RAILWAYS of INDONESIA

Three locomotives (two steam and one diesel) are displayed on plinths on the grounds of the Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur. L class 4-6-2 Pacific, manufactured by Kitson and Co. , England (1921). I like plants, but in this case think it would be better to remove the potted plants T class 0-6-2 tank, built by Bagnall Ltd. , England (1929). These were the first British engines to have steel fireboxes. Used for dock services in Singapore and Port Kelang till 1964. 22 class Co-Co Diesel electric locomotive “Seri Menanti”, built by English Electric (1971). These engines were part of the “dieselisation” programme to replace steam traction. These engines mainly hauled freight trains.

(photo: Antara-IPPHOS) The railways: A witness of a young nation’s optimism The photo was taken on 12 February 1948 at Tugu railway station in Yogyakarta. The young men on the train are members of the Siliwangi Division from Bandung. As a result of the Renville Agreement signed on 15 January 1948, they had been forced to withdraw from Bandung. They arrived at Tugu at midday under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mokoginta. They were part of the 35,000 man strong Republican forces which had been obliged to leave the regions which had now been placed under Dutch authority under the terms of the Renville Agreement. The train had been considered the most practical form of transport; it allowed the Good Offices Committee to keep a close eye on the movements of troops, which is what had been agreed during the negotiations. It was the journey of an army defeated, not on the battlefield but at the negotiating table. The girls welcome the defeated war heroes. But the meeting – whatever t...

C28 class (SS class 1300) 4-6-4 tank engine ( photo: Rob Dickinson ) Jakarta in December 1945 had become an unsafe place for the leaders of the fledgling Republic of Indonesia. Japan had been defeated and the Netherlands was trying to regain control of its former colony. Soldiers of the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) were terrorising the homes of President Sukarno and Vice President Mohammad Hatta . The two leaders had to be constantly on the move for their safety. Finally, on 4 January 1946, at around 7 o’clock in the evening, Sukarno and Hatta secretly left Jakarta for Yogyakarta. Earlier, Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX of Yogyakarta had invited Sukarno to move the seat of government to Yogyakarta . Republican railway workers had arranged a special train to transport the leaders. At the head of the train was C2849, a 4-6-4 Esslingen tank engine. The locomotive’s regular duty was hauling one of the Staatsspoorwegen (State Railway Company) crack Vlugge Vier (Speedy Fou...

THE AMBARAWA-BEDONO RAILWAY, CENTRAL JAVA (Excerpt from: Potential railway world heritage sites in Asia and the Pacific , Robert Lee, University of Western Sydney, Macarthur ) Although an archipelago, Indonesia has an extensive railway system on two of its islands, Java and Sumatra. Until the 1980s there was also a small system on the island of Madura, just off the coast of Java near Surabaya. At their peak, there were 6,458 kilometres of railway in the Netherlands Indies. Both Java and Sumatra have mountainous topography difficult for railway construction. In Java, these mountains are mostly volcanos, the saddles between which have needed to be climbed for railways to connect the flatter and generally more productive parts of the island. Railway services in Java have always been intensive, and remain so, which is scarcely surprising given its current population of more than 130 million. Railways were introduced early into Java, the first line - a 26 kilometre section between Kemije...

2008 will mark the 63rd anniversary of the Muaro - Pekanbaru railway, which was finished on 15 August 1945. But this was no ordinary railway. Like its more-well known counterpart, the Thai - Burma Railway , forced labourers built it. The building of this railway has cost the lives of Indonesian romushas and Dutch, British, and Australian prisoners of war ( POWs ). Some have estimated that more than 10,000 of them are buried alongside the tracks in the middle of the dense Sumatera jungle, though no one will ever know the exact figure. Therefore, this railway is known as the Sumatera Death Railway. Unlike the Burma Railway (which even had a film, “The Bridge on the River Kwai ” made about it), however, not many people know about the Sumatera Death Railway, not even in Indonesia. Before World War II the Dutch colonial government had already made plans to construct a railway network connecting the east and west coasts of Sumatera , and eventually covering the whole island. The line co...