Royal Saxon State Railways

The Royal Saxon State Railways were the state-owned railways operating in the Kingdom of Saxony from 1869 to 1918. From 1918 until their merger into the Deutsche Reichsbahn the title 'Royal' was dropped and they were just called the Saxon State Railways (Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen). History En route to a state railway After the completion of the privately financed Leipzig–Dresden railway in 1839, the Saxon parliament also began to get involved in railway construction. Early on it was recognised that railway lines to Bavaria, Bohemia and Silesia were needed and that there ought to be a route running north-to-south through the kingdom. The funding of this plan lay in the hands of privately financed railway committees. The state, however, saw itself arranging for the corresponding political and legal hurdles to be cleared. On 14 January 1841 a treaty was agreed with the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg for the construction of a railway route between Leipzig and Hof. On 22 June 1841, the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company was founded and on 19 September 1842 railway services between Leipzig and Altenburg station were opened. Because the construction costs exceeded the planned limits, the state had to jump in and honour its previously made promise to complete the construction at the national expense. On 1 April 1847 the railway line, which was finished as far as Reichenbach im Vogtland was transferred to state ownership. At the same time the Royal Saxon-Bavarian State Railway Division (Königlichen Direction der Sächsisch-Bayerischen Staatseisenbahn) in Leipzig began work. Specific regulations were laid down by the state parliament. The board of directors was accordingly given the appropriate powers and was assigned directly to a state ministry. The payroll of the officials was to be approved by the state parliament and railway fares by the provincial legislature. In addition to funding for the construction of the line, in particular the Göltzsch Viaduct and Elster Viaduct, agreements had to be reached with Saxony-Altenburg and Bavaria over owning and operating relationships. On 15 July 1851, the line to Hof (Saale) was completed.