The introduction of railway traffic in the
Austrian Empire had been pushed by pioneers like physicist
Franz Josef Gerstner (1756–1832), who advocated a railway connection from the
Vltava basin across the
Bohemian Massif to the
Danube river. After in 1810 a first long
horse-drawn railway line was built at the
Eisenerz mine in
Styria for the transport of iron stones, in 1832 a
wagonway between Austrian
Linz and
České Budějovice (Budweis) in
Bohemia opened. It was long and was the second interurban railway in continental Europe (after the French
Saint-Étienne to Andrézieux Railway line opened in 1827). The southern continuation from Linz to
Gmunden was finished in 1836. The first section of a new
steam locomotive railway from the Austrian capital
Vienna to
Kraków in the
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria operated by the
Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway company opened in 1837. Designed by
Franz Xaver Riepl, it was financed by the banker
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild. The line then was the second solely steam-powered railway on the continent, after the inauguration of the Belgian
Brussels–Mechelen railway line in 1835.
1841 railway programme While the Northern Railway prospered, private investors held back on financing further railroad constructions and the expansion of the Austrian network came to a standstill. Nevertheless, after initial hesitation, the Austrian government took a keen interest in railways, and launched a public investment programme in 1841. The Northern Railway in
Lower Austria was completed up to the
Bohemian border at
Bernhardsthal, a branch-off from
Olmütz (Olomouc) and
Brünn (Brno) to
Prague was opened in 1845/49. In 1851, construction works reached the northern imperial border with
Saxony at
Bodenbach, where the Northern Railway received access to the
Royal Saxon State Railways. Beside the extension of the Northern Railway, plans for the construction of a
Southern Railway (
Südbahn) from Vienna to the Adriatic
seaport at
Trieste via
Semmering Pass and
Graz were finally carried out. Opened in 1857, it was then operated by the private
Austrian Southern Railway company. In the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, the first section of the
Milan–Venice railway was opened in 1842. Plans for a connection to Trieste became obsolete upon the loss of
Lombardy after the
Second Italian War of Independence in 1859. First construction works on the projected
Western Railway (
Westbahn) line to the border with
Bavaria via
Linz and
Salzburg got stuck in the beginning. By late 1854, out of of Austrian railway lines were state owned (almost 70%). After 1854, however, because of financial crisis in the Empire, the railways were sold at prices cut to the bone, many of them to
French investors. Concessions for new private companies, like the
Imperial Royal Privileged Austrian State Railway Company, were granted.
Austrian state railways , about 1900 After the
Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the
Transleithanian (Hungarian) lines of the Dual Monarchy were nationalized as the
Hungarian State Railways (MÁV). Already in 1866, the Austrian trade minister
Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair had urged for a greater government commitment. A re-evaluation started in the
Long Depression, sparked by the
Panic of 1873. The
Vienna stock market crash resulted in the bankruptcy of several Austrian railway companies, and the state took them over. With effect from 1 January 1884, the
k.k. Generaldirektion der Staatsbahnen ("Imperial-Royal General Directorate of the State Railways") was founded, situated at the Austrian Ministry of Trade; this was the birth of the Imperial-Royal State Railways. Operations Divisions were established in
Vienna,
Linz,
Innsbruck,
Villach,
Budweis,
Pilsen,
Prague,
Cracow,
Lemberg,
Pola, and
Spalato. By the end of 1884 the state railway network covered 5,103 km. On 15 January 1896, Emperor
Franz Joseph I, at the suggestion of Minister President Count
Kasimir Felix Badeni, approved the establishment of the
k.k. Eisenbahnministerium ("Imperial-Royal Rail Ministry"). Further divisions were founded in
Triest,
Olmütz and
Stanislau. Minister
Heinrich von Wittek promoted the expansion of the
Wiener Stadtbahn network and the
Neue Alpenbahnen project providing the
Alps with major rail crossings, including the
Tauern Railway and the
Bohinj Railway, realised upon a 1901 resolution passed by the
Imperial Council legislature. By nationalizing other companies or taking over their traffic, the State Railways obtained a practical
monopoly in rail transport. After the acquisition of the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway Company in 1906, followed by the
Imperial Royal Privileged Austrian State Railway Company and the
Austrian Northwestern Railway in 1909, the Southern Railway was the only major company that remained private until the end of Empire. In 1914, of a total of 22,981 km of railway tracks on Austrian territory, 18,859 (82%) were state owned.
Dissolution After the end of the
World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the Imperial-Royal Rail Ministry was disestablished on 12 November 1918 by resolution of the Provisional Assembly of
German-Austria. The vehicle fleet and infrastructure of former
kkStB were divided among state railway companies of the successor states of the Dual Monarchy: •
Austria:
Deutschösterreichische Staatsbahnen (DÖStB), renamed
Österreichische Staatsbahnen (ÖStB) in 1919 and
Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) in 1923 •
Poland:
Polskie Koleje Państwowe (PKP) •
Czechoslovakia:
Československé státní dráhy (ČSD) •
Yugoslavia:
Jugoslovenske Železnice (JŽ) •
Italy:
Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) •
Romania:
Căile Ferate Române (CFR). With the promulgation of the Austrian
Federal Constitutional Law on 10 November 1920, the supervision of the national railway system passed to the newly established
Ministry of Transport. ==Timeline==