Which was the first nationalised railway network?

[Speed43125]

I've been trying to do some reserach on this matter, and thus far the earliest I have come across has been Prussian State Railways which was created in 1880, though the operations continued to largely function as seperate railway systems with consolidation across the German Empire coming a little later.
Does anyone know of any state run system or part of a system that was created prior to this?
Many thanks.

 

[MarcVD]

Belgian railways have started as state-run system from the beginning in 1835. Core network only when it started, with many private companies to fill the gaps, but by 1880, lots of them were already integrated in the "Chemins de fer de l'état belge". SNCB was founded in 1926 but that was mainly a financial operation.

 

[RT4038]

I've been trying to do some reserach on this matter, and thus far the earliest I have come across has been Prussian State Railways which was created in 1880, though the operations continued to largely function as seperate railway systems with consolidation across the German Empire coming a little later.
Does anyone know of any state run system or part of a system that was created prior to this?
Many thanks.

Cape Government Railways 1874 and Natal Government Railways 1877, both becoming part of South African Railways and Harbours in 1910. New South Wales Government Railway 1855 Queensland Railway 1865 South Australia Government Railway 1856 Victorian Railways 1859

 

[JonasB]

Not sure how you define "nationalised railway system" but the first predecessor of SJ, Styrelsen för statens järnvägsbyggnader, was formed in 1856 when the first state owned railways opened.

 

[DanielB]

It depends how you define "railway network". In the Netherlands we have several railway lines which were built by order of the government, the so called "Staatslijn A" till "Staatslijn K".
The law that started the building of these railways was passed in 1860, however the trains on them were not state-run as a private company ("Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen") was formed in 1863 to do this.

So only the railway lines themselves have been built by the state here. In fact, the running of trains has never been nationalised in The Netherlands as both SS (from 1863) and HSM (from 1837) were private companies which merged to the current operator NS in 1920. But although NS is a private company, all shares are state-owned.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

In France, most of the infrastructure was built, owned and financed by the state according to the 1842 plan, which is why, unlike Britain, there are very few competing lines. The various railway companies were offered long-term leases to operate them - which were simply taken on by SNCF on full nationalisation in 1938.

Slightly at a tangent, Switzerland voted in a referendum in 1898 to create a nationalised railway system after appalling service by the private companies, with SBB coming into being on New Year's Day 1901.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

In France, most of the infrastructure was built, owned and financed by the state according to the 1842 plan, which is why, unlike Britain, there are very few competing lines. The various railway companies were offered long-term leases to operate them - which were simply taken on by SNCF on full nationalisation in 1938.

Slightly at a tangent, Switzerland voted in a referendum in 1898 to create a nationalised railway system after appalling service by the private companies, with SBB coming into being on New Year's Day 1901.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Austria-Hungary began with private railways in 1837 (Nordbahn), but later railways were state-owned/sponsored until 1855 when they were all sold to banks (Rothschild mainly) because the state was bankrupt after the Italian wars of independence.
Even the "Staatsbahn" was in fact privately owned (as the StEG).
Hungary got control over new lines there from 1867 (under state-owned MAV), with Austrian-owned lines in Hungary (which stretched into today's Serbia and Romania) going to MAV in 1884.
After 1882 the Austrian state gradually nationalised the network into the kkStB, though the Nordbahn stayed private until 1909, and the private Südbahn lasted until the empire fell apart after WW1.
ÖBB was formed in 1923 from the remaining Austrian lines, the rest going to 5 other new state railways from Italy to Ukraine.
There is plenty of evidence still visible today of the Austrian origins of the railway in all these separate state networks.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Germany in the 1830s was a collection of independent states (Länder today) who had different approaches to railways, often based on the whim of the ruler.
The first railways were privately owned (eg the Leipzig-Dresden railway of 1837), but were soon taken over/controlled by the state (Saxony in this case, in 1876).
Long-distance railways required treaties between the various states, and some routes were circuitous to avoid awkward problems at borders.
Even after German unity in 1871 the state system still applied, though Prussia had the biggest influence as its territory stretched over almost the whole of northern Germany.
The German military also had a major influence on railway development - they even sponsored the construction of a railway from Berlin to Metz (the Kanonenbahn), which was never finished and is today little used/partially closed.
Railways in annexed Alsace/Lorraine were controlled from Berlin.
The individual state railway systems were not fully integrated under one agency until DR (Deutsche Reichsbahn) was formed in 1920.

