The Halle-Sorau-Guben Railway Company (''Halle-Sorau-Gubener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'' (HSGE) was a private German railway company, which was founded in 1868 in
Berlin. From 1872, its headquarters were in
Halle an der Saale.
History
The company was founded by
Bethel Henry Strousberg
Bethel Henry Strousberg (20 November 1823 – 31 May 1884) was a German Jewish industrialist and railway entrepreneur during Germany's rapid industrial expansion in the 19th century. He cemented his social standing with the construction of the P ...
. In the following years it built a network of railway lines in the former
Prussian provinces of
Brandenburg and
Saxony. The first 38 km section from
Guben
Guben (Polish and Sorbian: ''Gubin'') is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in Lower Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße district, Guben has a population of 20,049. Along with Frankfurt (Oder) and Görlitz ...
to
Cottbus was opened on 1 September 1871. It was extended by 79 km on 1 December 1871 to the west via
Calau,
Finsterwalde and
Dobrilugk to
Falkenberg/Elster
Falkenberg () is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated near the river Schwarze Elster, 16 km east of Torgau, and 13 km northwest of Bad Liebenwerda.
History
It was first mentioned in 1 ...
. The following year saw the completion of additional main lines with a total length of 270 km. It was possible to run to the west from Falkenberg via Torgau to
Eilenburg (46 km) from 1 May 1872 and a further 51 km via
Delitzsch
Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsach ...
to Halle an der Saale from 30 June 1872.
A new route was opened in an easterly direction from Cottbus to
Forst (Lausitz) on 1 March 1872 and it was extended by 60 km over the
Neisse to Sorau (now
Żary in present-day Poland) from 30 June 1872.
A 24 km-long line was opened to connect with the trading centre of
Leipzig on 1 November 1874 from Eilenburg via was
Taucha in the
Kingdom of Saxony. The HSGE network eventually comprised a network that was about 300 kilometres long. However, it was not possible to divert substantial traffic from the competing routes that had been built earlier, so its income fell short of expectations. Its management was transferred to the
Prussian state railways on 1 January 1877 to increase efficiency and the HSGE was nationalised in 1885.
The lines
*
Cottbus–Guben (opened on 1 September 1871)
*
Cottbus–Sorau (opened on 30 June 1872)
*
Falkenberg/Elster–Cottbus (opened on 1 December 1871)
*
Halle–Eilenburg–Falkenberg/Elster (opened on 30 June 1872)
*
Leipzig–Eilenburg (opened on 1 November 1874)
References
External links
{{Authority control
Defunct railway companies of Germany
Railway companies established in 1868