Prussian State Railway Council

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The Prussian State Railway Council was an advisory body for the Prussian State Railway . He acted as an intermediary between the state railway administration and some social groups with a high interest in rail traffic. In terms of content, its deliberations were mainly about tariff issues .

prehistory

In 1874 a transport committee for Alsace-Lorraine was formed at the suggestion of the Chamber of Commerce in Mühlhausen . In Alsace-Lorraine there was the regional difficulty that after the annexation of the area by the German Reich, the traditional trade connections to France were now burdened by a customs barrier, but connections to the Reich first had to be established. Commerce and industry in Alsace-Lorraine therefore wanted to influence the tariffs of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine . The Transport Committee for Alsace-Lorraine should serve this purpose. In order to promote the integration of Alsace-Lorraine into the empire, the state was prepared to go very far into the wishes and interests of the residents there. The imperial railways in Alsace-Lorraine were closely linked to Prussia due to the dominance of the Kingdom of Prussia in the German Empire. The President of the Reichseisenbahnamt, Albert von Maybach , was so impressed by the minutes of the first meeting of the Transport Committee that he recommended in a circular to all Reichseisenbahnen and railways under the Reichsaufsicht that something should be set up.

During the great nationalization of the railways in Prussia around 1880, the facility was then introduced on a legal basis for the entire state railway . This also served to alleviate concerns of the liberal bourgeoisie against the nationalization of private railways.

Prussian State Railway Council

structure

The Prussian State Railway Council was responsible for the entire state railway. In addition, there were district railway councils, which were responsible for the area of ​​one or more railway directorates grouped together . The management of the Prussian State Railway Council lay with the State Railways. For the time between the meetings and in preparation for them, the Prussian State Railways Council formed a "Standing Committee".

composition

The Prussian State Railway Council was filled according to a regional proportional representation as well as a proportional representation of the various branches of industry represented.

At the head of the Prussian State Railway Council stood the chairman and his representative. They were appointed by the king and were not entitled to vote. The ministries appointed further members (and one representative each): three members each for three years from the ministers responsible for trade and commerce and the ministers responsible for agriculture and forestry , two each from the ministers responsible for public works and the ministers responsible for railways Finances . These members could not be civil servants . Thirty other members from industry (9 members), trade (9 members), forestry and agriculture (12 members in total) and their representatives elected the district railway councils. In addition, the Prussian Minister of Public Works, as the Prussian Railway Minister, was represented at the meetings by a commissioner.

tasks

The most important task of the Prussian State Railways Council was to submit proposals and statements on tariff policy - it was primarily about freight tariffs. It was about the exceptional tariffs - the regular tariffs were discussed by the "Standing Tariff Commission". However, temporary and regional transport services according to the exceptional tariffs were used to a much greater extent than the regular tariffs.

history

Emergence

Discussed from around 1879, the law on the establishment of District Railway Councils and a State Railway Council for the State Railway Administration of June 1, 1882 , entered into force on January 1, 1883 , the legal basis for the work of the State Railway Council.

job

The first meeting took place on September 22, 1883 or November 16, 1883 at Potsdam Central Station . He also gave himself rules of procedure. In the following years the Prussian State Railway Council met continuously and discussed all upcoming tariff changes.

By the end of 1913 the Prussian State Railway Council met 71 times. In the first two years of the First World War , the Prussian State Railway Council continued to work relatively “normally”. From the third year of the war onwards, however, the situation of the railroad deteriorated noticeably, so that there was hardly any leeway for requests and advice from the interest groups represented in the Prussian State Railway Council.

The End

When the regional railways were "made available" in 1922, the Prussian State Railways, which had to be advised by the Prussian State Railway Council , also disappeared . The Prussian State Railway Council was replaced by a Reich Railway Council , as were the corresponding institutions on the other state railways . 13 regional railway councils were formed. In principle, the traditional Prussian system was adopted. However, the composition changed: employee representatives now also became members through the unions . In the “Führer state” of National Socialism , advisory boards were an undesirable foreign body. Reichseisenbahnrat and "Landeseisenbahnräte" were dissolved on September 19, 1934.

District Railway Councils

In addition to advising on tariff matters, the district railway councils also had to participate in drawing up the timetable . They were responsible for the area of ​​one or more railway directorates combined for this purpose. They are made up of members of the chambers of commerce , commercial cooperations and the agricultural provincial associations. Each directorate received a district railway council with the exception of the two Cologne directorates (left and right bank of the Rhine) and the directorate Elberfeld . A joint district railway council was formed for these three directorates.

Comparable facilities at other regional railways

There was also a State Railway Council in Austria ( Cisleithanien ) .

Advisory councils outside the railroad in Prussia and in the Reich

  • 1872 The German Agricultural Council acted as an umbrella organization to the state agencies of the federal states and the Reich like an advisory board, but without being legitimized by a legal basis.
  • 1890 Colonial Councilor at the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office .
  • 1896 Exchange committee at the Federal Council
  • 1897 Emigration Advisory Board of the concession agency for emigration companies at the Reich Chancellor
  • 1900 Reich Health Council at the Imperial Health Office

literature

  • Walter Falkenbach: Railway Advisory Councils . Their historical development, today's position within the framework of the German Reich Railway Administration and their importance as representing the interests of the German economy . Frankfurt am Main 1928.
  • Wolfgang Klee: Prussian railway history . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1982. ISBN 3-17-007466-0
  • Jürgen Seffzig: The Prussian State Railway Council = European University Writings Series II = Bd. 3545. Peter Lang, Frankfurt 2003. ISBN 3-631-39746-1 [at the same time dissertation at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Seffzig, p. 34
  2. ↑ Klee, p. 175f.
  3. ↑ Seffzig, p. 83.
  4. ↑ a b c Seffzig, p. 81
  5. ↑ a b Seffzig, p. 82
  6. ↑ Seffzig, p. 83.
  7. ↑ Seffzig, p. 77.
  8. ^ Collection of laws for the Royal Prussian States 1882, pp. 313–319.
  9. ↑ a b Seffzig, p. 84
  10. ↑ For details: Seffzig, pp. 95–123.
  11. ↑ Seffzig, p. 172.
  12. ↑ a b Seffzig, p. 175
  13. ↑ Seffzig, p. 176.
  14. ↑ Seffzig, p. 179.
  15. ↑ Seffzig, p. 125.
  16. ↑ Klee, p. 175f.
  17. ↑ Seffzig, p. 34f.
  18. ↑ a b c Seffzig, p. 35
  19. ↑ a b c Seffzig, p. 36
  20. ↑ a b c Seffzig, p. 37
  21. ↑ Seffzig, p. 33f.
  22. ↑ a b Seffzig, p. 32
  23. ↑ Seffzig, p. 32f.
  24. ↑ Seffzig, p. 33.