Wilhelmsbahn
The Wilhelmsbahn was a private railway company in Prussia . It was founded in Ratibor in Upper Silesia in 1844 to connect the Upper Silesian Railway ( Breslau - Oppeln - Cosel - Gleiwitz ) with the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand's Northern Railway . The name referred to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia , the later German Emperor Wilhelm I, who had taken over the "protectorate" of the new company. The railway line connected the Austrian railway network with the Prussian one, which was already connected to the French one via the Belgian network, and also - a little way across Austrian territory - to the Russian-Polish line to Warsaw .
Trunk line
As early as January 1, 1846, the first 32 km long section from Cosel to Ratibor was put into operation following the right bank of the Oder . After crossing the river, it continued from May 1, 1847 to the border town of Annaberg (Polish: Chałupki ). From there on September 1, 1848, the connection to the Austrian railway network in Oderberg ( Bohumín ) was made. Until then, the Wilhelmsbahn carried out operations on the Austrian section of the route. Their own route was now 54 km.
After the district town of Cosel had its own train station on the line from the old Cosel train station to Deutsch Rasselwitz, which was opened in 1876, what was then the Cosel train station was named Kandrzin. In 1934 this important railway junction was renamed Heydebreck.
Today the Kędzierzyn-Koźle – Chałupki line in the network of the Polish State Railways ( PKP) has route no. 151
Further expansion
While the operation of the main line was extremely successful in the first few years, the Wilhelmsbahn was less successful with its branch lines built later. From Ratibor, a 38 km long route led west to Leobschütz, which was opened on January 1, 1855 for passenger traffic and on October 1, 1856 also for goods traffic. About ten kilometers north of Racibórz , in Nensa , which was later called Buchenau, a 70 km long route branched off via Rybnik - Orzesche - Nikolai to Idaweiche in the southern part of the Upper Silesian industrial area, which ran in sections between January 1, 1855 and December 20 Started operations in 1858. In addition, the Wilhelmsbahn took over the management of the Kattowitz - Idaweiche - Emanuelssegen line , which was built by the Upper Silesian Railway Company.
On August 16, 1865, the 11 km Friedrichsgrube - Lazisk - Neu Glückaufgrube route, initially only used for freight traffic, was added. Passenger trains also ran to Lazisk from October 15, 1884.
According to a contract from 1857, the Prussian state took over the administration and operation of the Wilhelmsbahn on their account. For this he set up a royal directorate in Racibórz.
In 1869 the Wilhelmsbahn-Gesellschaft offered its company to the Upper Silesian Railway Company for purchase. At the beginning of the following year, the administration took over, which the state had taken over on behalf of the company since 1857. It was not until July 1, 1886 that the Upper Silesian Railway Company and the Wilhelmsbahn became the property of the Prussian state.
literature
- Arthur von Mayer: History and geography of the German railways. 2 volumes. Wilhelm Baensch Publishing House, Berlin 1891.