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Dutch-colonial railway track dug up during MRT Jakarta construction
MRT Jakarta has unearthed approximately 100 meters of a Dutch-colonial era double track railway on Jl. Gajah Mada on Wednesday.
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Workers clean asphalt debris from an unearthed Dutch-colonial era tram track at one of the sites of the MRT Jakarta phase 2A construction on Jl. Gajah Mada in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. (Antara/Darryl Ramadhan)
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orkers constructing the Jakarta MRT unearthed approximately 100 meters of a Dutch-colonial era double track railway on Jl. Gajah Mada, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday, adding to a list of the city’s historical artifacts that have been uncovered since work began on the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle - Kota Tua line in June 2020.
Photos shared on MRT Jakarta’s Instagram account show the well-preserved railway buried directly under the asphalt of Jl. Gajah Mada.
“We’re currently preparing to remove the tracks from the construction site, where they will be then temporarily stored at the Jelambar Bus Depot”, said MRT Jakarta on its Instagram post.
The tracks reportedly date back to 1869 and are among the oldest railway tracks in the archipelago.
Workers found the tracks along the CP 202 construction site, which will eventually encompass three MRT underground stations, Harmoni, Sawah Besar and Mangga Besar.
The company added that it had coordinated with the Jakarta Culture and Tourism Agency on the handling of the artifact, and parts of the railway will be showcased at the MRT Jakarta visitor center at Kota Station.
MRT Jakarta has found several remnants of the Dutch colonial era during the development of the phase 2A project.
