Railway divisions in Germany
Encyclopedia
In Germany and Austria, the running of railway services for a railway administration or the regional network of a large railway company was devolved to railway divisions, variously known as Eisenbahndirektionen (ED), Bundesbahndirektionen (BD) or Reichsbahndirektionen (RBD/Rbd). Their organisation was determined by the railway company concerned or by the state railway and, in the German-speaking lands at least, they formed the intermediate authorities and regional management organisations within the state railway administration's hierarchy. On the formation of the Deutsche Bahn AG in 1994 the system of railway divisions (Eisenbahndirektionen) in Germany was discontinued and their tasks were transferred to new "business areas".
), usually reported to a specific government ministry. For example in Prussia
they came under the 'Ministry for Trade, Industry and Public Works" and, from 1878, the "Ministry of Public Works" which had been split off from it. In the Kingdom of Bavaria
the railway operating divisions came under the "State Ministry of Transport". By contrast the Royal Saxon State Railways
reported to the Saxon finance ministry.
In Bavaria the five railway operating divisions (Eisenbahnbetriebsdirektionen) initially worked under the "General Division for Royal Transportation", in 1886 they reported to the "General Division of the Royal Bavarian State Railways
" and from 1906 to the "State Ministry of Transport".
As a small state, Baden ran its railway operations from just one central headquarters and it was not until 1882 that there was a railway division in Karlsruhe
. Hitherto, the responsibility for national railway construction was allocated to its Home Office and operations, by contrast, to the Foreign Office. In between times, the "Department of Waterway and Road Construction" and, later on, the "Department of Post and Railways" were responsible.
As the organisation of railway operations progressed, railway divisions were usually subject to state control with regard to finances. In particular this covered the fares structure (standard fare rates and special fares for specific areas), the retention or handing over of financial takings and the guarantee of additional resoureces to compensate for losses or for the construction of railway structures such as stations, new lines or electrification.
Within these prescribed boundaries the divisions ran the traffic operations on the routes allocated to them. Internally they frequently had departments assigned to "Finance and Staff", "Timetables, Fares and Operating Procedures" and "Construction, Maintenance and Vehicles".
It was also sometimes the case that in a city or at a railway hub, several traffic operating offices of different railway divisions were represented next to one another, especially in the capital city of Berlin
.
For example, the "Royal Berlin Division of the State Railways" was divided into eleven external "traffic operating offices" (Betriebsämter) for the routes shown:
Following its restructuring on 1 April 1895 the Berlin division had:
In addition to the president, the workforce comprised 15 members of the board, 10 assistants, an accounts director, an accounts manager and 580 office workers.
. Prussia's vast railway network had the largest number of railway divisions and they had widely differing structures. The railway divisions reported directly to the Ministry for Trade, Industry and Public Works until 1878, when it was broken up and the divisions reported to the newly formed Ministry for Public Works. In addition to the railways, it was responsible for the construction of canals and country roads, thus it was a sort of transport ministry.
As at 1907, after the management reform of 1895 and its merger with the Hessian State Railways, the Prussian state railways had the following divisions:
The divisions created as a result of the restructuring of 1895 in Prussia
were, in the main, adopted by their successor administrations: the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
, the Deutsche Bundesbahn
and the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany.
were initially referred to as "railway offices" (Bahnämter) and "main railway offices" (Oberbahnämter). The latter were located in Augsburg
, Bamberg
, Ingolstadt
, Kempten
, Munich
, Nuremberg
, Regensburg
, Rosenheim
, Weiden
and Würzburg
. Until 1886, they were subordinated to the "General Division of Royal Transportation" (Generaldirektion der königlichen Verkehrsanstalten) and from 1886 to 1906 to the "General Division of the Royal Bavarian State Railways" (Generaldirektion der königlich bayerischen Staatseisenbahnen). From 1906 'railway operating divisions' (Eisenbahnbetriebsdirektionen) were created, that reported to the "State Ministry for Transport" (Staatsministerium für Verkehrsangelegenheiten). They included the divisions of Augsburg, Ludwigshafen/Rhine, Munich, Nuremberg, Bamberg, Regensburg and Würzburg, that, apart from Bamberg (which became part of Nuremberg) were taken over by the Reichsbahn in 1920.
and briefly it would seem in Chemnitz
.
On 1 August 1848 the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bohemian State Railway" (Königliche Direction der Sächsisch-Böhmischen Staatseisenbahn) was founded. Shortly afterwards it was retitled to the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bohemian and Saxon-Silesian State Railways" (Königlichen Direction der Sächsisch-Böhmischen und Sächsisch-Schlesischen Staatseisenbahnen), from 14 December 1852 to the "Royal State Railway Division" (Königlichen Staatseisenbahn-Direction), from 1 October 1853 to the "Royal Division of the Eastern State Railways" (Königliche Direktion der östlichen Staatseisenbahnen) and finally on 1 July 1869 it was combined with the Leipzig division to become the "Royal General Division of the Saxon State Railways" (Königlichen Generaldirection der sächsischen Staatseisenbahnen).
On 1 April 1847 in Leipzig the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bavarian State Railway" (Königliche Direction der Sächsisch-Bayerischen Staatseisenbahn) was founded; on 1 October 1853 it became the "Royal Division of the Western State Railway" (Königlichen Direktion der westlichen Staatseisenbahn). It was disbanded on 1 July 1869 and merged with Dresden.
was founded and, in 1924 the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
(to 1945/1949) took over most of the divisions of the German Länderbahnen
, which then acted as intermediate authorities within the Reichsbahn structure. During the 1930s, a few of the smaller Reichsbahn divisions were allocated to larger divisions or split between several divisions.
The Reichsbahn divisions (Reichsbahndirektionen, RBD or Rbd) were responsible for traffic operations, locomotive running and all specialist functions that were not reserved by the Ministry, by a senior management department (Oberbetriebsleitung, later Generalbetriebsleitung), a central office or special "lead divisions". In the case of the latter, the specific functions of several RBDs were carried out by one of them. These were primarily workshop functions (especially those of the Reichsbahn repair shops, the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke
, which counted as "offices"), i. e. these lead divisions commanded and oversaw the activities of all workshops in the repair shops of its area of business, the remaining, local RBDs having nothing to do with those workshops.
Each RBD was usually divided into five specialist departments, that corresponded to the railway departments of the Reich Transport Ministry and the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft.
In 1927, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
was divided into 24 Reichsbahn divisions, to which were added the six, initially separate, divisions of the Bavarian Group Administration
(Gruppenverwaltung Bayern) and two divisions from the wider German-speaking world:
The Bavarian Group Administration
(dissolved at the end of 1933) of the Deutsche Reichsbahn included the:
The railway lines of the Sudetenland
were allocated to the neighbouring railway divisions of Breslau, Dresden and Regensburg. In 1939, after the annexation of former German imperial and Polish territories into the German Reich, two new Reichsbahn divisions were formed:
Each Reichsbahn division was headed by a President, who reported to the Ministry of Transport. The Reichsbahn division was subordinated to a Reichsbahn office, local departments to the main functional branches of engineering, wagon maintenance, railway infrastructure, safety and communications, and departments with special tasks to the district. The Reichsbahn division itself was split into groups, run by a group head, and into functional departments (e.g. planning, personnel and training, ledger keeping and statistics). The boundaries of the Reichsbahn divisions took account of the railway network and the territorial structure of the GDR.
the former Reichsbahndirektionen were renamed Bundesbahndirektionen (federal railway divisions).
Their area of operations was broadly the same as the former Reichsbahn divisions with the exception of areas which lay in the GDR and the eastern European countries.
Following the law creating the Bundesbahn the railway divisions were subordinated to the 20-strong governing body of the Bundesbahn, whose members were selected by the federal government. According to the Bundesbahn law, the governing body decided on the presidents of the railway divisions in agreement with the board, as well as the establishment, transfer, dissolution or significant organisational changes to a railway division or a central office of the Deutsche Bundesbahn and any major changes to its districts.
The law also specified that organisational changes had to be carried out with the agreement of the state authorities affected. The final authority was the Federal Minister of Transport.
was divided into the following divisions (in brackets the identification numbers of the traffic operating departments, the construction and engineering departments had this number plus 50):
At that time the following divisions had been dissolved and absorbed by other remaining divisions:
In addition there were departments like the Bundesbahn central offices in Munich
and Minden
(Westf.) and other central departments, whose ambit covered several divisions.
On the creation of Deutsche Bahn AG
in 1994 all the divisions were scrapped and their tasks transferred to new business areas.
Legend
Länderbahn abbreviations:
dates from a decree of 24 February 1882. According to that a "Royal Imperial Division for State Railway Operations" in Vienna was subordinated to the Trade Ministry and was assigned a state railway governing body. Below that were main railway operating offices (Oberbahnbetriebsämter) which were made responsible for overseeing the traffic operations, construction, railway maintenance and train services within a given district.
In Hungary
, central management of operations was in the hands of a division in Pest with a director at its head, who had sub-directors appointed to run the various functional branches. The latter exercised a degree of independence of management within their area of business and acted on the board of directors as experts in their own right. Operations, construction, track maintenance and train services for the various operating districts (of 150–600 km in size) were entrusted to operating and traffic managers (llike the railway operating offices in Prussia).
in 1938 into the German Reich the territory operated by the BBÖ was allocated to the following Reichsbahn divisions:
(Krakau). The majority of the staff of the Deutsche Ostbahn came from Germany; Polish citizens were only permitted to be employed in the lower ranks. The rolling stock on the Ostbahn came from the former Polish State Railways
(PKP).
Incorporation into the state government
The first railway divisions of the various German state railways (known as LänderbahnenLänderbahnen
The German term Länderbahnen generally refers to the state railways of the German Empire in the period from about 1840 to 1920 when they were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn after the First World War....
), usually reported to a specific government ministry. For example in Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
they came under the 'Ministry for Trade, Industry and Public Works" and, from 1878, the "Ministry of Public Works" which had been split off from it. In the Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
the railway operating divisions came under the "State Ministry of Transport". By contrast the Royal Saxon State Railways
Royal Saxon State Railways
The Royal Saxon State Railways were the state-owned railways operating in the Kingdom of Saxony from 1869 to 1918...
reported to the Saxon finance ministry.
In Bavaria the five railway operating divisions (Eisenbahnbetriebsdirektionen) initially worked under the "General Division for Royal Transportation", in 1886 they reported to the "General Division of the Royal Bavarian State Railways
Royal Bavarian State Railways
As a nation-state, Germany did not come into being until the creation of the German Empire in 1871 from the various German-speaking states such as Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden and Württemberg. By then each of the major states had formed its own state railway and these continued to remain...
" and from 1906 to the "State Ministry of Transport".
As a small state, Baden ran its railway operations from just one central headquarters and it was not until 1882 that there was a railway division in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
. Hitherto, the responsibility for national railway construction was allocated to its Home Office and operations, by contrast, to the Foreign Office. In between times, the "Department of Waterway and Road Construction" and, later on, the "Department of Post and Railways" were responsible.
Internal organisation
Within these prescribed boundaries the divisions ran the traffic operations on the routes allocated to them. Internally they frequently had departments assigned to "Finance and Staff", "Timetables, Fares and Operating Procedures" and "Construction, Maintenance and Vehicles".
Sub-divisions
Beyond that, a railway division could have several traffic operating offices, main workshops or locomotive depots at various locations, that were each allocated to specific lines.It was also sometimes the case that in a city or at a railway hub, several traffic operating offices of different railway divisions were represented next to one another, especially in the capital city of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
For example, the "Royal Berlin Division of the State Railways" was divided into eleven external "traffic operating offices" (Betriebsämter) for the routes shown:
- Three in Berlin: a) City line and Ringbahn, b) Berlin-Sommerfeld, c) Berlin-Dresden,
- Two in Breslau: a) Breslau-Sommerfeld, b) Breslau-HalbstadtHalbstadtHalbstadt is German for 'half-city'. It may refer to:* Meziměstí, , a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic* Molotschna, , a Russian Mennonite settlement in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine...
, - Two in Stettin: a) Berlin-Stettin, b) Stettin-Stralsund;
- One each in GörlitzGörlitzGörlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
, StralsundStralsund- Main sights :* The Brick Gothic historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.* The heart of the old town is the Old Market Square , with the Gothic Town Hall . Behind the town hall stands the imposing Nikolaikirche , built in 1270-1360...
, Kottbus and GubenGubenGuben is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße district, Guben has a population of 20,049...
Following its restructuring on 1 April 1895 the Berlin division had:
- nine operating inspectorates (Betriebsinspektionen)
- three engineering inspectorates (Maschineninspektionen)
- thirteen workshop inspectorates (Werkstätteninspektionen)
- a telegraph inspectorate (Telegrafeninspektion) and
- four traffic inspectorates (Verkehrsinspektionen).
In addition to the president, the workforce comprised 15 members of the board, 10 assistants, an accounts director, an accounts manager and 580 office workers.
Prussia
In Prussia the administrations of the larger state railways were reorganised into independent divisions that were referred to as "Royal Railway Divisions" (Königliche Eisenbahndirektionen or KED for short. Later they were simply called railway divisions (Eisenbahndirektionen or ED) within the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
. Prussia's vast railway network had the largest number of railway divisions and they had widely differing structures. The railway divisions reported directly to the Ministry for Trade, Industry and Public Works until 1878, when it was broken up and the divisions reported to the newly formed Ministry for Public Works. In addition to the railways, it was responsible for the construction of canals and country roads, thus it was a sort of transport ministry.
Divisions
As at 1907, after the management reform of 1895 and its merger with the Hessian State Railways, the Prussian state railways had the following divisions:
| Date Founded | Location | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 5 November 1849 | Bromberg | As "Royal Division of the Ostbahn at Bromberg" |
| 1 January 1852 | Berlin | As the former "Royal Division of the Lower Silesia-Mark railway" |
| 1 April 1880 | Cöln Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the... linksrheinisch (i.e. 'Cologne west of the Rhine'), Frankfurt, Hannover, Magdeburg Magdeburg Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe.... |
|
| 1 May 1882 | Erfurt Erfurt Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian... |
|
| 1 January 1883 | Kattowitz | Disbanded in October 1921 |
| 1 March 1884 | Altona | |
| 1 April 1895 | Breslau, Cassel Kassel Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :... , Danzig, Elberfeld Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929.-History:The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "elverfelde" was in a document of 1161... , Essen Essen - Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of... , Halle (Saale), Königsberg Königsberg Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it... , Münster, Posen Poznan Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be... , Saarbrücken Saarbrücken Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live.... , Stettin |
|
| 1 February 1897 | Mainz Mainz Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire... |
As "Division of the Royal Prussian and Grand Duchy of Hesse State Railways Grand Duchy of Hesse State Railways The Grand Duchy of Hesse State Railways belonged to the Länderbahnen at the time of the German Empire. In the 19th century, the Grand Duchy of Hesse consisted of three provinces. Between the rivers Rhine, Main and Neckar the province of Starkenburg embraced the Odenwald and the Hessian Ried... " |
| 1 April 1907 | Royal Railway Head Office, Berlin | Ranked as a KED |
The divisions created as a result of the restructuring of 1895 in Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
were, in the main, adopted by their successor administrations: the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I....
, the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
and the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany.
Bavaria
The state-run regional administrations which formed part of the Royal Bavarian State RailwaysRoyal Bavarian State Railways
As a nation-state, Germany did not come into being until the creation of the German Empire in 1871 from the various German-speaking states such as Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden and Württemberg. By then each of the major states had formed its own state railway and these continued to remain...
were initially referred to as "railway offices" (Bahnämter) and "main railway offices" (Oberbahnämter). The latter were located in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
, Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
, Kempten
Kempten
Kempten can refer to:* Kempten im Allgäu, a town in Bavaria, Germany* Kempten ZH, a district of the town of Wetzikon in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland* Kempton Park, Gauteng, a city in South Africa which was named after Kempten in Bavaria...
, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, Rosenheim
Rosenheim
Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...
, Weiden
Weiden in der Oberpfalz
Weiden in der Oberpfalz is a district-free city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 100 km east of Nuremberg and 35 km west of the Czech border. A branch of the German Army's NCO Academy is located here...
and Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
. Until 1886, they were subordinated to the "General Division of Royal Transportation" (Generaldirektion der königlichen Verkehrsanstalten) and from 1886 to 1906 to the "General Division of the Royal Bavarian State Railways" (Generaldirektion der königlich bayerischen Staatseisenbahnen). From 1906 'railway operating divisions' (Eisenbahnbetriebsdirektionen) were created, that reported to the "State Ministry for Transport" (Staatsministerium für Verkehrsangelegenheiten). They included the divisions of Augsburg, Ludwigshafen/Rhine, Munich, Nuremberg, Bamberg, Regensburg and Würzburg, that, apart from Bamberg (which became part of Nuremberg) were taken over by the Reichsbahn in 1920.
Saxony
In Saxony there were initially several organisationally separate "state railways", based in Dresden, in LeipzigLeipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and briefly it would seem in Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
.
On 1 August 1848 the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bohemian State Railway" (Königliche Direction der Sächsisch-Böhmischen Staatseisenbahn) was founded. Shortly afterwards it was retitled to the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bohemian and Saxon-Silesian State Railways" (Königlichen Direction der Sächsisch-Böhmischen und Sächsisch-Schlesischen Staatseisenbahnen), from 14 December 1852 to the "Royal State Railway Division" (Königlichen Staatseisenbahn-Direction), from 1 October 1853 to the "Royal Division of the Eastern State Railways" (Königliche Direktion der östlichen Staatseisenbahnen) and finally on 1 July 1869 it was combined with the Leipzig division to become the "Royal General Division of the Saxon State Railways" (Königlichen Generaldirection der sächsischen Staatseisenbahnen).
On 1 April 1847 in Leipzig the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bavarian State Railway" (Königliche Direction der Sächsisch-Bayerischen Staatseisenbahn) was founded; on 1 October 1853 it became the "Royal Division of the Western State Railway" (Königlichen Direktion der westlichen Staatseisenbahn). It was disbanded on 1 July 1869 and merged with Dresden.
Other state railways
The other state railway divisions were:- Hesse:
- The "Grand Duchy Division of the Upper Hessian State RailwayUpper Hessian Railway CompanyThe Upper Hessian Railway Company was a private concern whose aim was to build and run railway lines in the province of Upper Hesse in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, a state within the German Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries.Whilst the Main-Weser railway had linked Wetterau, a town in the...
" in Giessen - The "Main-NeckarbahnMain-Neckar RailwayThe Main-Neckar Railway is a main line railway west of the Odenwald in the Upper Rhine Plain of Germany that connects Frankfurt am Main to Heidelberg via Darmstadt, Bensheim and Weinheim...
Division" in DarmstadtDarmstadtDarmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
.
- The "Grand Duchy Division of the Upper Hessian State Railway
- Württemberg: "Railway Division of the Württemberg state railwaysRoyal Württemberg State RailwaysThe Royal Württemberg State Railways were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg between 1843 and 1920...
" in StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... - Baden: "General Division of the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways“ in KarlsruheKarlsruheThe City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
- Oldenburg: "Grand Duchy railway divisionGrand Duchy of Oldenburg State RailwaysThe Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Railway was the railway company that was run as a state railway for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg , part of the German Empire....
" in OldenburgOldenburgOldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
. - Alsace-Lorraine: "Imperial General Division of the railways in Alsace-LorraineImperial Railways in Alsace-LorraineThe Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine were the first railways owned by the German Empire.They emerged in 1871, after France had ceded the region of Alsace-Lorraine to the German Empire under the terms of the peace treaty following the Franco-Prussian War...
" at StrasbourgStrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, for the railway in Alsace-Lorraine and the Wilhelm-Luxemburg railway. - Mecklenburg: "Grand Ducal General Railway Division" (GGED) in SchwerinSchwerinSchwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...
(from 1889)
Deutsche Reichsbahn
In 1920 the successor to all the German state railways, the Deutsche ReichsbahnDeutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
was founded and, in 1924 the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I....
(to 1945/1949) took over most of the divisions of the German Länderbahnen
Länderbahnen
The German term Länderbahnen generally refers to the state railways of the German Empire in the period from about 1840 to 1920 when they were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn after the First World War....
, which then acted as intermediate authorities within the Reichsbahn structure. During the 1930s, a few of the smaller Reichsbahn divisions were allocated to larger divisions or split between several divisions.
The Reichsbahn divisions (Reichsbahndirektionen, RBD or Rbd) were responsible for traffic operations, locomotive running and all specialist functions that were not reserved by the Ministry, by a senior management department (Oberbetriebsleitung, later Generalbetriebsleitung), a central office or special "lead divisions". In the case of the latter, the specific functions of several RBDs were carried out by one of them. These were primarily workshop functions (especially those of the Reichsbahn repair shops, the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke
Ausbesserungswerk
An Ausbesserungswerk is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a 'repair shop' or 'works'...
, which counted as "offices"), i. e. these lead divisions commanded and oversaw the activities of all workshops in the repair shops of its area of business, the remaining, local RBDs having nothing to do with those workshops.
Each RBD was usually divided into five specialist departments, that corresponded to the railway departments of the Reich Transport Ministry and the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft.
Reichsbahn divisions
The individual divisions were given identification letters. Even the abbreviations of stations and other operating points within the division began with the divisional letter as recorded in the Reichsbahn's official list of railway operating points (DV100/DS100).In 1927, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I....
was divided into 24 Reichsbahn divisions, to which were added the six, initially separate, divisions of the Bavarian Group Administration
Bavarian Group Administration
The Bavarian Group Administration or Gruppenverwaltung Bayern was a largely autonomous railway administration within the Deutsche Reichsbahn between the two world wars...
(Gruppenverwaltung Bayern) and two divisions from the wider German-speaking world:
- A Reichsbahndirektion Altona (later Hamburg)
- B Reichsbahndirektion Berlin
- Reichsbahndirektion Breslau
- D Reichsbahndirektion Dresden
- Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld (later Wuppertal)
- U Reichsbahndirektion Erfurt
- E Reichsbahndirektion Essen/Ruhr
- F Reichsbahndirektion Frankfurt/Main
- L Reichsbahndirektion Halle (Saale)
- H Reichsbahndirektion Hannover
- R Reichsbahndirektion Karlsruhe
- Reichsbahndirektion Kassel
- K Reichsbahndirektion Köln
- Reichsbahndirektion Königsberg (Pr.)
- Reichsbahndirektion Magdeburg (disbanded on 1 October 1931, to RBD Halle/Saale, Berlin, Altona and Hannover), but see below!
- Reichsbahndirektion Mainz
- Reichsbahndirektion Münster (Westf.)
- Reichsbahndirektion Oldenburg (dissolved on 1 January 1935, to RBD Münster and Hannover)
- Reichsbahndirektion Oppeln
- Reichsbahndirektion Osten (in Frankfurt/Oder)
- W Reichsbahndirektion Schwerin
- Reichsbahndirektion Stettin
- T Reichsbahndirektion Stuttgart
- S Reichsbahndirektion Trier (from 1935 RBD Saarbrücken)
The Bavarian Group Administration
Bavarian Group Administration
The Bavarian Group Administration or Gruppenverwaltung Bayern was a largely autonomous railway administration within the Deutsche Reichsbahn between the two world wars...
(dissolved at the end of 1933) of the Deutsche Reichsbahn included the:
- Reichsbahndirektion AugsburgReichsbahndirektion AugsburgReichsbahndirektion Augsburg was a Deutsche Reichsbahn railway division within the Bavarian Group Administration in southern Germany....
- Reichsbahndirektion Ludwigshafen/Rhein (dissolved on 1 April 1937, to RBDs Mainz und Saarbrücken)
- M Reichsbahndirektion MünchenReichsbahndirektion MünchenReichsbahndirektion München was a Deutsche Reichsbahn railway division within the Bavarian Group Administration in southern Germany with its headquarters in Munich , Bavaria....
- N Reichsbahndirektion NürnbergReichsbahndirektion NürnbergReichsbahndirektion Nürnberg was a Deutsche Reichsbahn railway division within the Bavarian Group Administration in southern Germany, with its headquarters at Nuremberg , Bavaria....
- Reichsbahndirektion RegensburgReichsbahndirektion RegensburgReichsbahndirektion Regensburg was a Deutsche Reichsbahn railway division within the Bavarian Group Administration in southern Germany with its headquarters at Regensburg, Bavaria....
- Reichsbahndirektion Würzburg (dissolved on 1 January 1931, to RBD Nuremberg)
The railway lines of the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
were allocated to the neighbouring railway divisions of Breslau, Dresden and Regensburg. In 1939, after the annexation of former German imperial and Polish territories into the German Reich, two new Reichsbahn divisions were formed:
- Reichsbahndirektion Danzig for the ReichsgauReichsgauA Reichsgau was an administrative subdivision created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945...
of Danzig-West Prussia - Reichsbahndirektion Posen für the Reichsgau of Wartheland
Deutsche Reichsbahn in the GDR (East Germany)
The Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany after the war added four more divisions to those on its national territory taken over from its predecessor organisation. These took over the responsibility formerly discharged by the divisions in the former eastern terrorities and by those now in the Federal Republic of Germany, keeping the identification letters. The Deutsche Reichsbahn in the GDR continued to refer to them as "Reichsbahn divisions" until its merger into the Deutschen Bahn AG in 1994.Each Reichsbahn division was headed by a President, who reported to the Ministry of Transport. The Reichsbahn division was subordinated to a Reichsbahn office, local departments to the main functional branches of engineering, wagon maintenance, railway infrastructure, safety and communications, and departments with special tasks to the district. The Reichsbahn division itself was split into groups, run by a group head, and into functional departments (e.g. planning, personnel and training, ledger keeping and statistics). The boundaries of the Reichsbahn divisions took account of the railway network and the territorial structure of the GDR.
GDR Reichsbahn divisions
List of divisions in the Reichsbahn in East Germany:- Reichsbahndirektion Berlin
- Reichsbahndirektion Cottbus (from 1 October 1945 for RBD Osten)
- Reichsbahndirektion Dresden
- Reichsbahndirektion Erfurt
- Reichsbahndirektion Greifswald (from 10 October 1945 for RBD Stettin)
- Reichsbahndirektion Halle
- H Reichsbahndirektion Magdeburg (from 18 August 1945 for RBD Hannover)
- Reichsbahndirektion Schwerin
- Reichsbahndirektion Wittenberge (from 15 August to 30 September 1945 replaced RBD Hamburg)
Deutsche Bundesbahn
On the creation of the Deutsche BundesbahnDeutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
the former Reichsbahndirektionen were renamed Bundesbahndirektionen (federal railway divisions).
Their area of operations was broadly the same as the former Reichsbahn divisions with the exception of areas which lay in the GDR and the eastern European countries.
Following the law creating the Bundesbahn the railway divisions were subordinated to the 20-strong governing body of the Bundesbahn, whose members were selected by the federal government. According to the Bundesbahn law, the governing body decided on the presidents of the railway divisions in agreement with the board, as well as the establishment, transfer, dissolution or significant organisational changes to a railway division or a central office of the Deutsche Bundesbahn and any major changes to its districts.
The law also specified that organisational changes had to be carried out with the agreement of the state authorities affected. The final authority was the Federal Minister of Transport.
Bundesbahn divisions
In 1993 the Deutsche BundesbahnDeutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
was divided into the following divisions (in brackets the identification numbers of the traffic operating departments, the construction and engineering departments had this number plus 50):
- Bundesbahndirektion Hamburg [01]
- Bundesbahndirektion Hannover [13]
- Bundesbahndirektion Essen [10]
- Bundesbahndirektion Köln [15]
- Bundesbahndirektion Frankfurt [11]
- Bundesbahndirektion Saarbrücken [25]
- Bundesbahndirektion Karlsruhe [14]
- Bundesbahndirektion Stuttgart [29]
- Bundesbahndirektion Nürnberg [22]
- Bundesbahndirektion München [20]
At that time the following divisions had been dissolved and absorbed by other remaining divisions:
- Bundesbahndirektion Augsburg (dissolved on 1 Juni 1971, to BD München) [02]
- Bundesbahndirektion Mainz (dissolved on 30 April 1972, to BDs Karlsruhe, Frankfurt and Köln)[19]
- Bundesbahndirektion Münster (dissolved on 31 December 1974, to BDs Essen and Hannover) [21]
- Bundesbahndirektion Wuppertal (dissolved on 31 December 1974, to BDs Köln and Essen) [08]
- Bundesbahndirektion Kassel (dissolved on 31 December 1974, to BD Frankfurt) [05]
- Bundesbahndirektion Regensburg (dissolved on 1 June 1976, to BDs München and Nürnberg) [26]
In addition there were departments like the Bundesbahn central offices in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
(Westf.) and other central departments, whose ambit covered several divisions.
On the creation of Deutsche Bahn AG
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
in 1994 all the divisions were scrapped and their tasks transferred to new business areas.
Tabular overview
In the following table all the former German railway divisions are listed, together with their affiliations over time. For some of the railway divisions in this table earlier formation dates are given; these are usually the divisions of the former private railway companies.Legend
- Time periods:
- 1 = Länderbahnen to 1866 (In 1866 several states were annexed by Prussia)
- 2 = Länderbahnen 1866–1895 (In 1895 there was a management reform in the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
) - 3 = Länderbahnen 1895–1920 (In 1920 the Länderbahnen were taken over by the Deutsche ReichsbahnDeutsche ReichsbahnDeutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
) - 4 = Deutsche Reichsbahn (Gesellschaft) 1920–1945/49 (In 1945/49 Germany was divided)
- 5 = Deutsche Bundesbahn/Deutsche Reichsbahn (GDR) 1949–1994 (In 1991–1994 the DB and DR merged into the Deutsche Bahn AGDeutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
)
Länderbahn abbreviations:
- Bad = Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways
- Bay = Royal Bavarian State RailwaysRoyal Bavarian State RailwaysAs a nation-state, Germany did not come into being until the creation of the German Empire in 1871 from the various German-speaking states such as Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden and Württemberg. By then each of the major states had formed its own state railway and these continued to remain...
- Bra = Duchy of Brunswick State RailwayDuchy of Brunswick State RailwayThe Duchy of Brunswick State Railway was the first state railway in Germany. The first section of its Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line between Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel opened on 1 December 1838.-Opening:...
(from 1870 part of the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
) - D-H = Danish-Holstein (King Christian VIII Baltic Sea Railway)
- GOE = Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State RailwaysGrand Duchy of Oldenburg State RailwaysThe Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Railway was the railway company that was run as a state railway for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg , part of the German Empire....
(G.O.E., 1867–1920) - Hann = Royal Hanoverian State RailwaysRoyal Hanoverian State RailwaysThe Royal Hanoverian State Railways existed from 1843 until the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866...
(from 1866 part of the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
) - Kurh = Bebra-Hanau railway (Kurhessian State Railway) (from 1866 part of the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
) - MFF = Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz RailwayGrand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz RailwayThe Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz Railway was the state railway company in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz...
- Nas = Nassau State RailwayNassau State RailwayThe Nassau State Railway took over the privately built railway lines on the Rhine and Lahn rivers in the Duchy of Nassau from the Nassau Rhine and Lahn Railway Company in 1861 and extended them further...
(from 1866 part of the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
) - Pr = Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railwaysThe term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
- Sä = Royal Saxon State RailwaysRoyal Saxon State RailwaysThe Royal Saxon State Railways were the state-owned railways operating in the Kingdom of Saxony from 1869 to 1918...
- Wü = Royal Württemberg State RailwaysRoyal Württemberg State RailwaysThe Royal Württemberg State Railways were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg between 1843 and 1920...
- DB = Deutsche BundesbahnDeutsche BundesbahnThe Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
- DR = Deutsche ReichsbahnDeutsche ReichsbahnDeutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
- DRG = Deutsche Reichsbahn-GesellschaftDeutsche Reichsbahn-GesellschaftThe Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I....
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Location | Founded | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Germany | |||||||
| Pr | Pr | Pr | DR | – | Bromberg | 5 November 1849 | Formerly "Royal Division of the Ostbahn at Bromberg" |
| – | Pr | Pr | DR | – | Kattowitz | 1 January 1883 | |
| – | – | Pr | DR | – | Breslau | 1 April 1895 | – |
| – | – | Pr | DR | – | Danzig | 1 April 1895 | – |
| – | – | Pr | DR | – | Königsberg | 1 April 1895 | – |
| – | – | Pr | DR | – | Posen | 1 April 1895 | – |
| – | – | Pr | DR | – | Stettin | 1 April 1895 | – |
| – | – | – | DR | – | Oppeln | – | |
| – | – | – | DR | – | Osten / Frankfurt O. | – | |
| Central Germany | |||||||
| Pr | Pr | Pr | DR | DR | Berlin | 1 January 1852 | Formerly "Royal Division of the Lower Saxony-Mark Railway" |
| – | Pr | Pr | – | – | Berlin | 15 Oct 1875 | Royal Division of the Military Railway |
| – | Pr | Pr | – | – | Berlin | 15 July 1878 | "Royal Division of the Berline City Railway", disbanded 1882 |
| – | – | Pr | ?? | ?? | Berlin | 1 April 1907 | Royal Railway Central Office, ranked as a KED |
| – | Pr | Pr | DR | DR | Magdeburg | 1 April 1880 | Dissolved on 1 October 1931, to RBD Halle/Saale, Berlin, Altona and Hannover; from 18 August 1945 reformed again for the former RBD Hannover |
| – | Pr | Pr | DR | DR | Erfurt | 1 Mai 1882 | – |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DR | Halle (Saale) | 1 April 1895 | – |
| Sä | Sä | Sä | DR | DR | Dresden | 1 August 1848 | From 1 July 1869 merged with Leipzig into the "Royal General Division of the Saxon State Railways" |
| Sä | Sä | Sä | – | – | Leipzig | 1 April 1847 | Royal Division of the Saxon-Bavarian State Railway, dissolved on 1 July 1869 and merged with Dresden |
| Sä | – | – | – | – | Chemnitz? | 1 October 1853 | "Royal Division of the Chemnitzer-Riesa State Railway", dissolved again in 1858 and absorbed by the Leipzig division |
| MFFE | MFFE | DR | DR | Schwerin | 1873 | Formerly "Grand Ducal Railway Division in Schwerin", previously in Malchin Malchin Malchin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district , in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.It offers some notable landmarks, such as two Brick Gothic town gates, a medieval defense tower, the Gothic town church of St. Johannis and the Neo Baroque town hall.-External links:*... |
|
| – | – | – | – | DR | Cottbus | 1 October 1945 | Took over from RBD Osten |
| – | – | – | – | DR | Greifswald | 10 Oktober 1945 | Took over from RBD Stettin |
| – | – | – | – | DR | Wittenberge | 15 August | To 30 September 1945 as replacement for RBD Hamburg |
| Northwestern Germany | |||||||
| D-H | Pr | Pr | DR | DB | Altona | 1 January 1887 | – |
| Br | Br | – | – | – | Braunschweig | 1 December 1838 | Royal Division of the Brunswick Railways, dissolved 1869, absorbed by the Prussian division of Magdeburg |
| – | Pr | Pr | – | – | Cöln rechtsrhein. | 1 April 1880 | Formerly "Royal Division of the Cologne-Minden Railway at Cologne"; dissolved 1 April 1895, transferred to Cöln linksrheinisch |
| – | Pr | Pr | DR | DB | Cöln linksrhein. | 1 April 1880 | Formerly "Royal Division of the Rhine Railway at Cologne"; merged on 1 April 1895 into KED Cöln |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DB | Cassel | 1 April 1895 | Dissolved on 31 December 1974, to BD Frankfurt |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DB | Elberfeld / Wuppertal | 14 September 1850 | Formerly "Royal Division of the Bergisch-Mark Railway Company"; dissolved on 31 December 1974, to BDs Cologne and Essen |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DB | Essen | 1 April 1895 | – |
| Hann | Pr | Pr | DR | DB | Hannover | 13 March 1843 | Previously "Royal Hanoverian Railway Division" |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DB | Münster | 1 April 1895 | Dissolved on 31 December 1974, to BDs Essen and Hannover |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DB | Saarbrücken / Trier | 1 April 1895 | No successor to the Saarbrück Railway Division from 22 May 1852 |
| – | – | Pr | DR | DB | Mainz | 1 Feb 1897 | Royal Prussian and Grand Duchy of Hesse ED dissolved on 30 April 1972, to BDs Karlsruhe, Frankfurt and Cologne |
| ?? | Pr | Pr | DR | DB | Frankfurt (M) | 1. April 1880 | – |
| Nas | Pr | – | – | – | Wiesbaden | 1853 | Dissolved 1 April 1880, to Frankfurt |
| – | GOE | GOE | DR | – | Oldenburg | 1. April 1867 | "Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Railway Division", dissolved on 1 January 1935, to RBD Münster and Hanover |
| Southern Germany | |||||||
| – | – | Bay | DR | DB | Augsburg | 1907 | 1845: "railway office" (Bahnamt); 1845: "main railway office" (Oberbahnamt) from 1876 dissolved on 1 June 1971, to BD München |
| – | – | Bay | DR | DB | Bamberg | 1902 | 1845: "railway office" (Bahnamt); 1876: "main railway office" (Oberbahnamt), dissolved in 1920, placed under RBD Nuremberg |
| – | – | Bay | DR | – | Ludwigshafen/Rhein | – | (dissolved on 1 April 1937, to RBDs Mainz and Saarbrücken) |
| Bay | Bay | Bay | DR | DB | München | 1851 | Initially "General Division of Royal Transportation" and "General Division of the Royal Bavarian State Railways" |
| – | – | Bay | DR | DB | Nürnberg | ?? | – |
| – | – | Bay | DR | DB | Regensburg | ?? | Dissolved on 1 June 1976, to BDs Munich and Nuremberg |
| – | – | Bay | DR | – | Würzburg | ?? | Dissolved on 1 January 1931, to RBD Nuremberg |
| ?? | ?? | Wü | DR | DB | Stuttgart | ?? | – |
| – | Bad | Bad | DR | DB | Karlsruhe | 1872 | The state railways were formerly subordinated to the "Main Division for Waterway and Road Construction" and, later, the "Main Division for Post and Railways". |
Former Austro-Hungary
The organisation in AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
dates from a decree of 24 February 1882. According to that a "Royal Imperial Division for State Railway Operations" in Vienna was subordinated to the Trade Ministry and was assigned a state railway governing body. Below that were main railway operating offices (Oberbahnbetriebsämter) which were made responsible for overseeing the traffic operations, construction, railway maintenance and train services within a given district.
In Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, central management of operations was in the hands of a division in Pest with a director at its head, who had sub-directors appointed to run the various functional branches. The latter exercised a degree of independence of management within their area of business and acted on the board of directors as experts in their own right. Operations, construction, track maintenance and train services for the various operating districts (of 150–600 km in size) were entrusted to operating and traffic managers (llike the railway operating offices in Prussia).
Annexed Austria
After the annexation of AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1938 into the German Reich the territory operated by the BBÖ was allocated to the following Reichsbahn divisions:
- Reichsbahndirektion Linz
- Reichsbahndirektion Villach
- Reichsbahndirektion Wien
Austria
- Eisenbahndirektion Wien / from August 1945 "General Division of the Austrian State Railways" (ÖstB), later "General Division of the Austrian Federal Railways" (ÖBB) and "Bundesbahndirektion" (federal division).
- Eisenbahndirektion Linz, later "Bundesbahndirektion"
- Eisenbahndirektion Villach, later "Bundesbahndirektion"
- Eisenbahndirektion Innsbruck, later "Bundesbahndirektion"
German Ostbahn
After the invasion of Poland the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) organised the railway routes in the so-called Generalgouvernement on 1 November 1939 into the "General Division of the Eastern Railway" (Generaldirektion der Ostbahn) (GEDOB) with its headquarters in KrakówKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
(Krakau). The majority of the staff of the Deutsche Ostbahn came from Germany; Polish citizens were only permitted to be employed in the lower ranks. The rolling stock on the Ostbahn came from the former Polish State Railways
Polish State Railways
is the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...
(PKP).
- Generaldirektion der Ostbahn
- Präsident Adolf Gerteis
Literature
- Hansjürgen Wenzel: Kriegsende und Eisenbahnorganisation, in: Eisenbahn-Kurier 5/95, S. 44–49.
- Michael Reimer, Volkmar Kubitzki: Eisenbahn in Polen 1939–1945 – Die Geschichte der Generaldirektion der Ostbahn. ISBN 3-613-71213-X