Lower Saxony State Railway Authority
The Lower Saxony State Railway Authority (NLEA) was a central authority that operated numerous railways, mostly former small railways , in the state of Lower Saxony . Most of these were those in which the state had a financial stake.
history
As in most Prussian provinces, after the introduction of the Prussian Small Railroad Act in 1892, numerous small railways were also built in the province of Hanover . Initially, the company did not participate financially in the railway construction, but later had to get involved accordingly at the request of the state. However, the provincial administration saw it as its task from the beginning to coordinate the numerous small railroad projects and to support them in their implementation. For this purpose she founded her own small train office on April 1, 1896. In 1904, this resulted in an independent small railroad department of the provincial directorate, which in 1914 already looked after 22 small railways similar to branch lines with a total length of 976 km, half of which were narrow gauge .
On January 1, 1922, the small railway department was converted into the Landeskleinbahnamt (LKA) , which gradually took over the management of the previously largely independent railways.
In the times of crisis after the First World War - when the first routes had to be shut down for economic reasons - the LKA successfully promoted the introduction of diesel operation and, above all, the procurement of "Hanover-type" rail buses developed with the Wismar wagon factory Passenger traffic on the small train lines were adapted.
After some small railways had been converted into railways, the LKA was renamed the State Railway Office in 1940 and then the Lower Saxony State Railway Office (NLEA) in 1947. The temporarily planned consolidation of all private railways into a state railway was not pursued any further. However, the identification of vehicles was standardized in 1950, so that each serial number was only available once and the track width and design were also recognizable. On April 1, 1957, the Kleinbahngesetz was replaced by a law on railways and mountain railways . After the number and importance of the railways administered by the NLEA had steadily declined, the state of Lower Saxony dissolved its state railway office in 1959.
The management of railways was no longer seen as a state task. It should therefore be transferred to private railways, which were able to do so by their size, specifically to Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG and Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG for the east and west of the country. However, some rail companies preferred to manage the operations themselves.
As a result of the 1993 rail reform, a new state railway supervision was established in 1993 , which has taken over supervision of all Lower Saxony non-federally owned railways. In 1996, the Lower Saxony regional transport company was added, which has set up its own pool of vehicles for local transport in Lower Saxony and leases it to rail operators.
Managed lanes
- Ankum-Bersenbrücker Railway (1933–1959)
- Bleckeder Kreisbahn (1921–1944)
- Bremervörde-Osterholz Railway (1923–1959)
- Kleinbahn Buxtehude – Harsefeld (1928–1959)
- Delmenhorst-Harpstedter Railway (1922–1959)
- Gartetalbahn Göttingen – Duderstadt (1938–1959)
- Kleinbahn Farge – Wulsdorf GmbH (1922–1959)
- Kleinbahn Gittelde-Grund GmbH (1924–1959)
- Kleinbahn Hoya – Syke – Asendorf (1924–1959)
- Kleinbahn Ihrhove – Westrhauderfehn (1947–1959)
- Kleinbahn Lüchow – Schmarsau (1932–1959)
- Kleinbahn Lüneburg – Soltau (1923–1944)
- Kleinbahn Neuhaus-Brahlstorf (1923–1945)
- Kleinbahn Soltau – Neuenkirchen (1923–1944)
- Kleinbahn Winsen – Evendorf – Hützel (1933–1944)
- Kleinbahn Winsen – Niedermarschacht (1933–1944)
- Emden – Pewsum – Greetsiel circuit (1933–1959)
- Kleinbahn Leer – Aurich – Wittmund (1931–1959)
- St. Andreasberger Kleinbahn (1922–1959)
- Steinhuder Meer Railway (1923–1959)
- Verden-Walsroder Railway (1925–1959)
- Wilstedt-Zeven-Tostedter Railway (1934–1959)
literature
- Hans Wolfgang Rogl: Archive of German Small and Private Railways - Lower Saxony. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71022-2 .
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 10: Lower Saxony 2. Between Weser and Elbe. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-88255-669-8 , pp. 9-11.