Imperial Austrian State Railways

Imperial Austrian State Railways (in German "kaiserlich-königliche österreichische Staatsbahnen") was a state railway company in the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary.

Early history

In 1810 a horse-drawn railway (22 km) was opened at the Styrian Erzberg (Ore Mountain) for transportation of iron stones (see Eisenerz). In 1832 a horse-drawn railway between Linz and České Budějovice (Budweis) has been opened. It had length of 128.8 km and was the first interurban railway in Europe.

The first section of the railway between Vienna and Cracow ("Kaiser Ferdinands Nordbahn") was opened in 1837. Designed by Franz Xaver Riepl it was financed by the Rothschilds. The state took keen interest in railroads and in late 1854 994 km of railway lines were state owned (out of 1,443 km, almost 70%).

After 1854 because of financial crisis in the Empire the railroads in the Austrian part were sold at prices cut to the bone, some to French investors. Concessions for new private companies were granted. The Long Depression, started by Vienna stock market crash in 1873, resulted in bankruptcy of several railways and the state took them over.

After the Austro-Hungarian compromise in 1867 the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) were taken under state control.

Austrian state railways

At the end of 1884 the state railway network covered 5,103 km. On July 1 1884 the "kk Generaldirektion der Staatsbahnen" ("Imperial General Directorate of the State Railways") was founded and this was birth of the "kaiserlich-königliche Staatsbahnen" (abbreviated as "kkStB" or "k.k.St.B.").

By nationalizing of other companies or taking over their traffic the company obtained practical monopoly in railway transport - "Südbahn" (SB, southern railway) was the only major company that remained private until the end of Empire. In 1914, out of a total of 22,981 km of railway tracks on Austrian territory, 18,859, (82%) were state owned.

