Atjeh-tram

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tagsorganization, colonial, dutch, railway, infrastructure, military, transport, atjeh-tram, kota-radja, oelèë-lheue, besitang, pangkalan-soesoe, sigli, lho-seumawe, langsa, bireuen, seulimeum, smalspoor, 0.75-m, 62-locomotives, aceh, 20th-century, place, tram, concept, acheh, government, atjeh
aliasesAtjeh Tramway, Atjehsche tram, Atjeh train, Dienst der S.S., Aceh tram, Atjehtram, Atjeh Staatsspoor, Atjehtram (place), Atjeh tram, Atjeh-tram route, Tramweg aanleg in Atjeh (1897), Tramweg aanleg in Atjeh, Tramway construction Atjeh, Tram-aanleg Atjeh, Atjeh tram line, Atjeh-tram, Atjeh stoomtram, Atjeh State Railway, Atjehsche stoomtram, Tramweg Atjeh, Dienst der S.S. Atjeh

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The Atjeh-tram was the military-origin tramway of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden that, by 1917, had become the principal transport artery of the gewest — connecting Koeta Radja and Oelèë Lheuë with Indragiri and Seulimeum and, beyond the Goudberg-hoogvlakte, with the principal bevolkings-centra of the Noord- and Oostkust as far as Koeala Simpang and Besitang. Operated as the Dienst der S.S. (Staatsspoorwegen) under the Department van Gouvernements-Bedrijven, the Atjeh-tram had, De Buitenbezittingen records, “haar militaire rol reeds geheel losgelaten” — already entirely shed its military role — and now possessed “in de voornaamste plaats economische beteekenis.”

Origins and the military role

The Atjeh-tram originated as a military line, built to support the operations of the Aceh War that had begun with J. L. J. H. Pel’s expedition of 1874. Its initial trackage — the line from Koeta Radja through Indrapoeri to Seulimeum, and onward across the Goudberg to the Noordkust — supplied the bivakken and militaire posten by which the successive Civil and Military Governors, from van Heutsz onward, enforced the subjection of the oelèëbalangschappen of Groot-Atjeh. De Buitenbezittingen refers the reader to its earlier, fuller account in Deel I of the work for the uitgebreid overzicht omtrent de ontwikkeling van de Atjeh-tram.

The First Section: Kota Radja–Olehleh (1874–1875)

The first section of the Atjeh-tram — the smalspoorbaan from Kota Radja to Olehleh — was built in 1874–1875 as one of the peacetime engineer works of the Staf der Genie at Kota Radja. The biographer Van den Berg lists the work, in his enumeration of Snijders’s peacetime duties during his Atjeh service of 1874–1875, as “den aanleg van eene smalspoorbaan van Kota Radja naar Olehleh: den bouw van een vakwerk-aanleggtiier in laatstgenoemde plaats.” The construction of a vakwerk-aanleggtiier (timber-framed landing-stage) at Olehleh was the seaward terminus work: the railway was built to connect the port of Olehleh with the military base at Kota Radja so that troops, supplies, and material could be moved between the two without the overland march. Snijders had at his disposal for this work the large mixed labour force — some 900 vrije koelies, soldiers, and dwangarbeiders — that the Staf der Genie commanded at Kota Radja in the last months of his Atjeh service. The Kota Radja–Olehleh section of 1874–1875 is the earliest documented Dutch military railway in Atjeh and the foundation on which the later Atjeh-tram system was built.

From military to economic instrument

The transition from military to civilian role was the work of the pacificatie under Swart, whose verzoenende en vertrouwenwekkende politiek after 1908 allowed the extension of the line into regions where no bivak had stood. The crucial southern extensions followed: “Between 1910 and 1912 the Langsa–Koeala Simpang section was laid, while only in 1913 was the extension from Koeala Simpang to Besitang begun.” Beyond Besitang, the projected extension to Pangkalan Soesoeh on the Aroebaai — which had recently been chosen in preference to Telok Taboehan as the line’s terminus — was “reeds ver gevorderd.” The Deli-tram, the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij, was simultaneously to begin construction of a line from Pangkalan Brandan to Besitang, “zoodat over enkele jaren de Deli-Atjeh-aansluiting eindelijk tot stand zal zijn gekomen.”

Length, traffic, and exploitation

The exploitation-statistics tabulated in De Buitenbezittingen show a steady growth in length and traffic. The lengte in K.M. rose from 432 in 1911 to 460 in 1912, 465 in 1913, 471 in 1914, and 478 in 1915; the aanlegkapitaal from ƒ17,544,000 to ƒ20,049,000. Opbrengst reizigers grew from ƒ473,000 to ƒ589,000; vrachtgoederen from ƒ198,000 to ƒ286,000; the totaal opbrengst from ƒ704,000 to ƒ925,000. The exploitatiekosten overtook income in 1915 (ƒ950,000 against ƒ925,000), so that the netto-inkomsten fell to a deficit of ƒ25,000 — the first negative year after the modest surpluses of 1911–1914. The number of reizigers carried grew from 1,986,000 to 3,035,000; vrachtgoed from 103,000 to 120,000 tonnen.

