Marienburg-Mlawka Railway
| Marienburg-Mlawker Railway | |
|---|---|
 Overview map
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| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
The Marienburg – Mlawkaer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft owned and operated a section of the long-distance railway connection Gdansk – Warsaw in the former Prussian provinces of West and East Prussia .
history
Following the route of the Prussian Eastern Railway from Danzig via Dirschau to Marienburg , the “Marienburg – Mlawkaer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft” (MME) founded in 1872 opened a double-track railway line. In Russia, this was supposed to establish a connection to the Vistula Railway to Warsaw , which would enable the journey to the Black Sea via Kovel . Above all, it served the export of grain from Russia to the German Empire and, via the seaport of Danzig, also to England, Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia.
The first section, opened on August 1, 1876, crossed from Marienburg in West Prussia the Pomesanien landscape in a south-easterly direction to Deutsch Eylau (68.9 km) and from September 1, 1876 to Montowo (94.1 km) in the east of the Kulmerland . The following section led via Zajonczkowo ( Polish: Zajączkowo ) in the province of East Prussia to Soldau (129.6 km) and at Illowo to the German-Russian border. Shortly afterwards, after 147.5 kilometers, the end point Mława in Russian Poland was reached. The eponymous place Mławka was closer to the border, but had no train station. All traffic to Mława was opened on September 1, 1877, but freight trains ran to Soldau from May 15, 1877.
On August 1, 1884, the railway company opened a branch line from Zajonczkowo to the district town of Löbau in West Prussia, which was 6.4 kilometers long.
Since April 1, 1888, the Prussian state railway has been using the 13-kilometer route from Soldau to the border for its trains from Allenstein and Graudenz. At that time the MME had almost 600 employees; there were 23 steam locomotives as well as 23 passenger and 549 freight cars.
As early as 1886, the Prussian State Railroad tried to buy the Marienburg – Mlawka Railway Company; but only with effect from July 1, 1903 did this give up its independence.
After the First World War, the route through the new political borders of East Prussia lost a large part of its former importance, because this shortest connection between Warsaw and Danzig, which is customs-related to Poland, led a little through East Prussia. Since Poland was allocated most of the German eastern territories in 1945, the Warszawa – Mławka – Malbork – Gdańsk route has been one of the most important in the country.
literature
- Arthur von Mayer: History and geography of the German railways. 2nd volume. Wilhelm Baensch Verlagshandlung, Berlin 1891, p. 1187ff.
