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 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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which ...

(CF de l'Est''; English:

rench The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( 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 that of the ...

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 (now Strasbourg) and was subordinated directly to the Reich Chancellor. 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 constitu ...

. The General Division managed six regional operating divisions, which had their headquarters in Mülhausen (now Mulhouse), Kolmar (Colmar), Straßburg I and II, Saargemünd (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 ...

. It was also responsible for a seventh region, with a headquarters in Luxemburg, 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 di ...

(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 List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(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'' 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 left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

, many multi-track routes are still driven on the right, whereas in the rest of France they drive on the left.

External links

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

See also

External links