The Sigli ateliers

The great ateliers of the Atjeh-tram at Sigli, where ”± 270 Inlanders en Chineezen geregeld werkzaam zijn,” performed — for want of any other repair-establishment — much work for particulieren in the surrounding afdeeling. The ateliers served as a vak-onderricht school: the goede resultaten of this training, De Buitenbezittingen notes, “wijzen op eene werkelijke geschiktheid van den Atjeher voor ambachts-opleiding.” An ijsfabriek at Koeta Radja was likewise operated under Atjeh-tram beheer.

Significance

The completion of the Deli-Atjeh-aansluiting, De Buitenbezittingen predicted, would be “vooral voor Atjeh’s Oostkust een grooten stap naar verdere ontwikkeling,” particularly once the haven-installations at Pangkalan Soesoeh were brought to completion. The line, with its subsidised tariffs for peper, rijst en klappers and its payments in kind to the atjehsche peper-planters — the Company paying them, on top of the purchase-price, “nog f 0.10 uit” per pikol — had become the principal carrier of the bevolkingscultures on which the gewest’s economy now rested.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1904) — Three Functions of the Atjeh Tram

The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s Mededeelingen publication frames the Atjeh Tram as serving three interconnected purposes in its development:

  1. Military Pacification: The primary initial purpose was military. The tramway was a counter-insurgency instrument, enabling the rapid deployment of troops, supplies, and artillery from Kutaradja to suppress remaining resistance and maintain control. The abandonment of the postenlinie after the betrayal of Toekoe Oemar in 1896 made the original belt-tramway of 1885 redundant, and it was gradually cleared. In its place came the longer tramway that, from 1897 onward, followed the Dutch extension of authority into Atjeh’s Dependencies — “step by step” tying post after post of the ever-expanding military occupation to the command centre at Kota Radja.
  2. Economic Consolidation: After the military phase, the economic function became paramount. The tramway connected the productive interior and the booming plantation region around Langsa with the port of Sabang and the coastal towns, enabling the cost-effective export of rubber, pepper, and copra, and the import of goods and contract laborers.
  3. Administrative Integration: The improved transport network allowed for more efficient colonial administration — enabling officials to travel, conduct inspections, collect taxes, and maintain order more effectively, reinforcing the state’s presence across the entire Governorate.

The Bureau’s publication references a “Kaartje der verbinding tusschen Atjeh-tram en Deli-net” — a map of the connection between the Atjeh Tram and the Deli network — indicating that the Atjeh Tram was conceived as part of a larger plan to create a transportation corridor linking the northern coast with the plantation economy of the Oostkust van Sumatra (Deli area). The “Grafiek betreffende de Atjeh-tram” (financial graph) likewise tracked the line’s economic performance as the colonial state assessed the viability of its investment.

Account from DLP-84-Atjeh — the lowland tram alongside the Great Atjeh Road

The DLP-84-Atjeh pamphlet records that the Atjehtram was a tram line that ran alongside the Great Atjeh Road (*Atjehweg*) in the lowland areas of Atjeh. The tram facilitated the movement of goods and people, contributing to the region’s economic opening. The tram’s presence encouraged intensified traffic, trade and a shift toward a more peaceful and prosperous society — the colonial pamphlet’s framing of the tram as the infrastructural vehicle of the pacificatie (pacification) of Acheh.

Origins and the military role

The Atjeh-tram originated as a military line, built to support the operations of the Aceh War that had begun with J. L. J. H. Pel’s expedition of 1874. Its initial trackage — the line from Koeta Radja through Indrapoeri to Seulimeum, and onward across the Goudberg to the Noordkust — supplied the bivakken and militaire posten by which the successive Civil and Military Governors, from van Heutsz onward, enforced the subjection of the oelèëbalangschappen of Groot-Atjeh. De Buitenbezittingen refers the reader to its earlier, fuller account in Deel I of the work for the uitgebreid overzicht omtrent de ontwikkeling van de Atjeh-tram.

The First Section: Kota Radja–Olehleh (1874–1875)

The first section of the Atjeh-tram — the smalspoorbaan from Kota Radja to Olehleh — was built in 1874–1875 as one of the peacetime engineer works of the Staf der Genie at Kota Radja. The biographer Van den Berg lists the work, in his enumeration of Snijders’s peacetime duties during his Atjeh service of 1874–1875, as “den aanleg van eene smalspoorbaan van Kota Radja naar Olehleh: den bouw van een vakwerk-aanleggtiier in laatstgenoemde plaats.” The construction of a vakwerk-aanleggtiier (timber-framed landing-stage) at Olehleh was the seaward terminus work: the railway was built to connect the port of Olehleh with the military base at Kota Radja so that troops, supplies, and material could be moved between the two without the overland march. Snijders had at his disposal for this work the large mixed labour force — some 900 vrije koelies, soldiers, and dwangarbeiders — that the Staf der Genie commanded at Kota Radja in the last months of his Atjeh service. The Kota Radja–Olehleh section of 1874–1875 is the earliest documented Dutch military railway in Atjeh and the foundation on which the later Atjeh-tram system was built.

