Besitang (also rendered Besitan) was a town in the Atjeh Dependencies that served as the projected terminus of the 1913-approved extension of the Atjeh-tramway from Koeala Simpang through Tamiang to Besitang. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, Besitang was also the proposed junction with the connecting line to Pangkalan Soesoe and the Deli railway network — the line of Sumatra’s East Coast — that would, if built, link the Atjeh-tram to the Deli-tramway at Tandjoeng Slamat.
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Besitang
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the 1913 extension approvals places Besitang at the southern end of the projected Koeala Simpang–Tamiang–Besitang line: “the doortrekking was approved of the Atjeh-tram network from Koeala Simpang through Tamiang to Besitang, and from Pangkalan Soesoe to Telok Taboeban (on Arube Bay, with a good roadstead), while the connecting line between Besitang and Pangkalan Soesoe is also already in preparation. With the completion of this last line-section, the Atjeh-tram network will finally reach its natural terminus: the fine and accessible Arube Bay.”
The Bureau’s account of the projected — but ultimately deferred — direct line from Besitang to Tandjoeng Slamat on the Deli railway network places Besitang at the centre of the proposed junction between the Atjeh-tram and the Deli-tram: “a plan for further extension of the Atjeh-tram network, which was vigorously defended by various authorities, was the line via Besitang directly to Tandjoeng Slamat on the Deli-tramway network.” This direct Besitang–Tandjoeng Slamat connection, the Bureau notes, was deferred in favour of a connection from Pangkalan Brandan to the Atjeh-tram — a deferral that the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij and the Belawan-Deli trade had vigorously sought, in order to protect their monopoly of the East Coast export trade.
Significance
Besitang is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the southern terminus of the Atjeh-tramway’s 1913 extension and the proposed junction with the Deli railway network at Tandjoeng Slamat. Its role in the Aroe-baai-plannen is that of the inland node from which the line to Arube Bay via Pangkalan Soesoe–Telok Taboeban would depart.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Besitang — modern Besitang — is the junction where 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. At Besitang the traveller from Kota Radja passes to the fast train of the Deli-spoor to reach Medan. The junction was effected in 1908, and after 1910 work began on the Langsa-Koeala Simpang section and the through-extension to Besitang and Pangkalan Soesoe was decided in 1913. Besitang is in the border-region of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden; at Koeala Simpang one is already in Tamiang.
Account from J. Roest (1916) — Besitang as the junction disputed, 1912–1915
J. Roest’s article De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai (1916) places Besitang as the junction point at which four different railway designs competed: the traced line Besitang–Telok Taboehan by the army engineers (f 510,000) and the one by the Deli path over the level country; the line Besitang–Tandjong Slamat (30 K.M., f 1,450,000) urged by the chief of construction of the Atjeh-tram and by Governor Van der Plas as the only way along which a Kota Radja–Medan journey of two days would be possible; Schadee’s alternative junction at Pematang Pandjang (8 K.M., f 300,000) to Pangkalan Brandan; and the line Besitang–Pangkalan Soesoe by which the government laid a way for the Atjeh tram to the Aru Bay, with the cheap northern flat line along the shore.
At Besitang, as Roest records the state of affairs at the end of 1915, the two systems would run side by side towards the Aru Bay: the state tram on the trace Besitang–Pangkalan Soesoe–Telok Taboehan, and the company’s own projected line between Besitang and Pangkalan Brandan; and the long-disputed through connection Besitang–Tandjong Slamat remained doubtful whether it would ever be made.
See Also
- 1908
- 1910
- 1913
- Aroe-baai-plannen
- Aroebai
- Atjeh’s Onderhoorigheden
- Atjeh-tram
- Deli-Spoorweg-Maatschappij
- Deli-tram
- Koeala Simpang
- Pangkalan Brandan
- Pangkalan Soesoe
- Tamiang
- Tandjoeng Slamat
- Telok Taboeban
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
End point of the Atjeh-Staatsspoor on the Oostkust van Sumatra side. Connection with the Deli-Spoorweg Mij. completed in 1919, greatly increasing the economic importance of the military line.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 286, 287, 292.
Sources
De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 69–72 (section “De Atjeh-tram”).
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.
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. 286, 287, 292.