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 (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. They emerged in 1871, after

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

had ceded the region of Alsace-Lorraine to the German Empire under the terms of the Peace

Treaty of Frankfurt The Treaty of Frankfurt may refer to one of three treaties signed at Frankfurt, as follows: * Treaty of Frankfurt (1489) – Treaty between Maximilian of Austria and the envoys of King Charles VIII of France * Treaty of Frankfurt (1539) – Initi ...

following the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

. The railways of the private '' Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est (CF de l'Est''; English:

rench The Rench is an eastern tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau in 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 ...

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 Compensation may refer to: *Financial compensation *Compensation (chess), various advantages a player has in exchange for a disadvantage *Compensation (essay), ''Compensation'' (essay), by Ralph Waldo Emerson *Compensation (film), ''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 Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department and the official seat of the European Parliament. The cit ...

(now Strasbourg) and was subordinated directly to the

Reich Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. Th ...

. 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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The General Division managed six regional operating divisions, which had their headquarters in

Mülhausen Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

(now Mulhouse), Kolmar (Colmar), Straßburg I and II,

Saargemünd Sarreguemines (; German: ''Saargemünd'' ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Saargemìnn'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department of the Grand Est Regions of France, administrative region in ...

(now Sarreguemines) and

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

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

Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

, 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 (; ) is an independent city#Germany, 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 ...

(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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(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 (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

(?). 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 The Administration des chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine (; ) or AL was a rail transport company that ran the rail network for most of Alsace, Lorraine and Luxembourg between 1919 and 1937. Background The network was part of the French p ...

'' until it merged into the ''

Société nationale des chemins de fer français The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

'' (SNCF) in 1938. In

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

and

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

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

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine Alsace-Lorraine Transport in Grand Est Alsace-Lorraine

See also

External links