From military to economic instrument

The transition from military to civilian role was the work of the pacificatie under Swart, whose verzoenende en vertrouwenwekkende politiek after 1908 allowed the extension of the line into regions where no bivak had stood. The crucial southern extensions followed: “Between 1910 and 1912 the Langsa–Koeala Simpang section was laid, while only in 1913 was the extension from Koeala Simpang to Besitang begun.” Beyond Besitang, the projected extension to Pangkalan Soesoeh on the Aroebaai — which had recently been chosen in preference to Telok Taboehan as the line’s terminus — was “reeds ver gevorderd.” The Deli-tram, the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij, was simultaneously to begin construction of a line from Pangkalan Brandan to Besitang, “zoodat over enkele jaren de Deli-Atjeh-aansluiting eindelijk tot stand zal zijn gekomen.”

Length, traffic, and exploitation

The exploitation-statistics tabulated in De Buitenbezittingen show a steady growth in length and traffic. The lengte in K.M. rose from 432 in 1911 to 460 in 1912, 465 in 1913, 471 in 1914, and 478 in 1915; the aanlegkapitaal from ƒ17,544,000 to ƒ20,049,000. Opbrengst reizigers grew from ƒ473,000 to ƒ589,000; vrachtgoederen from ƒ198,000 to ƒ286,000; the totaal opbrengst from ƒ704,000 to ƒ925,000. The exploitatiekosten overtook income in 1915 (ƒ950,000 against ƒ925,000), so that the netto-inkomsten fell to a deficit of ƒ25,000 — the first negative year after the modest surpluses of 1911–1914. The number of reizigers carried grew from 1,986,000 to 3,035,000; vrachtgoed from 103,000 to 120,000 tonnen.

The Sigli ateliers

The great ateliers of the Atjeh-tram at Sigli, where ”± 270 Inlanders en Chineezen geregeld werkzaam zijn,” performed — for want of any other repair-establishment — much work for particulieren in the surrounding afdeeling. The ateliers served as a vak-onderricht school: the goede resultaten of this training, De Buitenbezittingen notes, “wijzen op eene werkelijke geschiktheid van den Atjeher voor ambachts-opleiding.” An ijsfabriek at Koeta Radja was likewise operated under Atjeh-tram beheer.

Significance

The completion of the Deli-Atjeh-aansluiting, De Buitenbezittingen predicted, would be “vooral voor Atjeh’s Oostkust een grooten stap naar verdere ontwikkeling,” particularly once the haven-installations at Pangkalan Soesoeh were brought to completion. The line, with its subsidised tariffs for peper, rijst en klappers and its payments in kind to the atjehsche peper-planters — the Company paying them, on top of the purchase-price, “nog f 0.10 uit” per pikol — had become the principal carrier of the bevolkingscultures on which the gewest’s economy now rested.

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1904) — Three Functions of the Atjeh Tram

The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s Mededeelingen publication frames the Atjeh Tram as serving three interconnected purposes in its development:

  1. Military Pacification: The primary initial purpose was military. The tramway was a counter-insurgency instrument, enabling the rapid deployment of troops, supplies, and artillery from Kutaradja to suppress remaining resistance and maintain control. The abandonment of the postenlinie after the betrayal of Toekoe Oemar in 1896 made the original belt-tramway of 1885 redundant, and it was gradually cleared. In its place came the longer tramway that, from 1897 onward, followed the Dutch extension of authority into Atjeh’s Dependencies — “step by step” tying post after post of the ever-expanding military occupation to the command centre at Kota Radja.
  2. Economic Consolidation: After the military phase, the economic function became paramount. The tramway connected the productive interior and the booming plantation region around Langsa with the port of Sabang and the coastal towns, enabling the cost-effective export of rubber, pepper, and copra, and the import of goods and contract laborers.
  3. Administrative Integration: The improved transport network allowed for more efficient colonial administration — enabling officials to travel, conduct inspections, collect taxes, and maintain order more effectively, reinforcing the state’s presence across the entire Governorate.

The Bureau’s publication references a “Kaartje der verbinding tusschen Atjeh-tram en Deli-net” — a map of the connection between the Atjeh Tram and the Deli network — indicating that the Atjeh Tram was conceived as part of a larger plan to create a transportation corridor linking the northern coast with the plantation economy of the Oostkust van Sumatra (Deli area). The “Grafiek betreffende de Atjeh-tram” (financial graph) likewise tracked the line’s economic performance as the colonial state assessed the viability of its investment.

Account from DLP-84-Atjeh — the lowland tram alongside the Great Atjeh Road

The DLP-84-Atjeh pamphlet records that the Atjehtram was a tram line that ran alongside the Great Atjeh Road (*Atjehweg*) in the lowland areas of Atjeh. The tram facilitated the movement of goods and people, contributing to the region’s economic opening. The tram’s presence encouraged intensified traffic, trade and a shift toward a more peaceful and prosperous society — the colonial pamphlet’s framing of the tram as the infrastructural vehicle of the pacificatie (pacification) of Acheh.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)

The Atjeh-tram — the Atjeh-tramway — was the military-origin narrow-gauge (0.75 m) railway network of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, running from Oelèë Lheuë on the north-western coast to Pangkalan Soesoe on the south-eastern coast — 495 kilometres — with two short side-lines: Langsa-Koeala Langsa (9 km) and Beureunoen-Lam Meulo (5 km). The tram is one of the principal legacies of the Atjeh-oorlog to the civilian period, and the principal means of overland transport in the gewest at the time of Broersma’s visit.

