Austrian Northwest Railway

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The kk privileged Österreichische Nordwestbahn ( ÖNWB ) was a railway company founded in Austria in 1868 , whose routes were in the crown lands of Lower Austria , Moravia and Bohemia . The main connection of the society led from Vienna to Mittelgrund on the then Austrian - Saxon border. In 1908 the company was nationalized.

history

prehistory

At the suggestion of the director of the kk priv. Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nordbahn (KFNB), Raphael Foges, a wing runway was built from Floridsdorf to Stockerau . On October 30, 1838, the KFNB received the pre-license for this line. On July 26, 1841, a train with the PATRIA locomotive ran the single-track route to Stockerau for the first time.

Various German business circles were planning a direct connection from Berlin to Vienna via Reichenberg at the end of the 1860s . Austria also wanted a short connection from Vienna to the ports of the Baltic Sea and North Sea , which should also open up Central Bohemia (coal mines and sugar factories). At that time, this was possible with several waybills from different railway companies, whereby one also wanted to be independent of the kk priv. Staatseisenbahn-Gesellschaft (StEG).

In 1865 the kk priv. South-North German Connection Railway (SNDVB) carried out various preparatory work for this project, but had several competitors, especially the StEG. In 1867, it united with a few other applicants and obtained a concession for a railway from Vienna to Jungbunzlau with wing railways to Pardubitz and Trautenau .

Main network (network A)

The Northwest Railway Station in Vienna (1875)

The concession to build and operate a railway called "Oesterreichische Nordwestbahn" was given to Hugo Fürst Thurn and Taxis , Franz Altgraf zu Salm-Reifferscheid , Louis von Haber and Friedrich Schwarz and the joint-stock company of the South-North German Link Railway on September 8, 1868. Contents The concession was the construction of a locomotive railway ... starting from Vienna via Znaim, Iglau, Deutschbrod, Czaslau and Kollin to Jungbunzlau with branch lines from Znojmo to the Franz Josephsbahn, from Deutschbrod to Pardubitz and from a suitable point on the Kolin-Jungbunzlauer line to Trautenau . Part of the concession was also the possible construction of a separate line between Jungbunzlau and Bakow in order to establish a direct connection there to the lines of the Bohemian Northern Railway.

The lines were initially allowed to be laid out on a single track, although a later double-track expansion had to be taken into account for all bridges and tunnels. Only when the gross yield of 120,000 guilders per mile was exceeded for two consecutive years could the state administration demand the construction of a second track. The return on the investment capital was guaranteed at 5 percent annually for the entire concession period of 90 years. After 30 years, the state reserved the right to redeem it at any time.

The Österreichische Nordwestbahn-Gesellschaft (ÖNWB) was constituted on July 26th, 1870 as a privately owned corporation with a share capital of 24 million guilders. A total of 89,089 shares with a nominal value of 200 guilders were issued.

The Jedlesee – Stockerau line was bought by the Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn (KFNB) in 1871 and transferred to the ÖNWB. On June 29, 1871, the law was announced by which the government was authorized to transfer the concession for this route to the ÖNWB.

Opening dates of the master network

Supplementary network (network B)

Ultimately, the connection between Vienna and Jungbunzlau did not achieve the supra-regional importance it was intended for. The Kingdom of Saxony had refused to grant the Bohemian Northern Railway the concession to continue to the north, so that the original plan for a new, efficient main connection between Berlin and Vienna remained a torso. The SNDVB route to Reichenberg was part of the shortest connection between Vienna, Berlin and Hamburg, but the unfavorable route profile with long inclines made operations more expensive and extended travel times. The hopes of the ÖNWB to withdraw part of the freight from the StEG routes were therefore not fulfilled.

The Austrian Northwest Railway then sought its own direct connections with the networks of the Royal Saxon State Railways and the Prussian State Railways . On June 25, 1870, it received the concession for a supplementary network, for which, in contrast to the main network A, a state guarantee was excluded. The obligation to lay a second track only existed here with an annual gross profit of 180,000 guilders per mile.

The most important connection of the supplementary network was the so-called Elbe Valley Railway (Nimburg – Mittelgrund), which was supposed to secure the direct connection to the north. Since Saxony also refused to continue directly across the imperial border here, the new line was tied near the border in the Bohemian Mittelgrund train station in the existing cross-border route from Bodenbach to Dresden . Another important new line was the Chlumetz – Lichtenau (–Mittelwalde) connection , with which the ÖNWB had a direct connection to the Prussian route network in Silesia .

Opening dates of the supplementary network

business

Bilingual inscription "Rakouská severozápadní dráha" / "Oesterreichische Nordwestbahn" in the hall of the Praha-Vysočany station (2010)

Many departments of ÖNWB and SNDVB were later merged, but a complete merger failed due to the shareholders of the old kk priv. Pardubitz-Reichenberger Eisenbahn.

nationalization

As early as 1895, the Austrian state sought to nationalize the ÖNWB. The ÖNWB should initially remain independent; for the directorate-general, the conversion into an office was planned, which should be treated as equivalent to the directorate-general of the kkStB. However , on March 27, 1896 , the Reichsrat rejected an agreement made with the ÖNWB on February 10, 1896 to take over state ownership . The main obstacle to rapid nationalization was primarily the different redemption periods for the three economic entities. For the supplementary network in particular, the deadline did not expire until June 26, 1902.

