Nassau State Railway
The Nassau State Railways managed to 1866 the Duchy of Nassau belonging to railway lines at Rhine and Lahn had that built the state and partly even, partly taken over in 1861 by a private company.
Private predecessors
Wiesbaden Railway Company
Although the Taunus Railway Company's route from Frankfurt had already reached Wiesbaden in 1840, the Wiesbaden Railway Company was not founded as a private company until 1852, following an initial initiative in 1844 , which wanted to continue the line along the Rhine.
Nassau Rhine Railway Company
After the Wiesbaden Railway Company had received the concession to build the Nassau Rhine Valley Railway Wiesbaden - Rüdesheim - Oberlahnstein (today part of the right Rhine route ) from the Duchy of Nassau on June 23, 1853 , it was renamed the Nassau Rhine Railway Company .
She realized the section through the Rheingau from Wiesbaden to Rüdesheim . This was technically the easiest to manufacture and therefore was the first to be built and opened after test drives from July 24th on August 11th 1856 with a length of 26 kilometers. The construction manager was the Briton Charles Vignoles , who was already experienced in railway construction . The "Wiesbaden" terminus was initially the Biebrich-Mosbach station (later: Wiesbaden-Biebrich), and the extension (5 km) to Wiesbaden Rheinbahnhof was not put into operation until February 11, 1857.
Nassau Rhine and Lahn Railway Company
After the provisional concession for the Lahntalbahn from Oberlahnstein to Wetzlar had been granted to the Nassauische Rhein Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft on August 24, 1855 , it was called Nassauische Rhein- und Lahn Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft from 1856 onwards .
A first section of the Lahnbahn from Oberlahnstein to Bad Ems was opened on July 1, 1858 , but shortly afterwards it was impassable due to a landslide .
Due to the unreliability of the company, the duchy withdrew this concession on December 11, 1855 and decided to continue building this railway at its own expense. Nevertheless, on March 31, 1857 a final concession was issued to the company.
State railway
The Nassauische Rhein- und Lahn Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft obviously lacked the will and the necessary capital for the rapid expansion of the rail network. Therefore, on October 14, 1858, the state revoked the further concessions that had already been granted. The state railway construction was now based on a law of November 3, 1858. On May 1, 1859, the Oberlahnstein - Bad Ems section was finally opened to traffic. With that the railway operation began under state control.
The Nassau State Railroad put the line between Rüdesheim and Oberlahnstein into operation on February 22, 1862, closing the 56.6 kilometer gap between the Rhine Valley Railway and the Lahn Valley Railway. Subsequently, with a contract dated May 2, 1861, on June 12, 1862, it also took over the 30-kilometer section between Wiesbaden and Rüdesheim from the private company, which then dissolved.
The architect and royal railway and operations inspector Heinrich Velde was primarily responsible for the high-rise buildings, such as the train stations , stops, station keepers' houses and tunnel portals . Numerous standardized station buildings were built according to his design along the Rhine Valley route.
After the Duchy of Nassau and the Kingdom of Prussia agreed in a state treaty of February 8, 1860 on the construction of the railway in the Lahn valley, the Nassau state completed the remaining 86 kilometers of the route in four sections, namely on July 9, 1860 from Bad Ems to Nassau (8 kilometers), on July 5, 1862 from Nassau to Limburg (26 kilometers), on October 14, 1862 to Weilburg (29 kilometers) and on January 10, 1863 to Wetzlar (23 kilometers), which at that time already belonged to Prussia. The leading role was the railway pioneer and engineer Moritz Hilf . The Rhine Valley Railway was extended from Oberlahnstein to Niederlahnstein on June 3, 1864, where it was connected to the route of the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft to Koblenz and its rail network on the left bank of the Rhine.
Commissioning data for individual sections of the route
| date | Beginning of section | End of section | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 11, 1856 | Mosbach | Rudesheim | |
| February 11, 1857 | Wiesbaden Rheinbahnhof | Mosbach | today: Wiesbaden-Biebrich |
| November 1861 | Rudesheim | Bingerbrück | Trajectory |
| February 22, 1862 | Rudesheim | Oberlahnstein | |
| January 10, 1863 | Oberlahnstein | Wetzlar railway station | Sections were opened earlier |
| June 3, 1864 | Oberlahnstein | Niederlahnstein |
Connections to other railways
- In Wiesbaden, the Nassau State Railway joined the Taunus Railway to Frankfurt am Main .
- From November 1861, between Rüdesheim and Bingen , the Bingerbrück – Rüdesheim trajectory established a connection with the Rhein-Nahe Railway Company . This resulted in an exchange of goods between the Rhine-Main area and the Saar area , which created a new sales area for the Saar coal in particular.
- In Oberlahnstein the connection to the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft took place . In the run-up to its completion, the Stolzenfels – Oberlahnstein trajectory existed from the 2nd half of 1862 to June 3, 1864 . This connection was primarily used to transport ore from the Lahn valley and to supply industry there with coal from the Ruhr .
- The Lahntalbahn connected to the Deutz-Gießener-Eisenbahn near Wetzlar .
Transfer to Prussia
With the fall of the Duchy of Nassau as an independent state as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the line became part of the Prussian State Railways .
The attempt of the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft to take over the Nassauische Staatsbahn and to operate it as an extension of its planned stretch on the right bank of the Rhine failed due to demands of the Prussian state. Since his cash situation was strained by the war, he linked the sale of the railway to the simultaneous takeover of the loss-making Rhein-Nahe-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft . The Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft was not prepared to do this, however, as the Nahe Valley Railway questioned the profitability of its Eifel Railway under construction .
The facilities of the former Nassau State Railroad remained Prussian state property and were initially managed by a separate directorate based in Wiesbaden. In the course of further nationalization of private railways in Prussia, their network was incorporated into the Kgl. Prussian Railway Directorate Frankfurt am Main incorporated.
literature
- Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
- Heinz Schomann : Railway in Hessen . Railway history and construction categories 1839–1999. In: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Cultural monuments in Hessen. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Three volumes in a slipcase. tape 1 . Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 , p. 141 ff .
- Heinz Schomann : Railway in Hessen . Railway buildings and routes 1839–1939. In: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Cultural monuments in Hessen. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Three volumes in a slipcase. tape 2.1 . Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 , p. 204 ff . (Route 012).
- Konrad Fuchs: Railway projects and railway construction on the Middle Rhine 1836-1903 . In: Nassau Annals . tape 67 , 1956, pp. 158-202 .
- Bernhard Hager: In the most blessed part of the lovely country . In: Railway history . tape 17 , 2006, ISSN 1611-6283 , p. 24-37 .