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The Magdeburg–Halberstadt Railway Company (, MHE) was a railway in
The Magdeburg–Halberstadt Railway Company (, MHE) was a railway in Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
. 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 theKingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...
, it had already secured the right to continue the line to Brunswick and Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
. 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 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 ...
to Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
and Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
. 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 ...
to 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 2 ...
, known as the Lehrter Bahn (Lehrte Railway). It completed the line on 1 December 1871, including the 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 ( ; , 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 1,160/km2 and a populati ...
. 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 official 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).
See also
* Adolph von Hansemann, who directed the construction of theBerlin–Lehrte railway
The Berlin–Lehrte railway, known in German language, German as the Lehrter Bahn (''Lehrte Railway''), is an east–west line running from Berlin via Lehrte to Hanover. Its period as a separate railway extended from its opening in 1871 to the na ...
References
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company Defunct railway companies of Germany 1842 establishments in Prussia