Imperial Railways In Alsace-Lorraine
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The Kaiserliche Generaldirektion der Eisenbahnen in Elsaß-Lothringen or EL (English: General Directorate of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine) were the first railways owned by the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
. They emerged in 1871, after
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
had ceded the region of Alsace-Lorraine to the German Empire under the terms of the Peace
Treaty of Frankfurt The Treaty of Frankfurt may refer to one of three treaties signed at Frankfurt, as follows: * Treaty of Frankfurt (1489) - Treaty between Maximilian of Austria and the envoys of King Charles VIII of France *Treaty of Frankfurt (1539) - Initiated ...
following the Franco-Prussian War. The railways of the private ''
Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est (CF de l'Est), often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early French railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by the merger of ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Strasbourg'', ope ...
(CF de l'Est''; English:
rench The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau (Baden (Land), Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is ...
Eastern Railway Company), with a total of trackage, were formally purchased from the French and then sold again to the German Empire. The purchase price of 260 million  Goldmarks was counted as compensation for the war. The ''General Directorate of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine'' (''Kaiserliche Generaldirektion der Eisenbahnen in Elsaß-Lothringen'') had its head office in
Straßburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
(now Strasbourg) and was subordinated directly to the
Reich Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the G ...
. In 1878, however, it was re-subordinated to the newly created ''Imperial Ministry for the Management of Railways in Alsace-Lorraine'' in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. The General Division managed six regional operating divisions, which had their headquarters in
Mülhausen Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace aft ...
(now Mulhouse), Kolmar (Colmar), Straßburg I and II,
Saargemünd Sarreguemines (; German: ''Saargemünd'' , Lorraine Franconian: ''Saargemìnn'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. It is the seat of an arrondissement and a canton. As of ...
(now Sarreguemines) and
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
. It was also responsible for a seventh region, with a headquarters in
Luxemburg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...
, which ran the operations of the ''Wilhelm Luxemburg Railway''. In the early days, railway vehicles were almost exclusively and forcibly taken from the German railways, because French troops had taken with them almost all rolling stock in the region during the retreat. The French side later built copies of German railway stock, mainly based on Prussian prototypes. Railway operations were carried out, in principle, in accordance with the regulations of the Prussian state railways. Because the ''CF de l'Est'' were also the leaseholders of the ''Wilhelm Luxemburg Railway'' with a route length of , the Imperial Railways took over the running of the network. An long railway line from Colmar to
Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
(French ''Munster''), which belonged to the town of Münster, was also purchased. In the succeeding years the network was expanded significantly. Shortly before the start of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(1912) the Imperial Railway network in Alsace-Lorraine had a total length of , of which was
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
(?). After the end of the war, these railways returned to France. Subsequently, the network of this region was managed independently again as the ''
Administration des chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine The Administration des chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine or AL (English: Alsace and Lorraine Railways) was a rail transport administration created on 19 June 1919. On 1 January 1938, the Alsace and Lorraine Railways were nationalised, as w ...
'' until it merged into the ''
Société nationale des chemins de fer français The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...
'' (SNCF) in 1938. In
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
and
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
, many multi-track routes are still driven on the right, whereas in the rest of France they drive on the left.


See also

* Alsace-Lorraine *
List of Alsace-Lorraine locomotives This list covers the locomotives of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine (''Reich railways in Alsace-Lorraine'') (EL) and those of the Chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine (AL). Alsace-Lorraine is a region in northeastern France that was u ...


External links

* * * {{Authority control Alsace-Lorraine Transport in Grand Est Alsace-Lorraine