The Royal Hanoverian State Railways ( German: ''Königlich Hannöversche Staatseisenbahnen'') existed from 1843 until the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. At that time its railway network, which comprised 800 kilometres of track, went over to the Prussian state.

Construction phases and routes

The ''Kreuzbahn''

The concept of the ''Kreuzbahn'' arose from the desire of

Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover Ernest Augustus (german: Ernst August; 5 June 177118 November 1851) was King of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until his death in 1851. As the fifth son of King George III of the United Kingdom and Hanover, he initially seemed unlikely to become a m ...

, to avoid having a central railway station in Hanover. The routes therefore ran into the district of

Lehrte Lehrte is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 17 km east of Hanover. In the 19th century Lehrte was the most important railway junction in the former Kingdom of Hanover. As of the 21st ...

in the form of a cross (hence ''Kreuzbahn'' = cross railway) and, as a result, Lehrte developed into an important railway hub. The government of the Kingdom of Hanover had initially taken over the construction of state railways, because no private sponsors could be found for the first railway lines that were planned. These were the routes: * Hanover via

to Peine on the border with the Duchy of Brunswick * Lehrte to

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

* Lehrte to Hildesheim The first line, a 16 kilometre stretch from Hanover via Misburg to Lehrte, was opened on 22 October 1843. Its extension towards Brunswick followed on 1 December 1843 as far as the state border at Peine; there on 19 May 1844 it was joined to the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway that owned almost a third of the now 60 kilometre long connexion between the two '' residenz'' cities. On 15 October 1845 the Lehrte–Celle line followed and on 12 June 1846 the Lehrte–Hildesheim line was finally completed. From the ''Kreuzbahn'' the following additional lines were built under the direction of the Royal Hanoverian Railway which was founded on 13 March 1843: The Celle–Harburg line via Uelzen and Lüneburg was opened on 1 May 1847 and on 15 October 1847 the Hannover–Minden line followed with its connexion to the

main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

operated by the

Cologne–Minden Railway Company The Cologne-Minden Railway Company ( German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19 ...

Bremen Railway

Against the wishes of Prussia the line to Bremen, which was jointly funded with the state of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, was not constructed directly from

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

, but from Hanoverian Wunstorf. On 12 December 1847 the Wunstorf–Bremen section was opened. As a result of the political events of 1848/49 ( March revolutions), further expansion of the railway network in the Kingdom of Hanover was delayed.

Hanoverian Southern Railway

* 1 May 1853: Hannover– Alfeld * 15 September 1853: Nordstemmen–Hildesheim link * 31 July 1854: Alfeld–Kreiensen– Göttingen extension * 8 May 1856: Göttingen–Hanoverian Münden (including the ''Dransfelder Rampe'') * 23 September 1856: Hanoverian Münden–Kassel

Hanoverian Western Railway

The project, jointly agreed with Prussia, for a railway from Löhne to the Cologne-Minden Railway Company network via Osnabrück to

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

did not come to fruition until there had been protracted discussions about the course of the line and its connexion to the Dutch railway network. In the end they agreed upon the present-day route from von Löhne via Osnabrück to Prussian

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

, that at the same time provided a junction at Münster to the Royal Westphalian Railway Company (''Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') and from there a link via Salzbergen to

Leer Leer may refer to: * Leer, Lower Saxony, town in Germany ** Leer (district), containing the town in Lower Saxony, Germany ** Leer (Ostfriesland) railway station * Leer, South Sudan, town in South Sudan ** Leer County, an administrative division of ...

and Emden. The link to the Dutch railway network was achieved from Hanoverian Salzbergen through Bentheim to Oldenzaal. On 24 November 1854 the first section, Emden–

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Geog ...

, was completed. * 21. November 1855: Löhne–Osnabrück opened * 19./20. Juni 1856: Entire route via Rheine to Emden completed * 18. November 1865: Salzbergen–Oldenzaal

Bremen–Bremerhaven railway

On 23 January 1862 the extension of the Bremen line to

Geestemünde Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

/Wesermünde (today Bremerhaven) was effected, again in conjunction with the city of Bremen.

Elbe train ferry

On 15 March 1864 after lengthy negotiations the line along the river Elbe from Lüneburg to Hohnstorf was finally built and, at the same time the Lauenburg-Hohnstorf Elbe Ferry Company was formed and they established a ferry to connect with the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company's Lauenburg–Büchen line on the other side of the Elbe.

Harz

{{main, Vienenburg–Goslar railway The Vienenburg– Goslar railway was also owned by the Hanoverian State Railways, although it was operated by the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway. The Göttingen–

Arenshausen Arenshausen is a village in the Eichsfeld district of Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the m ...

and Northeim–

Ellrich Ellrich is a town in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the southern edge of the Harz, 13 km northwest of Nordhausen. It is the northernmost settlement in Thuringia. History Second World War Durin ...

lines were not completed until after the transfer of the Hanoverian State Railways to Prussia after the War of 1866.

Transfer of the state railway to Prussia

On 15 December 1866 the Royal Hanoverian State Railways was merged into the Prussian state railways and renamed as the Prussian

railway division In Germany and Austria, the running of railway services for a railway administration or the regional network of a large railway company was devolved to railway divisions, variously known as ''Eisenbahndirektionen (ED), Bundesbahndirektionen (BD)'' ...

of Hanover.

Sources

* Bundesbahndirektion Hannover (ed.): ''1843–1983. 140 Jahre Eisenbahndirektion Hannover'', Hanover (1983) * Meschkat-Peters, Sabine: ''Eisenbahnen und Eisenbahnindustrie in Hannover 1835 – 1914'', Hanover 2001 (''Quellen und Darstellungen zur Geschichte Niedersachsens'', vol. 119)