page_title: History of rail transport in Indonesia
section_title: First railway line
hierarchical_section_title: History of rail transport in Indonesia / Pre-independence era / First railway line
caption_attribution_description: English: Locomotive and train of the Dutch Indies Railway Company, Java Nederlands: Repronegatief. Locomotief en trein van de Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij
context_page_description: Most railway lines in Indonesia were constructed during the Dutch colonial rule. After independence in 1945, many lines were abandoned. The current national rail operator, PT Kereta Api Indonesia, was founded on 28 September 1945.
context_section_description: Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) is the second country in Asia to establish a rail transport, after India; China and Japan were next to follow. On 7 June 1864, Governor General Baron Sloet van den Beele initiated the first railway line in Indonesia on Kemijen village, Semarang, Central Java. It began operations on 10 August 1867 in Central Java and connected the first built Semarang station to Tanggung for 25 kilometers. By 21 May 1873, the line had connected to Solo, both in Central Java and was later extended to Yogyakarta.
  This line was operated by a private company, Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij (NIS: Netherlands East Indies Railway Company) and used the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge gauge. Later construction by both private and state railway companies used the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge.
  The liberal Dutch government of the era was then reluctant to build its own railway, preferring to give a free rein to private enterprises. However, private railways could not provide the expected return of investment (even NIS required some financial assistance from the government), and the Dutch Ministry of Colonies finally approved a state railway system, the Staatsspoorwegen (State Railway), extending from Buitenzorg (now Bogor) in the west, to Surabaya in the east. Construction began from both ends, the first line (from Surabaya) being opened on 16 May 1878, and both cities were connected by 1894.
  By the 1920s, the system in Java had reached its greatest extent, with most towns and cities connected by rail, with branches and tramways connecting sugar plantations to factories.
  The Great Depression of the 1930s put laid to plans of constructing railway lines in Borneo, Celebes, connecting the lines in Sumatra and electrification of the lines in Java.
  After the Dutch state started railway construction, private enterprises did not completely get out of the picture, and at least 15 light railway companies operated in Java. These companies operated as  "steam tram companies", but despite the name, were better described as regional secondary lines.
caption: Locomotive and train of the Dutch Indies Railway Company (Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij), Java, c. 1900s.
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