Karl Bethge

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Karl Bethge (born February 14, 1847 in Berlin , † April 11, 1900 in Bangkok ) was a German engineer .

After completing a degree in civil engineering and mechanical engineering, Bethge had been with the Austrian Southern Railway from 1871 and switched to the Gotthard Railway Company in 1873 , where he was involved in the planning and construction of the Gotthard Railway . After working for the new building administration of the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (1877 to 1879), he passed the construction manager examination (1st state examination) and in 1881 the building master examination (2nd state examination). Due to his talents and the knowledge he had acquired since April 1881, he was awarded a travel bonus of 1,800 marks on June 17, 1882, along with Ludwig Schupmann (1851–1920) and other people. The purpose was a longer study trip to perfect the training.

Briefly employed in the technical office of the Prussian Ministry of Public Works in Berlin, he later joined the Serbian railway administration and was responsible for the construction of several important railway bridges. In 1885 he stayed as a representative of Krupp in China and for study purposes in Japan .

In 1889 he was invited to Bangkok as a consultant by the Siamese King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) , where he arrived in November 1889. As a result of his constructive suggestions for improving the Siamese railway, he was appointed general director of the Royal Railway Department in the Ministry of Civil Engineering the following year . He became the first general director of the "Royal Railway of Siam" founded in 1890 until his death in 1900. Under his leadership and according to his ideas - u. a. - the "Nagara Rajasema Railway", the railway line from Bangkok to Korat (today Nakhon Ratchasima ) completed, which is known today as the "Northeast Line" of the State Railway of Thailand. The opening of the first railway line in Thailand from Bangkok to Ayutthaya in 1894 can be traced back to his initiative and his commitment to what is now the “northern line”.

He was a member of the fraternity Germania Berlin and the fraternity Teutonia Karlsruhe .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Granting of travel rewards to government builders and government building managers in Prussia. Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , July 1, 1882, p. 225, accessed on December 11, 2012
  2. ^ Address directory of the old men of the Berlin fraternity "GERMANIA" (EV). Edition S.-S. 1911. p. 11.
  3. ^ Georg Kirschner: Directory of Members of the Karlsruhe Burschenschaft Teutonia , 1966.
personal data
SURNAME Bethge, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bethge, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1900
Place of death Bangkok