Back in 1842, at that time the parliament in the Dutch repeatedly urged the proposal to the Dutch government to build a railroad network in their colony of Dutch East Indies as they looked a successful rail transportation systems that had been implemented in Netherlands in 1837.^[1] The proposal was fulfilled 22 years later, in 1864 by the colonial government under the command of L. A. J. W. Baron Sloet van de Beele took the initiative to build the first railway line in Java. This company was established on August 27, 1863, as the colonial government gave the permit concession to W. Poolman, Alex Frazer and E.H. Kol who were also as company founder to build the line from Samarang to Yogyakarta.^[2]

Their first line construction started on Friday, June 17, 1864, from Kemidjen village, Samarang. They named the station Samarang or Samarang NIS as starting point to Tangoeng (Tanggung) passing Allas-Toewa (Alastua) and Broemboeng (Brumbung) which was also among the oldest stations around 25 km (15,5 miles) and was opened on August 10, 1867, and inaugurated for public service in 1873. In 1914, Samarang was closed due to the frequent tidal floods and land subsidence which disrupted train operations. Starting from June 1, 1914, they moved to Samarang Tawang as their main operational station. While ex-Samarang station now is located at Kampung Spoorlan, Kemijen while the physical form of the building is buried as deep as 2 meters between densely populated houses.^[3][4] At the same time, they also built the head office in Samarang, now Lawang Sewu, which was completed in 1907. At the start of their operation, the company didn't have profitable business prospects, so they submitted proposals to the colonial government for additional funding for the 166 kms (103 miles) line to Yogyakarta (Lempuyangan) via Surakarta (Balapan). Financial assistance and dividend guarantees were provided on condition that a 111 km (69 miles) booster line had to be built to Ambawara to provide a rail connection from Kedungjati to the strategic military stronghold named Fort Willem I. They named it Willem I station and after Indonesian Independence it changed its name to Ambarawa station. The Ambarawa station finally closed in 1977 and became Ambarawa Railway Museum). By 1870, 109 km (68 miles) of the line had been built, and by 1917, a total of 206 km had been operated in standard gauge (1,435 mm). With a branch line, the total track length is 419 km.

The first narrow gauge (1,067 mm) of NIS railway line stretched from the governor's office in Buitenzorg (now Bogor) to the capital city of Batavia (Batavia Noord or Batavia NIS) for 56 km (35 miles) and had branches to Meester Cornelis (just south of Manggarai) around 1 km (0,6 miles) and Kleine Boom (Pasar Ikan near Sunda Kelapa) for around 2 km (1,2 miles). After a two-year construction period, the line opened on January 31, 1873, and quickly proved profitable. The short town line to Kleine Boom was abandoned in 1891, because it had no connection to the rest of the NIS rail network and the port activities had been transferred to Tanjung Priok, and the line itself was removed in 1897. On 1 November 1913, the Batavia NIS station was sold to Staatsspoorwegen (SS) along with Buitenzorg–Batavia line and it was closed in 1929 after Batavia-Benedenstad (Jakarta Kota) had been built.^[5][6] By the end of 1918, the NIS had 57 locomotives, 35 passenger cars, 136 baggage cars and 1,393 freight cars. There were almost 23,000 train movements, with a total distance of around 1.23 million km. In 1917, nearly 4 million passengers were carried, of which 3.99 million passengers were in class 3. By 1928, the NIS had carried 13.8 million passengers.

By 1936, the second-class network had been extended to a length of 602 km (374 miles), while the second mainline (1,067 mm) had a total length of 863 km (536 miles). The company received compensation for the Staatsspoorwegen (SS) rail transit between Batavia and Surabaya. The board of directors (Raad van Beheer) is based in 's-Gravenhage (The Hague), while the Committee van Bestuur manages business in the colony. At the end of 1937, there were 37 employees in the senior service, 274 employees in the middle service and 3,557 employees in the regular service.

The first maintenance workshop was in Semarang and around 1915, it was moved to Yogyakarta (now it's become Pengok Workshops or Balai Yasa Pengok). There is also a small workshop in Cepu.

During World War II, the Beijnes diesel-electric train car order had to be cancelled. Likewise, the high-performance steam locomotives ordered from Werkspoor could not be delivered after the German occupation in June 1940. For strategic reasons, the Solo-Gundih line was given a third rail to allow narrow gauge (1,067 mm) locomotives to operate from Semarang to Solo via Gambringan. Many of the NIS Class 380 locomotives, later designated as the C52 series, were taken to other areas by the Japanese. Although the locomotives were returned after the war, they fell into disrepair due to a re-measurement of the track to cape gauge size.^[6]

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  Share of the Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg-Maatschappij, issued 9 March 1920
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  A private-owned Dutch East Indies Railways train crosses a railway bridge over the Code River (pronounced: [tʃo:ɖe]) in Yogyakarta on the line between Semarang to the "Vorstenlanden" or Royal Lands of the Surakarta Sunanate and the Sultanate of Jogjakarta
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  Offices, power station and high-reservoir of the Central Working-Hall of the NIS in Jogjakarta (now Indonesian Railways Locomotive Workshop)
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  A steam locomotive runs on a railway bridge of the private-owned Dutch East Indies Railway Company on the line between Secang, Magelang and Parakan, Temanggung, Central Java

• Kereta Api Indonesia—a successor of the company.

• Documents and clippings about Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW