Every year Semarang Tawang Station was flooded by rising tide of sea water. Therefore, PT Kereta Api Daerah Operasi 4 Semarang (Indonesian State Railway 4th Operational Area-Semarang) held a thematic discussion on conservation of the station from effects of flood caused by rising tide of sea water.
The discussions was facilitated by Indonesian State Railway 4th Operational Area-Semarang and was held on Saturday, August 31, in a meeting room of Indonesian State Railway. Its participants were 35 people, some of them were experts in civil engineering. Acting as moderator was Prof Ir Totok Rusmanto. Some public figures were also present, i.e Prof Eko Budiharjo, Dr Bambang, Dr Robert Kondoatie and Nelwan. Unfortunately, Djoko Setijowarno was not present. Tjahjono Rahardjo and Deddy Herlambang represented Semarang branch of IRPS.
Tjahjono stated that old building conservation and Indonesian State Railway’s core business were hard to combine. Ideally, old building should be conserved. But in reality, in business view, the most important things were profit and good services onboard trains. Therefore, a different approach was needed.
Semarang Tawang was built by NIS and inaugurated in June 1, 1914. Stations built by NIS were the best in architectural design compared to other Netherland-Indies railway companies, such as SS, SJS, SCS, OJS, and SDS. NIS-built stations spreaded on Semarang-Solo-Yogyakarta line via Kedungjati and Gundih, including Ambarawa (Willem 1).
According to Totok, each canopy above each platform of the station had different type of arch depended on rail gauges. The station had two rail gauges of 1067 mm and 1435 mm. The 1067 mm gauge was used on Semarang-Solo-Yogyakarta line, whereas the 1435 mm gauge was used on Semarang-Surabaya line.
If the station were to be rehabilitated, it was hoped that the current building design would not be changed. We could think of solutions to prevent damages caused by flood. There was a 6-year-time to restore the station to its perfect condition so that it was ready to celebrate its 100th birthday. We believed that the station would be a world heritage in the next few years, therefore it should have been conserved properly.The discussion was held to urge government to care about the station, especially about damages caused by flood. If the government legitimated the discuccion, a petition would be created to control the station building.