called the "sugar line" as it served the numerous
sugar factories along the north coast of Central Java. The end of
the line in Semarang was the Poncol Station. Meanwhile, a city
tramway system began its service in 1883, connecting Semarang's
Bulu and Jomblang districts via Station Centraal.

Initially, the three privately operated railway lines were
completely independent from each other. The three stations were
only connected after the NIS moved its station to Tawang. Later,
the SCS line was upgraded and became part of the Semarang-Batavia
(Jakarta) main line in cooperation with the state railway
company, the Staatsspoorwegen (SS). The SCS line is the only
surviving (former) tramway in Java today. Other tramways have
been closed down because they were unable to compete with other,
newer modes of transportation.

The railways had an influence on Semarang's media. A Dutch-
language newspaper published in Semarang was the Semarangsch
Handel en Advertentieblad. As its name indicates, its content was
mainly advertisements. Later, however, when it became a full-
fledged daily newspaper, it was renamed De Locomotief. This name
was deliberately chosen because it represented progress and
innovation. Indeed, De Locomotief developed into one of the most
liberal and influential newspapers in the Netherlands Indies.

Heritage sites

As the birthplace of the Indonesian railway system, Semarang
has many railway-related heritage sites. Besides the four
stations mentioned earlier: Tambaksari, Tawang, Jurnatan
(Centraal) and Poncol, there are various railway offices. The
most important one is, of course, the former head office of the
NIS, which the people of Semarang have lovingly given the
nickname of the "Thousand Doors Building".

Then there is the zustermaatschappijen (sister companies)
building, the joint offices of the SJS-SCS-Serajoedal Stoomtram
Maatschappij. The latter is the operator of the 126 km line from
Maos to Wonosobo that passes through the fertile Serayu River
valley.

The sister company building was designed by Thomas Karsten, a
Dutch architect and town planner who played an important role in
the development of Semarang. Among his many designs are the Johar
Market, the New Candi settlement and the popular housing complex
at Mlaten. All of these projects reflect Karsten's deep
appreciation of Indonesian culture as well as his socialist and
anticolonialist leanings.

Unfortunately, many of these witnesses of Semarang's past
importance as a port city and a center of trade and commerce,
such as the Tambaksari and the Jurnatan stations, have
disappeared.

In the 1970s Jurnatan station was turned into a bus station,
which, from an architectural point of view, was much more
attractive than the present nondescript Terboyo bus station
located at the eastern edge of the city. Moreover, it was located
near the city center, just like intercity and international bus
terminals in most cities in the world.

Only in Indonesia, it seems, are bus terminals constantly
being pushed out into the periphery. After serving only a couple
of years as Semarang's main bus terminal, this airy glass and
cast-iron structure that looks a bit like a smaller version of
the Gare d'Orsay (now the Musee d'Orsay, which houses an
impressive collection of French impressionist paintings) was
dismantled. Now in its place is, as you might have guessed, a
banal glass office and shopping complex.

The NIS headquarters, one of Semarang's most important
landmarks, still exists, but in a very bad state. Besides being
closely connected to the history of Indonesia's railways, it was
an important scene in Semarang's fierce five-day battle from Oct.
14 to Oct. 19, 1945. This historical and beautiful building is
now deserted, its plight uncertain.

Previously, there were plans to turn it into a luxury hotel
while maintaining its original appearance, but with the economic
crisis (and the fact that the money for this project was supposed
to come from people close to the Soeharto family), this plan was
abandoned.

The Tawang Station is somewhat more fortunate. The station is
still in use and the building is well-maintained. However, it
faces serious storms and high-tide flooding. There have been
proposals to move its activities to Poncol, but luckily this has
been canceled, at least for the time being.

The former SCS station at Poncol is also still in use, though
its facade has been slightly altered with the addition of an
insensitive canopy that caused some public furor. This station
building was designed by Henri Maclaine-Pont, who is better known
for his design of the Technische Hogeschool (now the ITB/Bandung
Technological Institute) in Bandung, the church at Pohsarang,
Kediri and the former SCS head office in Tegal. The luckiest
railway edifice is the former zustermaatschappijen office. PT
Kereta Api Indonesia, the Indonesian railway company, now
occupies it. It is well-maintained and in perfect condition, with
no significant changes made to spoil its beauty.

These railway-related legacies are very valuable assets for
Semarang. These structures could easily give Semarang the
identity that it is now lacking and be a factor to attract
visitors to the city.

In many developing countries there are people and groups who
share an interest in railway heritage. Given its important
position in Indonesia's railway history it would not be too
difficult to persuade them to come to Semarang, especially if
links are created with other railway heritage artifacts, such as
the Ambarawa Locomotive Museum, the Jambu-Gemawang rack line and
the large number of still operable steam locomotives found in
sugar mills around Semarang and the teak forests of Cepu.

More importantly, however, these conserved legacies will
remind us of the cost needed to build the railroads of Indonesia,
not just in terms of money, but also human suffering. It will
make us remember how the thundering trains of the turn of 20th
century Java, ushering a new age of modernity and progress but at
the same time increasing colonial dominance, had, for better or
worse, irreversibly changed its landscape, not just physically
but also economically, culturally and socially.
The writer is a researcher at the Center for Urban Studies
Soegijapranata Catholic University in Semarang.