After end of the First World War the vehicle park and infrastructure of kkStB was divided among state railway companies of successor states: Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) in Czechoslovakia, Deutschösterreichische Staatsbahnen (DÖStB) in Austria (in 1919 renamed to Österreichische Staatsbahnen, ÖStB, in 1921 renamed to Bundesbahn Österreich, BBÖ), and others.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1100 height:1080PlotArea = width:1080 height:1060 left:0 bottom:20TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal # dummy, requiredPeriod = from:1825 till:1920 # dummy, requiredDefine $s = fontsize:MColors = id:red value:coral id:blue value:skyblue id:green value:limegreen id:yellow value:yellow id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)BackgroundColors = bars:lightgrey canvas:lightgreyAlignBars=justifyDateFormat = yyyyScaleMajor = gridcolor:black unit:year increment:5 start:1830PlotData= bar:MM from:1839 till:1852 color:green at:1840 text:"Milano-Monza" from:1852 till:1858 color:blue from:1858 till:1918 color:red bar:LVF from:1844 till:1858 color:orange at:1845 text:"LVF" from:1851 till:1858 color:blue at:1854 text:"LVStB" from:1858 till:1918 color:red bar:Ti from:1857 till:1858 color:green from:1858 till:1918 color:red at:1857 text:"Ti" at:1890 text:"Südbahn (SB)" bar:SStB from:1844 till:1858 color:blue from:1858 till:1918 color:red at:1845 text:"Südliche Staatsbahn" bar:OStB from:1846 till:1850 color:green from:1850 till:1858 color:orange from:1858 till:1892 color:blue from:1892 till:1918 color:yellow at:1847 text:"Kr.-Ob." at:1851 text:"Östl. Staatsbahn" at:1859 text:"Carl Ludwig-Bahn" bar:NStB from:1845 till:1855 color:blue from:1855 till:1909 color:red from:1909 till:1918 color:yellow at:1846 text:"Nördliche Staatsbahn" bar:SOStB from:1845 till:1850 color:orange from:1850 till:1855 color:green from:1855 till:1909 color:red from:1909 till:1918 color:yellow at:1846 text:"Ung.Zentr." at:1851 text:"SöStB" at:1886 text:"Staats-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (StEG)" bar:Raaber from:1841 till:1855 color:blue from:1855 till:1909 color:red from:1909 till:1918 color:yellow at:1845 text:"Wien-Raaber-Bahn" bar:BrünnR from:1856 till:1879 color:green from:1879 till:1909 color:red from:1909 till:1918 color:yellow at:1857 text:"Brünn-Rossitzer Eisenbahn" bar:KFNB from:1837 till:1906 color:blue from:1906 till:1918 color:yellow at:1865 text:"Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nordbahn (KFNB)" bar:Pferd from:1827 till:1859 color:green from:1859 till:1884 color:red from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1835 text:"Erste Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft" at:1865 text:"Kaiserin Elisabeth Bahn bar:Dalm from:1877 till:1884 color:blue from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1878 text:"Dalm.Stb." bar:Dnie from:1872 till:1884 color:green from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1878 text:"Dniester Bahn" bar:Istr from:1876 till:1884 color:blue from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1877 text:"Istr.Stb." bar:Rakonitz from:1872 till:1884 color:green from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1873 text:"Rakonitz-Protiviner Bahn" bar:BCB from:1881 till:1910 color:blue from:1910 till:1918 color:yellow at:1890 text:"Böhmische Commerzialbahnen" bar:BNB from:1865 till:1867 color:blue from:1867 till:1883 color:green from:1883 till:1908 color:red from:1908 till:1918 color:yellow at:1865 text:"TKP" at:1868 text:"Turnau-Kralup-Prag & BNB" at:1890 text:"Böhmische Nordbahn" bar:BWB from:1867 till:1894 color:orange from:1894 till:1918 color:yellow at:1875 text:"Böhmische Westbahn" bar:BozMer from:1881 till:1906 color:blue from:1906 till:1918 color:yellow at:1890 text:"Bozen-Meraner Bahn" bar:DuxB from:1871 till:1892 color:green from:1892 till:1918 color:yellow at:1875 text:"Dux-Bodenbacher Eisenbahn (DBE)" bar:EPPK from:1872 till:1884 color:blue from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1873 text:"Pilsen-Priesen(-Komotau)" at:1900 text:"kaiserlich-königliche" bar:EUGE from:1872 till:1889 color:green from:1889 till:1918 color:yellow at:1873 text:"Erste Ungarisch-Galizische Eisenbahn" at:1900 text:"österreichische" bar:EAB from:1873 till:1892 color:blue from:1892 till:1918 color:yellow at:1880 text:"Erzherzog Albrecht-Bahn" at:1900 text:"Staatsbahnen" bar:KFJB from:1868 till:1884 color:green from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1870 text:"Kaiser Franz Josefs-Bahn" at:1900 text:"kkStB" bar:KTB from:1881 till:1906 color:orange from:1906 till:1918 color:yellow at:1890 text:"Kremstalbahn" bar:KRB from:1868 till:1884 color:blue from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1873 text:"Kronprinz Rudolf-Bahn" bar:LCJE from:1866 till:1889 color:green from:1889 till:1918 color:yellow2 at:1871 text:"Lemberg-Czernowitz-Jassy Eisenbahn" bar:MGB from:1871 till:1895 color:blue from:1895 till:1918 color:yellow at:1880 text:"Mährische Grenzbahn (MGB)" bar:MSCB from:1872 till:1895 color:green from:1895 till:1918 color:yellow at:1873 text:"Mährisch-Schlesische Centralbahn (MSCB)" bar:Mühl from:1888 till:1900 color:green from:1900 till:1918 color:yellow2 at:1889 text:"Mühlkreisbahn" bar:NÖSWB from:1877 till:1882 color:blue from:1882 till:1918 color:yellow at:1878 text:"NÖSWB" bar:ÖLEG from:1880 till:1894 color:green from:1894 till:1918 color:yellow at:1882 text:"ÖLEG" bar:ÖNWB from:1868 till:1908 color:red from:1908 till:1918 color:yellow at:1869 text:"Österreichische Nordwestbahn (ÖNWB) & Süd-Norddeutsche Verbindungsbahn" bar:PD from:1872 till:1892 color:blue from:1892 till:1918 color:yellow at:1880 text:"Prag-Duxer Eisenbahn (PD)" bar:TL from:1873 till:1884 color:green from:1884 till:1918 color:yellow at:1874 text:"Tarnow-Leluchow Stb." bar:UWB from:1871 till:1889 color:blue from:1889 till:1918 color:yellow at:1874 text:"Ungarische Westbahn (UWB)" bar:VB from:1872 till:1885 color:green from:1885 till:1918 color:yellow at:1874 text:"Vorarlberger Bahn (VB)" bar:ATE from:1858 till:1918 color:orange at:1884 text:"Aussig-Teplitzer Eisenbahn (A.T.E.)" bar:BEB from:1855 till:1918 color:red at:1864 text:"Buschtiehrader Eisenbahn (BEB)" bar:NLB from:1880 till:1918 color:orange at:1884 text:"Neutitscheiner Lokalbahn (NLB)" bar:StStB from:1881 till:1918 color:red at:1884 text:"Stauding-Stramberger Eisenbahn (StStB)" bar:KsOd from:1869 till:1918 color:orange at:1874 text:"Kaschau-Oderberger Bahn (Ks.Od.)"

External links

* [http://www.oebb.at/vip8/oebb/en/OeBB_Group/History_of_the_Austrian_Railway/until1918.pdf History of Austrian Railway until 1918] (PDF, [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:C71yV876DekJ:www.oebb.at/vip8/oebb/en/OeBB_Group/History_of_the_Austrian_Railway/until1918.pdf as HTML] )