The Warsaw-Vienna Railway ( pl, Kolej Warszawsko-Wiedeńska, german: Warschau-Wiener Eisenbahn) was a
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
system which operated since 1845 in
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
, then part of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. The main component of its network was a line 327.6 km in length from
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
to the border station at Maczki in
Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Dąbrowa Basin of southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is also part of the Silesian Metropolis municipal association.—— Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Industria ...
with the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
, and since 1867 the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. There the line reached the Austrian railway network, offering connections to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
(hence the name of the line) and beyond. It was the first railway line built in
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
and the second in the Russian Empire, after a
short stretch of 27 km between
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the cen ...
and
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(
Saint Petersburg - Tsarskoe Selo Railway) which opened in 1837.
[Rakov, V.A.: ''Lokomotivy otechestvennyh zheleznyh dorog 1845-1955'', Moscow 1995, , p.10] The line used the
standard European gauge (), as opposed to all other railways in the Russian Empire which used the
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
(), hence it formed a system physically separated from other Imperial Russian railways.
History
Ownership
![Bahnkarte Deutschland 1849](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Bahnkarte_Deutschland_1849.jpg)
The first concrete plan to build a railway between Warsaw and the southern border of the
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
was submitted to ''Bank Polski'' (Polish Bank) by a consortium led by
Henryk Łubieński
Henryk Jan Nepomucen Łubieński, Pomian coat of arms, (11 July 1793, in Prague – 17 September 1883, in Wiskitki, Poland) – was the scion of a Polish magnate family, landowner, financier, lawyer, early industrialist, economic activist, an ...
in January 1835. Three years later, in 1838 ''Towarzystwo Akcyjne Drogi Żelaznej Warszawsko-Wiedeńskiej '' (Warsaw-Vienna Rail Road Company Ltd) was established and granted a licence to build the railway. Arguments between proponents of horse and steam traction lasted many years, and only in 1840, the latter was chosen when the building work started. The company went bankrupt in 1843 and was taken over by the state. In 1857 the line was leased to a private company (also called ''Towarzystwo Akcyjne Drogi Żelaznej Warszawsko-Wiedeńskiej'') for 75 years, however, it was re-nationalised in 1912, with a compensation paid to the shareholders (mostly Belgians and Germans).
Permanent way
The first stretch of the line, from Warsaw to Grodzisk Mazowiecki (30 km), opened on 14 June 1845, and was extended to Skierniewice with a branch to Łowicz on 15 October 1845. Trains reached Częstochowa in 1846, Ząbkowice in 1847 and the Austrian border on 1 April 1848. There were 27 stations on the line.
Initially, the line was single, but from the outset, the earthworks were prepared for a second track, which was gradually added to the whole route between 1872 and 1881.
The terminal border station lay close to
Szczakowa Station of the
Kraków and Upper Silesia railway (Kolej Krakowsko-Górnośląska / Krakau-Oberschlesische Bahn). This line indirectly, via the two Prussian lines of the
Upper Silesian Railway
The Upper Silesian Railway (german: Oberschlesische Eisenbahn, OSE, pl, Kolej Górnośląska) was one of the earliest railways in Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with sma ...
(Oberschlesische Bahn) and
William's Railway (Wilhelmsbahn) was joined to the Austrian
Northern Railway (in
Bohumin), which reached the Prussian border from Vienna. An entirely Austrian communication was not available before 1856, when the Austrian
Eastern National Railway, predecessor of the Kraków and Upper Silesia Railway, closed the gap with a branch from
Trzebinia
Trzebinia (; yi, טשעבין ''Tchebin'') is a town in Chrzanów County, Lesser Poland, Poland with an Orlen oil refinery and a major rail junction of the Kraków - Katowice line, with connections to Oświęcim and Spytkowice. The town became p ...
to
Czechowice-Dziedzice
Czechowice-Dziedzice (, szl, Czechowice-Dziydzice), previously known until 1958 as Czechowice, is a town in Bielsko County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland with 35,684 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies on the northeastern edge of t ...
.
Stations
*The Warsaw terminus (Vienna Station, pl, Dworzec Wiedeński), designed by
Enrico Marconi
Enrico Marconi, known in Poland as Henryk Marconi (7 January 1792 in Rome – 21 February 1863 in Warsaw), was an Italian- Polish architect who spent most of his life in Congress Poland.
Initially he was taught by his father Leander, later on, be ...
, opened in 1845 and remained in use for over 75 years. The building, facing
Aleje Jerozolimskie
Jerusalem Avenue ( pl, Aleje Jerozolimskie) is one of the principal streets of the capital city of Warsaw in Poland. It runs through the City Centre along the East-West axis, linking the western borough of Wola with the bridge on the Vistula Ri ...
, was 166 metres long and 18 metres wide, with the three-storey central part, flanked by two 25 metre towers. The western tower housed an
optical telegraph
An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...
station on the top floor, the eastern one had a clock.
*Marconi designed also the southern terminus of the line, in Granica, on a much more modest scale.
Rolling stock
The first five locomotives were purchased from
John Cockerill's factory in Seraing. Later on, additional engines were obtained from
Borsig Borsig is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* (1867–1897), German entrepreneur
* August Borsig (1804–1854), German businessman
* Conrad von Borsig (1873–1945), German mechanical engineer
* Ernst Borsig
Ernst August Pau ...
and other West European factories. From 1901 locomotives were Russian-built, but different from common Russian stock.
[
]
Route
Main line:
Warszawa
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
- Grodzisk Mazowiecki
Grodzisk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 29,363 inhabitants (2011). It is 30 km. southwest of Warsaw. Between 1975 and 1998 it was situated in the Warszawa Voivodeship but since 1999 it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodesh ...
- Skierniewice
Skierniewice is a city in central Poland with 47,031 inhabitants (2021), situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), previously capital of Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Skierniewice County. The town is situat ...
- Koluszki
Koluszki is a town, and a major railway junction, in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź with a population of 12,776 (2020). The junction in Koluszki serves trains that go from Warsaw to Łódź, Wrocław, Cz ...
- Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the second-largest city situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Previously, it wa ...
- Radomsko
Radomsko is a city in southern Poland with 44,700 inhabitants (2021). It is situated on the Radomka river in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the county seat ...
- Częstochowa
Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...
- Zawiercie
Zawiercie is a city in the south of Poland located in the Silesian Voivodeship with 49,334 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland near the source of the Warta River. The town lies near the historical region of Sile ...
- Ząbkowice Będzińskie - Strzemieszyce Południowe - Granica (border with Austria)
Branch lines:
*Skierniewice - Łowicz
Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,896 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999); previously, it was in Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a ma ...
*Ząbkowice - Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Dąbrowa Basin of southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is also part of the Silesian Metropolis municipal association.—— Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Industria ...
*Koluszki
Koluszki is a town, and a major railway junction, in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź with a population of 12,776 (2020). The junction in Koluszki serves trains that go from Warsaw to Łódź, Wrocław, Cz ...
- Łódź-Fabryczna
See also
*History of rail transport in Poland The history of rail transport in Poland dates back to the first half of the 19th century when railways were built under Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian, Russian Empire, Russian, and Austria-Hungary, Austrian rule. Of course, "divided Poland" in the 19t ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warsaw-Vienna railway
International railway lines
Railway companies of Poland
Railway lines in Poland
Railway lines in Austria
Establishments in Congress Poland