The Magdeburg–Halberstadt Railway Company (german: Magdeburg-Halberstädter Eisenbahngesellschaft, MHE) was a railway in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. It was nationalized in 1879.

History

The ''Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company'' received a concession on 14 January 1842 from the Prussian government to build the 58 km long railway line from Magdeburg–Oschersleben–Halberstadt line, which opened on 15 July 1843. Under a treaty between Prussia and the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...

, it had already secured the right to continue the line to Brunswick and

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. The MHE was one of the most profitable German private railways, and two-digit dividends were the rule in the 1860s; it even paid dividends to its shareholders of over 20 percent at times. The expansion phase of the railway began in 1863 when—at first as a defence against growing competition—it acquired the adjacent lines of the Magdeburg-Wittenberge Railway (''Magdeburg-Wittenbergesche Eisenbahn''). Critical to the competitiveness of the railway within Prussia was the connection from

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 ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

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 ...

. In 1867, it obtained the concession for the construction of a line from Berlin via

Stendal The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region. Geography Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located s ...

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 ...

, known as the Lehrter Bahn (Lehrte Railway). It completed the line on 1 December 1871, including the

Lehrter Bahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...

(station) in Berlin. Acquisition of the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (''Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') gave the MHE access to the Westphalian line and thus to the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

. With the purchase of more railways—including the highly profitable Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway—the line grew to a length of 1,024 kilometres in 1879. Thus the ''Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway'' was at the time of its nationalization the largest private railway company in Germany. In 1870, the MHE together with the Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg Railway Company and the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway Company acquired 55-hectares of land for the construction of Magdeburg station. The western entrance building built by the ''Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg Railway'' was shared by the MHE. In 1873, the MHE opened the Uelzen–Stendal section of the

America Line The America Line (German: ''Amerikalinie'') is the unofficial name of a railway line in northern Germany which is mainly of regional importance today. It runs in an east-west direction and links Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt with the Hanseatic city of Br ...

, and assumed responsibility for the management of the whole line. The MHE acquired of the ''Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway Company'' on 17 March 1876. In December 1879 the ''Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company'' was acquired by the Prussian state after shareholders had approved the takeover bid with the necessary two-thirds majority (13,140 to 6,441 votes).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company Defunct railway companies of Germany 1842 establishments in Prussia

History

See also

References