Origin and the Concentratie (1884)

The first railway traffic in Atjeh ran between Kota Radja and the harbour-place Oelèë Lheuë — ‘begrijpelijkerwijs tusschen Kota Radja en de havenplaats Oelèë Lheue’. That remained the only railway until the time of the concentratie, when in 1884 the Dutch power restricted itself to a ring round Kota Radja, and a ceintuurbaan (girdle-road) connected the sixteen posts with the recently shortened railway, while three straalbanen (ray-roads) connected the chief station at Kota Radja with the ceintuurbaan. For a telephone in that post-ring provision was likewise made.

The Break-out of 1897-1898

When in 1896 other insights prevailed concerning the conduct in Atjeh, and consequently the line of concentration round Kota Radja was given up, there came a need for a line through Groot-Atjeh. In 1897 and 1898 the tram-line was laid via Indrapoeri to Seulimeum. It accorded with the political-military insights of that time that in the first years of the new century work was also done in the onderhoorigheden of Atjeh on a tram-line. From Sigli was built in the direction of Langsa, but also in the direction of Seulimeum. In 1908 the line from Kota Radja to Langsa lay.

Extension to Besitang and Pangkalan Soesoe (1910-1913)

After 1910 work began on the Langsa-Koeala Simpang section, and in 1913 the decision was taken to extend through to Besitang and Pangkalan Soesoe. At Besitang the Atjeh-tram and the Deli-spoor meet, and over a common track both run to Pangkalan Soesoe — a track with three rails, because the Atjeh-tram has narrow gauge (0.75 m) and the Deli-spoor has a line-width of 1.067 m.

Operation

The disadvantages of narrow gauge for permanent railway traffic are many and well-known, but at the time of construction one did not yet have the experience of the present, and in the works that one had to undertake in Atjeh thirty years and more ago, the military use alone stood in the foreground. The line was built while the enemy often came to disturb the work, and in later years one has had to remove the consequences of that. As the pacification of the gewest was accomplished, the exclusively military use diminished, and one had to consider the co-use of and for the population. Indeed, that increased strongly in the course of the years.

The tariff for the transport of passengers is 6 cents per kilometre for the first class, 3.5 cents for the second class, 1.8 cents for Europeans and Foreign Orientals in the third class, and 1 cent for Inlanders in the third class. The trains are usually formed of a small locomotive with a firewood-tender, a baggage-wagon, a first- and second-class carriage, several third-class carriages, and a sometimes great number of goods-wagons. The whole makes the impression not of tram or local railway, but of great railway in reduced edition. The first- and second-class carriages on the longer routes are arranged in the manner of the carriages on Java, in the first class with comfortable sliding chairs. Because the speed is never considerable — perhaps on average 25 to 30 kilometres in the hour — a long journey in the Atjeh-tram is tedious. One leaves Kota Radja early in the morning; for the use of the midday meal a roomy halt is given at Samalanga, and one is in the afternoon at Lho’ Seumawe, from where one leaves again early the next morning to find, at Langsa (if the train is not too late), a midday meal ready, and to arrive at Besitang against half past three. There one changes to the fast train of the Deli-spoor to reach Medan against six o’clock.

Goods Traffic

The goods transport of private persons consists for the present of pepper, pinang and copra from the population to the harbour-places, to be shipped from there to Penang. The principal harbour-places are Sigli and Lho’ Seumawe, and one usually chooses the harbour-place according to the market-price. There is indeed sometimes a difference in price between delivery at Sigli or at Lho’ Seumawe. If the market-price is fairly favourable, the transport suddenly increases. Fruit is not much transported; of importance is only the dispatch of pisangs from Indrapoera to Kota Radja, which amounts to daily wagon-loads. A wagon-load is 4 tons. It is a pity that the Atjehnese does not dispatch padi, at least not of importance. Dispatch within Atjeh does take place, for example from Pidië to Idi, when there or further south there is a shortage, but nothing goes to the Oostkust van Sumatra.

With the transport of cattle it is otherwise. From Groot-Atjeh, the centre of which is Seulimeum, cattle goes to Sabang and to Medan. For Medan the cattle are usually loaded at Lam Baró, a halt further on, and the tram then brings them to Besitang. From there the cattle are led by road to Medan, because a longer train-journey would be harmful to the animals. The cattle are dispatched with the through-trains. The transport of the products of the great agricultural industry the Atjeh-tram has mainly in Langsa and Tamiang: it brings them to Koeala Langsa and Pangkalan Soesoe or to Besitang for unloading towards Belawan. The transport of palm-oil has been going on for only a good year, in casks; as soon as the transport by sea in tank-ships takes place, the Atjeh-tram must provide tank-wagons. The transport of wood in Langsa and Tamiang goes north and south. Its own firewood the Atjeh-tram buys from the population south of Simpang Olim.

The Central Workshop at Sigli

The central workshop at Sigli is worth seeing. If necessary, one makes and repairs everything there; a severe retrenchment could make it unfit for the important task. The 62 locomotives and 6 heavier mountain-locomotives come now and then for cleaning and repair, the wagons likewise. The workman is the Atjehnese, and under proper supervision he does perfectly. The road-labourers and even some mandores are likewise Atjehnese. Slowly the Atjehnese come forward as conductor. As engine-drivers Javanese and Malays serve.

