Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij

Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij
Madoera Tram, 1930.
Route around 1915
Route length:	142 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )

Preference share for 1000 guilders, October 1, 1904

The train mostly drove along existing roads

Train at a stop of the MSTM

The Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij (MSTM, Dutch for Madurese Steam Tram Company ) on the island of Madura in what is now the Indonesian province of Jawa Timur (East Java) was one of the railway companies in the Dutch East Indies . The company was based in 's-Gravenhage and was licensed in 1896. In 1901 she started operating the first steam trams to connect the western and eastern ends of the island.

history

Foundation and early days

From 1884 onwards, serious plans arose for the construction of trams on Madura. A number of applications for a tram license were not granted by the government because the applicants were unable to meet the conditions of the license. On September 26, 1896, the former administrator of the Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij , EM Collard, published a petition asking for a concession to build and operate a steam tram on Madura, from Kamal via Bangkalan , Sampang , Pamekasan and Soemenep applied to the port of Kalianget . By resolution no. 26 of the government of November 10, 1896, the concession was granted. The authorization to set up the Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij was then given by Royal Decree No. 48.1 of July 19, 1897.

The construction of the line was secured by depositing the guarantee capital in the Netherlands. The Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij was founded in 1897 to “build and operate a steam tram in the Madoera residence from Kamal via Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan and Soemenep to Kaliang” and to “construct other trams on Madura or elsewhere in the Netherlands India, to buy or exploit, to establish, to take over, as well as to carry out their operation and the operation of ships and other means of transport and facilities or to participate in companies for this purpose. "

The route was built and put into operation from 1898 to 1901 as follows: Kamal – Bangkalan (1898), Bangkalan – Tunjung (1899), Tunjung – Kwanyar (1900), Tanjung – Kapedi (1900), Kapedi – Tambangan (1900), Tambangan – Kalianget (1899), Kwanyar – Blega (1901), Tanjung – Sampang (1901) and Sampang – Blega (1901).

The company got a director from Amsterdam who was responsible for day-to-day management. This was appointed by the general meeting and monitored by commission members of the board of directors. An administrator was appointed to Madura who was responsible for the management and actual use of the railway. He officially had the title of main agent (Dutch Hoofdvertegenwoordiger ) but was called administrator for a long time in practice. He had regular correspondence with the director and was also overseen by the local committee, which had a seat in Surabaya .

Freight transport

The transport of goods was assigned an important role from the beginning: When it was founded, it was assumed that the transport of salt played an important role as a source of income for society. The production and sale of salt was a government monopoly in Indonesia. In the first annual report of the Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij , its director, M. Tromp, mentioned that it was to be expected that the salt transport would take place on this route, as the government had just started to press the salt into briquettes when it was founded. It was therefore expected that all deliveries of raw salt, briquettes and fuels could be handled by rail. The governor-general was asked to build the salt stores as close as possible to the stops of the steam tram. Upon completion of the route, the company hoped to take over the transport of the salt supplies that were being transported from Sampang and Soemenep to the eastern residences of Java. However, the first public tender for salt transport showed that the tram could not compete with land transport. Later, the tram carried some salt, but the movement of people, livestock and goods continued to be the main income of society.

Integration into the VNISTM

The efficiency of the trams, which were relatively expensive to build, fell short of expectations, leading to various financial restructurings. In order to get a better grip on local traffic, smaller boat connections to the mainland of Java were operated and extensive bus connections were maintained on the island itself from 1928 onwards.

In 1911 the “Support Fund for the Employees of NV Madoero Stoomtram Maatschappij” was set up to regulate the social provisions for European and Indian personnel in the Dutch East Indies. In 1914 a savings and insurance fund for European and equivalent employees of the NV Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij was set up as part of a foundation. This should regulate the pension provisions for European staff in the form of a capital or a pension.

J. Th. Gerlings, the director of the Java-based "Vier Zuster-Maatschappijen", sent a letter to the directors of the other tram companies in 1917 with the suggestion of founding a common interest group. This initiative led to the foundation of the Vereeniging van Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorentramwegmaatschappijen on June 16, 1917 . (VNISTM).

Second World War

As of May 10, 1940, the Dutch-based management and the board of directors of Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij were no longer entitled to exercise their functions outside the London-based Committee for Legal Traffic in Time of War ( Commissie voor Rechtsverkeer in Oorlogstijd , CORVO) occupied territory.

During the Japanese occupation and the subsequent Indonesian struggle for independence, the tram suffered considerable damage. Most of the staff were interned by the Japanese in the course of 1942, so that by the end of 1942 almost all European staff were held with their families in Japanese prisons or internment camps. The so-called Madoera affair was the arrest in August 1942 and the execution in February 1944 of 62 executives of the Madurese salt production company and the Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. In August 1942, a Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij freight car that had been reported as “lost” and was loaded with ammunition intended for the Royal Dutch-Indian Army was found by a Japanese patrol. This car was found in the Ngawi courtyard. Through a leak, the Kempeitai military police got hold of a list of the names of the demolition squad that had badly damaged important facilities on the island shortly before the island was occupied. The Kempeitai also learned of a plan by the chemists from the salt extraction plants to use a chemical process to make explosives from salt. Therefore, the Japanese suspected that there were radio communications with allies. All the management of these companies were arrested and later executed on suspicion of illegal anti-Japanese activities. The arrested administrative staff remained detained.