 

[gordonthemoron]

@LNW-GW Joint is it possible to visit the Kanonenbahn route? Can't say I noticed anything at Nordhausen

 

[Taunton]

One of the more confusing ones is the New York Subway, originally built by two independent companies and organised as separate systems, IRT and BMT. Due to city politics the city then built a third public-owned system, however called the Independent, known as IND. Although the city later absorbed the two original companies into one overall organisation, because the systems were operationally separate, these names and abbreviations still continue to an extent in daily public and staff use and you see them on signs, maps, etc. It seems illogical that the initially public-built one is the one called Independent.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Railways in Italy began under separate states before Italian unity, using private concessions to enable construction and operation.
They were based on Savoy/Piedmont, Lombardy/Venetia (under Austrian control), Tuscany, Papal states, Naples/Sicily, Sardinia.
After initial unification (c1860) the regional concessions continued until 1884, when they were reorganised into 3 main networks: Adriatic, Mediterranean and Sicilian.
These were still privately run until 1905, when the state created FS and purchased the concessions.
The north-eastern borders weren't settled until 1945, with inter-war Italian ownership of much of today's Slovenia, and Austrian ownership of Südtirol.
Slovenia's use of 3kV DC electrification (same as Italy, and unlike the rest of Yugoslavia) dates from this period.

Spain had two large private railways, the Norte and the MZA, and a number of regional networks.
RENFE was formed by the state in 1940 and absorbed all the main line railways.
The Norte had left-hand running (much of it is still extant on classic lines) while the MZA was right-hand (used also on new high speed lines).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

@LNW-GW Joint is it possible to visit the Kanonenbahn route? Can't say I noticed anything at Nordhausen

As far as I can see from Wiki and the Schweers atlas, the route from Potsdam to Belzig and Wiesenburg is still operational (and on to Dessau).
The line is closed from Wiesenburg and on to Güsten and I'm not sure it was built beyond there (mostly it was a series of connections between existing lines).

Ironically, the route from Potsdam to Dessau was used by DR to get "corridor" trains from West Germany (Frankfurt/Munich) to the West Berlin Stadtbahn at Wannsee.
The route crossed empty country instead of East German prime estate, and led to the Griebnitzsee border crossing to West Berlin.
I travelled that way in 1979 without realising it was, or was about to become, "rare" trackage!

Since reunification, all the trains from Halle/Leipzig run via the main Anhalter line into the new Hbf in Berlin, hence the run-down of the Kanonenbahn line near Berlin.
The local trains Berlin-Wiesenburg-Dessau are RE7 on the VBB network.
I haven't looked at the line further west, but the route details are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanonenbahn
Presumably it was the trigger for construction of eg the Mosel Valley railway (Koblenz-Trier) and on to Metz.

 

[30907]

As far as I can see from Wiki and the Schweers atlas, the route from Potsdam to Belzig and Wiesenburg is still operational (and on to Dessau).
The line is closed from Wiesenburg and on to Güsten and I'm not sure it was built beyond there (mostly it was a series of connections between existing lines).
....
I haven't looked at the line further west, but the route details are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanonenbahn
Presumably it was the trigger for construction of eg the Mosel Valley railway (Koblenz-Trier) and on to Metz.

Güsten-Sangerhausen-Nordhausen-Leinefelde-Silberhausen is over current routes (there seems to be a curve missing at Leinefelde though), but the next bit was purpose-built and heavily engineered.
This site is the best I can find, good pictures, if you can manage the German.
http://verkehrsrelikte.uue.org/bahn/int/kanonenbahn.htm
You can pick up the route (6710) from Silberhausen, south of Leinefelde, to Eschwege on https://www.openrailwaymap.org/mobile.php?
The Moselle Valley route I think is earlier but they started on a duplicate (look opposite Pommern/Mosel).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Yes, nice pictures.
There's obviously quite a lot to see if you know where to look.
I don't think I had appreciated how much of the route still existed although adapted to local use.
No doubt the military funded most of it!

 

[oldman]

The Moscow-Petersburg line (fully opened in 1851) was state-run until 1868 and again, after a period of privatisation, from 1894.