Significance

The Atjeh-tram is the principal means of overland transport in the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden and the principal legacy of the Atjeh-oorlog to the civilian period. Its narrow gauge is a permanent obstacle to its further development, but its 495-km main line and its central workshop at Sigli make it the indispensable infrastructure of the gewest. Broersma’s considered judgement is that ‘tegenwoordig de Atjeh-tram groote diensten bewijst, onmisbaar is en bevredigend werkt, mits de leiding er van niet uit het oog verliest, dat Atjeh ook verbinding behoeft met de Oostkust van Sumatra en de bestaande verbinding zoo redelijk mogelijk het algemeene nut en niet uitsluitend een Atjehsch belang heeft te dienen.‘

Attacks on the line

At the meeting Swart held with all the oelèëbalangs of the eastern part of the province at Lho’ Seumawè in 1908, he raised the unceasing attacks on the tram, which had become the rule: “I firmly count on it that those attacks are finished from today. Should that not be the case, then I can assure the territorial chiefs that I shall make them feel it severely!” He did not say how or what or where — “but they still knew me there from the time when I was major at Lho’ Seumawè, and so they knew that it would strike home. Then they said: “you may rely on it.” And from then on the tramway line there was no longer destroyed.”

Neither the Atjehtram nor the telephone line had been safe from Pang Nanggròë for a single day. In Pidië operations against the sensitive tram line continued into 1911: “that was the finest opportunity to bring well-disposed village heads into difficulty.”

By 1910 the Koloniaal Verslag could report of the north coast: “the Atjeh tramway always ran without escort, and the trackmen no longer had to be protected, while for their quarters, erected everywhere along the line, no extra protection proved necessary; destruction of telephone lines had not occurred in the last months.”

Attacks on personnel

Several of the Atjeh murders were committed against tramway staff. In September 1913 a train conductor was murdered; in June 1915 an overseer of the tram at Pantòn Laboe was attacked by an Acehnese woman; in 1916 the tram clerk Beets and his wife were attacked, Beets dying of his wound and the assailant being sentenced to death. Attacks on soldiers occurred repeatedly at tram halts.

Connection with Deli

Lamster recorded that under Swart “the connection of the Atjeh tramway with Deli was established.” The correspondent of the Nieuwe Courant wrote in 1914 that “in a couple of months Kota Radja will be in direct rail connection with the Deli plantation district.”

Economic role and later fears

The Atjehtram, better roads and the co-operation of the administration made the east coast the first area of Atjeh to attract estate enterprise after 1910. In the interview of 6–7 March 1914 the Sumatra Post recorded the Governor’s view of the tram as an undertaking in which more than twenty-five million in capital had been sunk and of which “a great deal more could have been made of it.”

In 1927 Swart, then long retired, told the journalist J. Schaap that there was some danger that communism might be introduced into Atjeh along the Atjehtram, “for on this tramway line five hundred kilometres long almost only Acehnese work as track coolies, and it is not impossible that people among the staff may know how to work upon them; but if the higher staff act rightly, this danger can be reduced. If only one knows how to keep the people’s confidence.”

Use by the Governor

Swart used the tram for administration as well: he toured with Liefrinck in a directors’ carriage, stopping at every announced halt so that the oelèëbalangs could pay their respects; he travelled by special tram to Sigli with the surgeon Dubinsky on hearing of the stabbing of Scheepens; and immediately after taking office in 1908 he went east by tram with Colijn as far as Langsa “to get an impression for myself.”

Sources

DLP-84-Atjeh.pdf, p. 8. H. T. Damsté, “Drie Atjeh-Mannen,” Kolonial Tijdschrift, No. 4, 26e Jaargang (1937), overdruck, p. 361.

Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 75, 85, 87, 195.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

The Atjeh Tram was the government narrow-gauge steam tramway of Atjeh — begun with the five-kilometre line Oelèë Lheue–Koeta Radja approved on 26 June 1874, extended down the North and East Coasts to Besitang, where at the end of December 1919 it joined the Deli railway to form a through rail connection of 510 kilometres from Tandjong Balei to Koeta Radja — and remembered by author Joh. Langhout as one of the chief instruments of the pacification: “vast staat dat de Atjehtram ten volle heeft beantwoord aan het doel … nl. een afdoende pacificatie der Atjehgebieden” (“certain it is that the Atjeh tram fully answered its purpose, namely an effective pacification of the Atjeh regions”).

The first line, 1874–1876

On 26 May 1874 a commission came into being — Assistant-Resident Kroesen, the chief engineer-officer present, and Lieutenant-at-sea J. P. Mercier — charged with investigating what the Government had to do for the improvement of the means of communication; on 26 June the Netherlands Indian Government approved the proposal of a môle of iron screw-piles at Oelèë Lheue, an adjoining railway with steam traction to Koeta Radja, and a telegraphic connection between both places. The môle was ready in 1875; only in 1876, for the delayed material, could the line (not yet 5 km; gauge 1.067 m as on Java; cost f 540,000 including f 138,000 rolling material) be opened to public traffic. The telegraph Koeta Radja–Oelèë Lheue had entered service on 20 March 1875.

