Semarang is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. The city has been named as the cleanest tourist destination in Southeast Asia by the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard (ACTCS) for 2020–2022.

Staatsspoorwegen was a state-owned railway company managed by the Dutch East Indies colonial government. It was absorbed into the present Kereta Api Indonesia after Indonesian independence in 1945. The main competitor was Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij (NIS) as private-owned railways company which had standard gauge and cape gauge lines.