This paper examines the long-term impact of historical railroads on employment in Java. During the Second Industrial Revolution, the Dutch colonial administration built an extensive railroad network in Java—the political and economic center of Indonesia. The primary objective was to boost Java’s export crops, particularly sugar, to the European market. However, the network declined markedly in the post-independence period, with only half remaining operational a century after its heyday. Using a novel geospatial dataset on Java’s railroads in 1928 combined with contemporary individual microdata, I show that proximity to colonial railroads increases both the probability of moving into employment and the probability of formal sector employment today. I also document some heterogeneity across gender and age cohorts. Further analyses suggest that changes in economic opportunities can explain the results.