Narrow gauge and the line of posts

Plans for carrying the line to Glé Kambing on the left bank of the Atjeh River had to be fitted to the 6-metre column road; a gauge of 0.75 m was therefore chosen, leaving a free, hardened road of 3.45 m beside the track, and the gauge of the existing stretch was likewise reduced to 0.75 m, the line being exploited as a tramway from June 1884. In 1883 construction began toward Lambaroe (opened 1884); when in 1885 the force was withdrawn within the line of fortifications around Koeta Radja (running from the post Koeta Pohama over Lambaroe to the blockhouse Sabang), a connecting line between Keutapang Doea and Koeta Radja (over 16 km) was opened in 1885 along the posts, and in June 1886 a third radial line Koeta Radja–Lam Njong with branches Tongah–Peukan Kroeeng Tjoet and to the hospital at Panté Pirah. In October 1889 part of the tram-line from Lam Reueng to Lambaroe was closed for repeated damage by hostile bands (reopened after the destruction stopped); trains had to be preceded by a loose inspection locomotive, repairs being made under military cover, and derailments with heavy loss of life occurred.

Extension under the new system

The 1896 turn (three mobile columns outside the concentrated line) was matched by tramway extension: from June 1897, Lambaroe–Glé Kambing opposite Indrapoeri (c. 15 km; opened November 1897); from January 1898, onward to Seulimeum (c. 18 km, opened 1 November 1898); in 1897 the superfluous parts of the older lines were broken up and new branch lines laid; by 1901 the Groot-Atjeh net measured 58 kilometres, with station-yard and workshops at Koeta Radja extended. The line Sigli–Kudéé Brueuk (18 km) opened in 1899; funds for Sigli–Lho Seumawè came with the budget of 1900 (built from both ends, the middle in Samalanga being inaccessible, delayed by bandjir-floods washing away three iron bridges; completed April 1904; branch Beureunoen–Lam Meulō, 5 km, added 1913); with the budget of 1901 came Lho Seumawè–Idi, a proposed line from the Aroe-baai having been rejected.

The mountain line, 1903–1908

The connection over the watershed, planned by Governor Van Heutsz in 1898 and estimated by chief engineer A. E. Wijss at over three million guilders, obtained its provisional design in 1902 (Seulimeum–Kudéé Brueuk), was begun on both sides in 1903 through dry and unhealthy country, and opened to a limited service on 15 September 1908 — joining the two nets, whereafter the Koeta Radja workshops were closed and Sigli’s were extended (locomotive and carriage sheds, foundry, smithy, lathe-shop and magazines).

To the Deli frontier

The connection with the Deli railway was already discussed under Van Heutsz. In July 1910 funds came for Langsa–Koeala Simpang (opened 1912); 1914 brought the opening Koeala Simpang–Soengei Lipoet; at the end of 1915 the construction reached Besitang on the border of Atjeh and Sumatra’s East Coast (opened to traffic in 1916); and in 1917 a branch of three rails — for both the 0.75 m gauge and the 1.067 m gauge of the Deli railway — was laid from Besitang to Pangkalan Soesoe on the Aroe-baai, so that Deli material from Pangkalan Brandan could run to Teloktaboehan. At the end of December 1919 the “missing link” was made by the Deli railway’s own extension from Pangkalan Brandan to Besitang: “zoodat thans een rechtstreeksche verbinding bestaat van Tandjong Balei, ter Oostkust van Sumatra, tot Koeta Radja, een afstand van niet minder dan 510 kilometer”.

Administration and exploitation

Peculiarly, the tram served during its first almost fifty years under three different bodies: the engineers (Genie), who had largely built it; from 1882 the Department of Civil Public Works (Burgerlijke Openbare Werken); from 1890 again the Department of War; and from 1 January 1916 the Government Enterprises (State Railways / Gouvernementsbedrijven). The total length of the Atjeh line amounts to 450 kilometre plus several branch lines; locomotives develop a maximum speed of 40 km/h with train-weights of 100–120 tons, fuel changing from Ombilin coal to bakobako-wood; the rolling stock includes water-tank wagons, director and inspection saloons, first-, second- and third-class carriages, sick-carriages, hearses, closed and open goods wagons and cattle wagons. The exploitation long ran at a loss (the land traffic ran free of charge and there was no hinterland), but the paying traffic rose from over f 37,000 (mid-1908) to f 77,000 (1914) and f 97,000 (1918). Langhout took the data from the Colonial Reports, from an article by Ir. J. H. Müller in the Indisch Tijdschrift voor Spoor- en Tramwegen, and from particulars and photographs of Ir. J. H. Caspers, old chief of construction of the Atjeh tram.

Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)

Atjeh Tram was military-origin tramway of Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden 495 km long main line Oelèë Lheuë to Pangkalan Soesoe plus side lines Langsa-Koeala Langsa 9 km and Beureunoen-Lam Meulo 5 km, narrow gauge 0.75M, meeting Deli-spoor 1.067M at Besitang via three-rail track to Pangkalan Soesoe.

Development

First rail traffic between Koeta Radja and port Oelèë Lheuë (Oleh Leh) until time concentration when Dutch power 1884 limited to ring around Koeta Radja and ceintuurbaan 16 posts connected short before to tram reduced railway while three radial lines hoofdvestiging Koeta Radja with ceintuurbaan connected. Recently saw Sigli locomotive already service 1884. For telephone in posts circle also cared.

When 1896 other insights regarding acting in Atjeh gained and line concentration around Koeta Radja given up, needed track through Groot-Atjeh. 1897-1898 tram via Indrapoeri to Seulimeum (Slimum). Conformed political-military insights time that first years new century also in dependencies Atjeh worked tram line From Sigli built direction Langsa but also direction Seulimeum 1908 line Koeta Radja to Langsa. After 1910 only worked tram Langsa-Koeala Simpang and 1913 decision extension Besitang and Pangkalan Soesoe. At Besitang meeting few years Atjeh-tram and Deli-spoor and over common track both to Pangkalan Soesoe track with three rails because Atjeh-tram narrow gauge 0.75M Deli-spoor 1.067M.

According to Broersma, every distance along eastern coast can be done with auto over big road not broad but properly maintained, or with Atjeh-tram also not broad (0.75M) but properly maintained. From Koeala Simpang to Langsa tram about 1.5 hour, sneltrein 1.25 hour. “Net speelgoed” would call tram miniature train, but significant.

Disadvantages narrow gauge for permanent railway many well-known but at time construction not have today’s experiences and works undertaken 30 years ago in Atjeh stood exclusively military use foreground If want escape consequences must go rebuild heavier track wider gauge And anticipating state gewest will once demand says currently Atjeh-tram great services indispensable satisfying work provided leadership not out eyes Atjeh also connection needs Oostkust Sumatra and existing connection as reasonable general utility not exclusively Atjeh interest serve.

Track built while often enemy came disturb work and later years had to remove consequences. As pacification advanced reduced exclusively military use and must be mindful co-use for population Indeed in course years strongly increased.

Tariffs and operation

Tariff passenger 6 cent per km 1st class 3.5 cent 2nd 1.8 cent Europeans and Foreign Easterners 3rd class 1 cent inlanders 3rd class. Trains usually formed small locomotive with trailer firewood baggage wagon carriage 1st 2nd class few carriages 3rd class sometimes large number freight wagons Whole not tram local rail but great railway in reduced edition Wagons 1st 2nd long trajectories furnished in style carriages Java 1st class comfortable sliding seats. Because speed never considerable maybe average 25-30 km per hour long journey Atjeh-tram boring. One departs Koeta-Radja morning early for lunch held Samalanga roomy stop and afternoon Lho Seumawe where next morning early departs to Langsa (if not late) on prior statement lunch find and half four Besitang arrival There transfer fast train Deli-spoor to 6 hour Medan arrive Daily one through train which some stops passes without stopping. Much natural beauty from train not observable even mountain line Padang Tidji-Seulimeum. Trains stations fairly clean. Exploitation expensive because stretched line many wagons need available for transport.

Goods transport private first pepper pinang copra from population to harbour places to be shipped Penang. Main harbours Sigli and Lho Seumawe and choose harbour usually according market price difference price delivery Sigli or Lho Seumawe. If market price fairly favorable suddenly transport increase. Fruits not much transported significant only pisangs from Indrapoera to Koeta-Radja daily wagonloads Wagonload 4 ton. Unfortunately Atjeher doesn’t ship padi significant. Shipment within Atjeh perhaps e.g., Pidie to Idi when shortage further south but to Oostkust Sumatra nothing. With cattle different From Groot-Atjeh center Seulimeum goes cattle to Sabang and Medan. For Medan usually loaded Lam Baró halt further and tram brings to Besitang. From there guide cattle over road to Medan because longer train journey harmful animals. Cattle with through trains sent.

Transport products big agricultural industry Atjeh-tram mainly Langsa and Temiang brings to Koeala Langsa and Pangkalan Soesoe or Besitang for transshipment Belawan. Transport palm oil lasts only good year with packaging barrels as soon transport sea tankers must Atjeh-tram provide tankwagons. Transport wood in Langsa and Temiang north south. Own firewood buys A.T. from Chinese contractor inter alia from population south Simpang Olim.

Expansion considerations

Broadening line occasionally considered would start Pangkalan Soesoe send material from Java no longer service whereafter material A.T. could serve construction iron road Bali and Lombok. Perhaps such considerations become deeds over few years.

Central workshop Sigli worth viewing If necessary manufactures repairs everything sharp economizing would make unsuitable important task 62 locomotives and 6 heavier mountain locomotives now and then cleaning repair wagons likewise. Labourer Atjeher and under proper supervision satisfies fully Also track workers even some mandoers Atjehers. Slowly Atjeher presents also for conductor Until now as such mostly Malays Padang known often strong in union fuss weak in monetary accuracy. As machinists serve Javanese Malays. Provision personnel often difficulty because Atjeh outside often considered land without comforts enjoyments. As soon trade among Atjeh people larger east west connection get sales for rice cattle regulated people will ask greater service Atjeh-tram which now important help offers. Throughout Atjeh goes telephone line connecting administration posts Busy doing over to government telephone service.

Significance

Development of land owes much to tram although construction social utility not counted military transport main. One easily inclined whole military labour over long series years treat as means achieving political goal establishing order obedience but often overlooked in colonial area part war works gradually can transition to works peace In Atjeh fortunately also case Settlement occupation bivouaks gave direction trade traffic Need many help services brought labour where besides Atjeher began participate Serving health mail also others than military benefited. Most tram and telephone line from military means transitioned to factors economic development.