Ultimately, the negotiations on nationalization dragged on for years. In this situation only the most necessary investments were made. Demands from the Imperial and Royal Railway Ministry for the double-track expansion of the sections Vienna-Stockerau, Časlau-Nimburg-Tetschen and Schreckenstein-Aussig were ignored by the ÖNWB's general management despite their necessity. In 1904 the Ministry of Railways then ordered the two-track expansion of the Vienna-Stockerau, Schreckenstein-Tetschen and Lissa-Aussig sections by the end of 1907. However, the Administrative Court rejected a lawsuit by the ÖNWB to claim the interest rate guarantee and to include the corresponding investments in the state guarantee . To finance the two-track expansion, the ÖNWB issued new four percent bonds.

Ultimately, the Reichsrat approved the nationalization agreed with the railway company on October 21, 1908, with a law of March 27, 1909, which came into effect retrospectively on January 1, 1908. For the movable and immovable property of the ÖNWB along with 313 locomotives, the Austrian state paid a redemption price of 368 million crowns to the shareholders. On October 15, 1909, the kk Staatsbahnen (kkStB) took over operations. The liquidation company was closed in July 1911.

At the time of the takeover by the state, the guaranteed network covered 627.95 km, the supplementary network 308.4 km. The sections Vienna – Stockerau, Časlau – Leitmeritz and Schreckenstein – Tetschen were expanded to have two tracks.

The kkStB administered the former lines of the ÖNWB until their dissolution in October 1918 by the Nordwestbahndirektion. Today they belong partly to the Austrian Federal Railways or to the network of the state-owned Czech infrastructure operator Správa železniční dopravní cesty (SŽDC).

The routes

The Austrian Nordwestbahn's own route network had a length of 938.459 kilometers, of which 627.955 kilometers were on the main network and 304.383 kilometers on the supplementary network. The operating network also included the connecting line to the Mittelwalde border station on Prussian territory, which was leased by the Prussian State Railways. The ÖNWB took over the management of a total of six private local railways for the owners' account.

The ÖNWB (black) and SNDVB (red) route network. The local railways in operation by the ÖNWB are marked with narrower lines.
Main network (network A)
Supplementary network (network B)
Lease operation
Local railways operated for the owner's account

Locomotives and wagons

At the SNDVB, the locomotives were given consecutive numbers and names according to the order in which they were procured. The locomotives were also classified in the same way at the ÖNWB. In the course of the joint operating agreement, a common number and series scheme was introduced in 1872. Names were only given until 1874. Only the machines of the series  IIb and  IIc received the names of the retired locomotives of the series  IIa .

ÖNWB Ic No. 91 in the permanent exhibition of the National Technical Museum in Prague (2011)

The following rows were present in the common scheme:

  • Row I: express train locomotives
  • Row II: SNDVB passenger locomotives
  • Row III: ÖNWB passenger locomotives
  • Row IV: SNDVB freight locomotives with three coupled axles
  • Series V: ÖNWB freight locomotives with three coupled axles
  • Row VI: SNDVB freight locomotives with four coupled axles
  • Row VII: ÖNWB freight locomotives with four coupled axles
  • Series VIII, IX and X: Local and shunting locomotives from SNDVB and ÖNWB

According to the deliveries from various locomotive factories, the series numbers have been given additional lowercase letters.

The Ic No. 91 and the VIIa No. 340 CONRAD VORLAUF have been preserved in the National Technical Museum in Prague . Ic No. 91 is part of the permanent exhibition there in its last operating state as ČSD 252.008. The CONRAD VORLAUF is currently being made operational.

literature

  • Alfred Horn: The Austrian Northwest Railway (= The Austrian-Hungarian Railway. Volume 1). Bohmann Verlag, Vienna 1967.
  • Jiří Kacetl: 140 let Severozápadní dráhy / 140 years of the Northwest Railway. Minulost a budoucnost nejkratšího dopravního spojení Vídně a Berlína / Past and future of the shortest transport connection Vienna - Berlin. Jihomoravské muzeum ve Znojmě, Znojmo 2013, ISBN 978-80-86974-11-8 .
  • Wolfgang Kos, Günter Dinhobl (Ed.): Large station. Vienna and the wide world. Czernin, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7076-0212-5 ( special exhibition of the Vienna Museum 332), (exhibition catalog, Vienna, Vienna Museum, September 28, 2006 - February 25, 2007).
  • Pavel Schreier: Příběhy z dějin našich drah. Mladá fronta, Prague 2009, ISBN 978-80-204-1505-9 .
  • Peter Wegenstein: The Northwest Railway Line. Verlag Peter Pospischil, Vienna 1995 ( Bahn in Fig. 91, ZDB -ID 52827-4 ).

Web links

Commons : Österreichische Nordwestbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Concessions deed of September 8, 1868…. Reichsgesetzblatt für die Kaiserthum Oesterreich from October 20, 1868, No. 143 (= p. 413)
  2. ↑ Historical securities on geerkens.at
  3. ^ Law of June 11, 1871…. Reichsgesetzblatt for the kingdoms and states represented in the Reichsrathe of June 29, 1871, No. 55 (= p. 105)
  4. ^ Hans von Polenz: Railways in the Bautzener Land. Ostsächsische Eisenbahnfreunde eV, Löbau 2006, ISBN 3-00-018243-8 , p. 25 f.
  5. ^ Reichsgesetzblatt for the kingdoms and states represented in the Reichsrathe of September 3, 1870
  6. ↑ RGBl. No. 46/1909 (= p. 122)