The Palatine Ludwig Railway Company (''Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn-Gesellschaft'') was a German railway concern that was founded to operate the

Palatine Ludwig Railway A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

(''Ludwigsbahn'') in the Palatinate, a region of southwest Germany that was once part of the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

within 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 ...

. On 1 January 1870, the Palatine Ludwig Railway Company, the

Palatine Maximilian Railway Company The Palatine Maximilian Railway Company (''Pfälzische Maximiliansbahn-Gesellschaft'') was a German railway enterprise that acted as the railway operator when the Palatine Maximilian Railway was built. It managed and ran operations jointly from t ...

and the

Palatine Northern Railway The Palatine Northern Railway (german: Pfälzische Nordbahn) is a non-electrified single-track main line that connects Neustadt (Weinstr) Hbf with Monsheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was opened between 1865 and 1873 in three s ...

(with which the Neustadt-Dürkheim Railway Company had amalgamated) had formed a management and operational association under the name "United Palatine Railways" (''Vereinigte Pfälzische Eisenbahnen'') or

Palatinate Railway The Palatine Railways (german: Pfälzische Eisenbahnen), often abbreviated to Palatinate Railway (''Pfalzbahn'') was the name of the railway division and administration responsible for all private railway companies in the Bavarian Palatinate fro ...

(''Pfalzbahn'') for short, with its headquarters in Ludwigshafen. Nevertheless, Palatine Ludwig Railway was responsible for the subsequent opening of the following railway lines: * Ludwigshafen–Frankenthal–Bobenheim, , on 15 November 1853 * Speyer–Germersheim, , on 14 March 1864 * Speyer–Rhein station – towards Schwetzingen, , on 10 December 1873 * Landau–Annweiler, , on 12 September 1874 * Annweiler–Biebermühle–Zweibrücken, , ( Queich Valley Railway) and * Biebermühle–Pirmasens, , on 25 November 1875 * Einöd–Bierbach–Reinheim–Saargemünd, , on 1 April 1879 (

Blies The Blies () is a right tributary of the Saar in southwestern Germany (Saarland) and northeastern France (Moselle). The Blies flows from three springs in the Hunsrück near Selbach, Germany. It is roughly 100 km long, ending in the French c ...

valley line) * Biebermühle–Waldfischbach, , on 1 June 1904 (

Biebermühl Railway The Biebermühl Railway (german: Biebermühlbahn)—sometimes called the Moosalbbahn (Moosalb Railway)—is a 35.9 km long railway line from Kaiserslautern to Pirmasens in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which was built between 18 ...

) In addition the following narrow gauge routes belonging to the Palatine Ludwig Railway should be mentioned: * Ludwigshafen–Dannstadt, , and Ludwigshafen–Frankenthal, , on 15 October 1890 * Frankenthal–Großkarlbach, 13 km, on 1 July 1891 * Speyer Lokalbahnhof– Geinsheim, , on 26 August 1905 ( Pfefferminzbähnel/ Gäubähnel) * Geinsheim–Neustadt branch line station, , on 31 October 1908 (Pfefferminzbähnel/Gäubähnel) On 1 January 1909, the Ludwigsbahn was transferred into the ownership of the

Royal Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German ...

along with the other companies belonging to the Palatinate Railway.

See also