Letter: Historical train routes for tourism

Glad to hear the news on the reopening of West Sumatra historic train routes (the Post, April 3).

Apart from serving as public transport, it is a good idea to run a historic train to attract tourists: particularly senior tourists from Europe (Holland).

Ambarawa rail museum has had a similar kind of steam train running on a daily basis for tourists for several years.

For this purpose, state owned railway operator PT Kereta Api can use legendary old steam engines. Indonesia is rich with this rail “memorabilia”.

The remains of those old locomotives are available in many railway stations at Java and Sumatra complete with accessories like signal, tower controls, etc. Some of them are lovingly preserved at Ambarawa.

Old stations like Pulau Air (Padang), Sawahlunto, and Payakumbuh must be renovated and be kept as authentic as possible and the trains’ crews should dress in authentic-looking costumes.

More detailed information about these old trains is available at Rijks Museum and Central Bibliotheek in Amsterdam or Rotterdam.

They keep large collections of very old books about their beloved colony in the Far East, Nederlands Indie, all written long before anyone had heard the word “Indonesia”.

Robby Kaware
Jakarta