The board of directors was subordinate to the main representative in the Dutch East Indies. After the surrender in 1942, the railways and trams in India were immediately taken over by the Japanese army command. Soon after, direct management was also taken over by the Japanese, who brought the state railways, private railways and trams, and road traffic under central Japanese management in Bandoeng .

post war period

After the return of the Dutch-Indonesian government under Lieutenant General Van Mook, the then director of transport, public works and water management informed the representatives of the companies that the repair and reuse of the railway system should be arranged and regulated centrally. The private rail and tram companies would therefore be temporarily taken over by the government. To this end, Van Mook adopted the “Verordening Medewerking Bedrijven”.

The intention was for the private companies to merge with the State Railways to form a United Railway Company. This would be directed and administered by an agency designated for this purpose by the government. The private companies would receive annual compensation for the use of their companies by the state.

These matters, so important to all societies, were discussed in the VNISTM. They were aware that under the Japanese occupation the railway network had operated as a unit and that it would be difficult to divide it up again. It would have been unlikely that the companies would have regained their former capacity to act. After long negotiations with the government, the relationship between the state and companies was provisionally regulated by decree of the Lieutenant General of February 14, 1948 No. 12, in which the fees for use were also set. Among other things, it was confirmed that the contract was retroactive to January 1, 1946.

nationalization

When sovereignty was transferred in December 1949, all rights and obligations were transferred to the Republic of Indonesia. The annual fees paid to private rail and tram companies were continued by Djawatan Kereta Api , the Indonesian state railway. Soon after, the Indonesian communications minister indicated to VNISTM that the railways would remain in state ownership with the intention of taking them over. However, the financial situation of the state represented an obstacle to the early implementation of this intention, so that the previous situation continued. As a result, in February 1950, the joint departments informed the minister that they were ready to cooperate on a takeover by accepting a payment agreement. However, they pointed out that the annual compensation had only been agreed until 1949 and that this would also have to be fixed for the coming years.

On June 23, 1950, the VNISTM appointed a committee to report to the minister in close cooperation with the companies on the repurchase costs and payment terms. After the directors had agreed to work together, this committee was set up under the chairmanship of the Railway Service by ministerial decree of August 19, 1950. This committee advised the minister in mid-1952. This opinion was discussed in March 1953 in the Finance and Finance Council, which approved the opinion and authorized the Minister of Communications to negotiate with the VNISTM.

In March 1953, the minister set up a new committee to carry out the negotiations. For this purpose, the company authorized the engineers AS Carpentier Alting and BW Colenbrander. However, all attempts to arrive at a fruitful consultation failed, largely due to the many Indonesian cabinet changes that resulted in them having to repeatedly grapple with a new communications minister.

The New Guinea issue and the anti-Dutch measures taken by Sukarno , including the nationalization of Dutch companies, have put an end to the negotiations for good. This also ended the company's representation in Indonesia. When diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia normalized in 1966, negotiations on compensation continued. The Netherlands would examine the applications, make the allocations and arrange the distribution of the installments. When it finally became known in 1970 what amount was to be paid, it was decided to liquidate the companies that were combined in VNISTM. The last railway line on Madura was officially closed in 1987.

vehicles

C3117 steam locomotive in the 1960s

In 1930 the rail vehicles consisted of 33 locomotives, 367 wagons and freight cars and 23 buses.

From Hartmann there were twenty triaxial 0-6-0 -Dampflokomotiven (C couplers) with the serial numbers from 2435 to 2446 from the Year 1898 and with the serial numbers 2476 to 2483 from the Year 1899, the numbers C3101- in Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij C3120. Two two-axle 0-4-0 Hohenzollern steam locomotives (wheel arrangement Bt) with the serial numbers 1056 and 1057 from the year of construction 1897 ran under the numbers 26 and 27.

There were also four steam ships, six motor ships, 17 barges and one dredger. The ships were named Caroline (I., 1901), Caroline (II., 1902), Resident Bodemeijer (1902), and Elisabeth Caroline (1936).

Infrastructure

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  Station Kamal pier

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  Kamal Pier Station

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  Tram depot in Kamal around 1929

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  Bridge in Sungai Sampang

Rail network

Overall, the length of the tram network on Madura was initially 142 kilometers and in 1939 even 213 kilometers. The following tram lines were built and operated by the Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij :

No.	Starting station	final destination	Tram line	Remarks
1.	Kwanyar	Kalianget	Kwanyar-Kalianget line	The Pamekasan - Kalianget section was destroyed by the Japanese during World War II, and the Kwanyar - Pamekasan section is to be put back into operation
2.	Kamal Pier	Kwanyar	Kamal-Kwanyar line	via Bangkalan , the Kamal - Bangkalan section is to be put back into operation
3.	Kamal Pier	Kwanyar	Kamal-Kwanyar line	via Sukolilo , is to be put back into operation

Web links

• Early documents and newspaper articles on the Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Inventory van het archief van de NV Madoera Stoomtrammaatschappij, (1896) 1897–1973. Archie inventory number: 2.20.48.
2. ↑ Syaf Anton: Alat Kereta Api di Transportasi Madura.
3. ^ Staatsblad 1940, No. A6. (Dutch)
4. ↑ betekenis Madoera-affaire
5. ^ Archival Portal Europe Foundation: Stukken-related "de Madoera-affaire"; de liquidatie van Europees personeel van de zoutwinning tijdens de Japanse bezetting. 1948.
6. ↑ Verordening Medewerking Bedrijven (VMB), Indian Staatsblad 1945, No. 146.
7. ↑ Catatan Sejarah Indonesia Perkeretaapian di Tanah Madura.
8. ↑ Madoera Stoomtram Maatschappij.
9. ^ Stichting Maritiem-Historische Databank.
10. ^ History of Railways in Indonesia.