Deutsche Reichsbahn


The Deutsche Reichsbahn, also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regional railways of the individual states of the German Empire. The Deutsche Reichsbahn has been described as "the largest enterprise in the capitalist world in the years between 1920 and 1932"; nevertheless, its importance "arises primarily from the fact that the Reichsbahn was at the center of events in a period of great turmoil in German history".

Overview

The company was founded on 1 April 1920 as the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen when the Weimar Republic, which still used the nation-state term of the previous monarchy, Deutsches Reich, took national control of the German railways, which had previously been run by the German states. In 1924 it was reorganised under the aegis of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, a nominally private railway company, which was 100% owned by the German state. In 1937 the railway was reorganised again as a state authority and given the name Deutsche Reichsbahn. After the Anschluss in 1938 the DR also took over the Bundesbahn Österreich.
The East and West German states were founded in 1949. East Germany took over the control of the DR on its territory and continued to use the traditional name Deutsche Reichsbahn, while the railway in West Germany became the Deutsche Bundesbahn. The Austrian ÖBB was founded in 1945, and was given its present name in 1947.
In January 1994, following German reunification, the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn merged with the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn to form Germany's new national carrier, Deutsche Bahn AG, technically no longer a government agency but still a 100% state-owned joint stock company.

Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen (1920–1924)

The first railways to be owned by the German Empire, which was founded in 1871, were the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine, whose Imperial General Division of Railways in Alsace-Lorraine had its headquarters in Straßburg. It was formed after France had ceded the territory of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 to the German Empire and the newly created Third French Republic had formally purchased the French Eastern Railway Company and then sold it again to the German Empire. After the end of the First World War this national "imperial railway" was taken back by France.
In the remaining German states, by contrast, the existing state railways continued to be subject to their respective sovereigns, despite the fact that Otto von Bismarck had tried in vain to purchase the main railway lines for the Empire. A similar attempt failed in 1875 as a result of opposition from the middle powers when Albert von Maybach presented a draft Reich Railway Act to the Bundesrat.
In the wake of the stipulations of the Weimar Constitution of 11 August 1919, the state treaty on the foundation of the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen came into force on 1 April 1920. This resulted in the merger of the existing state railways of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Baden, Mecklenburg and Oldenburg under the newly formed German Reich. The state railways that merged were the:
Initially called the Reichseisenbahnen or Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen, the company was formally given the name "Deutsche Reichsbahn" by decree of the Reich Minister of Transport, Wilhelm Groener, on 27 June 1921. In 1922 the old railway divisions were renamed as Reich railway divisions.

Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (1924–1937)

Among the provisions of the 1924 Dawes Plan was a plan to utilize the state railway completely for the payment of war reparations. Following the plan's publication, on 12 February 1924, the Reich government announced the creation of the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a state enterprise under the Reich Ministry of Transport.
As this was not enough to satisfy the reparations creditors, on 30 August 1924 a law was enacted providing for the establishment of a state-owned Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft as a public holding company to operate the national railways. The aim was to earn profits which, under the Dawes Plan, were to be used to contribute to Germany's war reparations.
At the same time as the Reichsbahn law was enacted, the company was handed a bill of eleven billion Goldmarks to be paid to the Allied powers, while its original capital was valued at fifteen billion Goldmarks. These terms were later amended in the Young Plan. Nevertheless, the Great Depression and the regular payment of war reparations put a considerable strain on the Reichsbahn. Not until the Lausanne Conference of 1932 was the Reichsbahn released from its financial obligations. In total, about 3.87 billion Goldmarks was paid in reparations to the Allied powers.
During the DRG period the following milestones occurred:
  • 1 October 1930: the DRG took over the Bremen Port Railway
  • 27 June 1933: the DRG's sister company the Reichsautobahn was founded
  • 1 March 1935: the railways of the Saar were incorporated
The beginning of the DRG was characterised by the acquisition of new rolling stock built to standard types, such as the standard steam locomotives. The stock already in use had been inherited from the various state railways and comprised a great number of designs, many of them quite old. In fact, the DRG was unable to procure new stock in the numbers it wanted to both for financial reasons and due to delays in upgrading the lines to carry higher axle loads. The locomotive classes taken over from the old state railways, especially those from the Prussia, continued to dominate the scene until the end of the 1930s. They included, for example, the Prussian P 8, Prussian P 10, Prussian G 12 and the Prussian T 20. The Bavarian S 3/6 express locomotive even continued in production until 1930.
Not until the procurement programme for the wartime Kriegslokomotiven were new goods locomotives built in large numbers, but of course now for a very different purpose.
Taking lead from the German Labor Front, the Deutsche Reichsbahn took part in the conflict of intermarriage in Germany. In August 1933 Robert Ley, leader of Reich Labor, demanded that those administrators working for the German Labor Front be married only to German individuals. The Deutsche Reichsbahn took the lead in discriminating against intermarried workers, firing German employees married to Jews and forbidding intermarried Germans from working there in the future, starting in November 1933.
In 1935 the railway network had a total of of line, of which was main line railway, were branch lines and were light railways. The vehicle fleet in 1926 comprised 27,600 locomotives, 63,900 passenger cars, 690,000 freight cars, 21,800 luggage cars, and 1,000 motor locomotives.
In the latter part of the 1930s, the development of high-speed trains like the "Flying Hamburger" was accelerated. Before that streamlined steam engines had been built, but they were not as economical as the high-speed diesel and electric railcars. Although the Borsig streamlined steam engine, the no. 05 002 reached a speed of during a demonstration run, the Reichsbahn preferred fast railcars on its high speed network. The potential of these express trains was demonstrated by the Schienenzeppelin in its record run on 21 June 1931 when it reached a top speed of.
Before the Second World War the most important railway lines ran in an east–west direction. The high-speed lines at that time were on the Prussian Eastern Railway which ran through the Polish corridor, the lines from Berlin to Hamburg, via Hanover to the Ruhrgebiet, via Frankfurt am Main to southwest Germany, on which the diesel express trains ran, and the Silesian Railway from Berlin to Breslau.

Bavarian Group Administration

Within the state of Bavaria, the Bavarian Group Administration had its head office and was largely independent by § III 14 of the DRG's company regulations. It was responsible for the electrification of many lines, following the commencement of electric power generation to the railways at the Walchensee Power Plant, and for the independent trialling and procurement of locomotives and passenger coaches. The Group Administration introduced, for example, the Class E 32 locomotive and Class ET 85 railcar into service.
Bavaria also continued to use its own signalling system for many years after the merger.
In 1933 the Group Administration was disbanded and administration of the railways in Bavaria was taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

Electrification

Between 1901 and 1904 first electric high-speed pilot vehicles were proven in Zossen/ Berlin Marienfelde station. The electrification of many lines started with local grids, so in Bavaria, Saxony, Berlin and in Lower Silesia. 1911 the first 15 kV AC line was erected between Dessau and Bitterfeld including the power plant Muldenstein. 1914 started the electrified Silesian grid with the power plant Mittelsteine.

Leadership of the Reichsbahn

At the head of the Reichsbahn was a director general. The office holders were:
From 1925, the director general had a permanent deputy. These were:
As a result of the Reichsbahn Act of 11 July 1939, the Reich Transport Minister became the director general of the Reichsbahn by his office. Dorpmüller, who since 1937 was also in charge of the Reich Ministry of Transport, continued in office as the director general after 1939 under this new legal framework.