Account from J. Roest (1916) — the completion plans of 1912–1915

J. Roest’s article De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai (December 1916, dated 4 December 1915) preserves the decision history of the tram’s northern completion as the administration itself had fought it out. Roest records how the tramway plan had been based — openly declared by the then Chief Inspector of Railways Van Stipriaan Luïscius to the direction of the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij — on the assumption that the dredging at Belawan would fail and that the Aru Bay would become the ocean harbour of the East Coast; how the Cultuurraad debated the plan in the meetings of 26 September 1912 and 20 February 1913, with Schadee’s counter-motions; and how the Government decisions of 17 June 1913 No. 59 and 16 October 1913 No. 25 granted the funds for the continuation of the Atjeh steam tram from Kwala Simpang to the boundary between Tamiang and Langkat and from there to Besitang, with the Aru Bay plan maintained.

With the hopeful first results of the suction dredger Java in the Belawan channel, the plans for a first-class harbour at Telok Taboehan were set aside, though the roadbed from Besitang to Telok Taboehan (built for f 200,000) was already complete; the harbour installation shifted to Pangkalan Soesoe, where the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij already had its establishment and jetty, at a budget sum of f 150,000 placed on the proposed budget for 1916. The connection Pematang Pandjang–Pangkalan Brandan (8 K.M., f 300,000), the army engineers’ plan (f 510,000) and the through connection Besitang–Tandjong Slamat (30 K.M., f 1,450,000) all figure in his cost comparison.

Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)

Verstege records the state of the tramway at the moment of the concentration: since mid-1884 Lambaroe had been joined with Kota Radja by steam tramway; at the execution of the concentration that tramline was lengthened from Kota Radja to Ketapang Doewa, and from there on one side to Lamdjame and on the other side to Lambaroe; and it was decided to build a ceintuurtramweg (belt tramway) between Lamdjame and Pakan Kroeng Tjoet, running along all the intervening fortifications of the new line of posts, Siroen alone excepted; according to the latest Atjeh-news of the pamphlet (1886) that belt line was then completed as far as Roempit. The defensibility of the limited occupation was further heightened by bringing all posts into telephonic connection with Kota Radja, and serious thought was being given to lighting the whole position electrically, so as to prevent the hostile bands from surprising the settlements, troops or strongholds at night from ambush. The enemy answered: on 25 February 1885 the Décauville tramway inside the line was broken up and the rails carried off, in the night of 12-13 September the tramway near Lampermej was dug out and the rails left hanging in the air, in that of 20-21 September the tramway at Lampermej was damaged again with the telephone connection destroyed, on 24 October 1885 the line between Oleh-leh and Kota Radja was barred with iron wire and beams, and on 27 October 1885 and 16 December 1885 the troops or trams in their repair were fired on (see Guerilla raids inside the concentration line (1885)).

See Also

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

The railway of Atjeh (officially A.S.S.). Subject of many jokes for its tempo, smallness, primitive wood fuel (with soot, cinders, and spark showers at night), frequent derailments when a goat gets on the track. But also: played a major role in the Aceh war (transport, communications, wounded), economically significant. Stops at Bireuën, Sigli (workshop), and along NoordkustMilitary tramway/railway nearing completion that improved access for agricultural ondernemingen and the transport of materials and products.

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 59, 65, 67, 195.

Source

De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 20–25, 181, 234–235, 242. De Buitenbezittingen 1904. In: Mededeelingen van het Encyclopaedisch Bureau. Batavia: G.C.T. van Dorp & Co., [ca. 1915]. D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), p. 33. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872. The biography records the construction of the Kota Radja–Olehleh smalspoorbaan and the vakwerk-aanleggtiier at Olehleh as one of the peacetime engineer works of Snijders at Kota Radja in 1874–1875. DLP-84-Atjeh.pdf, p. 8.

The Atjeh-tram was the military-origin tramway of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden that, by 1917, had become the principal transport artery of the gewest — connecting Koeta Radja and Oelèë Lheuë with Indragiri and Seulimeum and, beyond the Goudberg-hoogvlakte, with the principal bevolkings-centra of the Noord- and Oostkust as far as Koeala Simpang and Besitang. Operated as the Dienst der S.S. (Staatsspoorwegen) under the Department van Gouvernements-Bedrijven, the Atjeh-tram had, De Buitenbezittingen records, “haar militaire rol reeds geheel losgelaten” — already entirely shed its military role — and now possessed “in de voornaamste plaats economische beteekenis.” Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter XIV, ‘De Atjeh-tram’, pp. 96–101. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim; Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), for the Koloniaal Instituut and Handelsmuseum. Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter IX, pp. 90–91; Chapter X, p. 97; Chapter XI, pp. 107–109; Chapter XII, p. 121; Chapter XIII, p. 131; Chapter XVI, p. 149; Chapter XVII, p. 161. Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 31, 63, 91, 124–125, 131–140 (chapter “De Atjeh-Tram”), illustration captions pp. 131, 135. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 85-90.

Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), pp. 83, 108-110. OCR: DLP-158.

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