The Austrian Eastern Railway (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

''Ostbahn'') was the name of a former

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

company during the time of the

Austro-Hungarian monarchy Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

. Today, the term is still used to describe certain railway lines ( Eastern railway) which were formerly operated by that company. The ''Ostbahn'' was founded as the private ''Raaber Bahn'' (or ''Wien-Raaber-Eisenbahn'').

History

In order to improve transport services compared to the only partially navigable Danube, the entrepreneur Georg Simon von Sina commissioned the engineer Matthias Schönerer to plan a railway from

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

via Schwechat and

Bruck an der Leitha Bruck an der Leitha (; "Bridge on the Leitha") is a town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria on the border of Burgenland, marked by the Leitha river. In 2018 it had a population of around 8,000. History In and around Bruck parts of Neolithi ...

. On 20 March 1838, Sina founded a committee consisting of subscribers who had already become financially active until the formation of a joint-stock company. The line from Vienna to Bruck an der Leitha was constructed between 1840 and 1846. It was extended to

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

(German ''Raab'') in 1855 and later to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. Later it merged with another private railway company, the ''Staatseisenbahngesellschaft'', which operated the line from Vienna to ''Pressburg'' (now

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

), and the line via

Mistelbach Mistelbach an der Zaya (; Mistelbach on the (River) Zaya; Central Bavarian: ''Mistlboch'') is a town in the northeast of Austria in Lower Austria, one of Austria's nine States of Austria, federal states. It is located roughly 40 km northea ...

and

Laa an der Thaya Laa an der Thaya is a town in the Mistelbach District of Lower Austria in Austria, near the Czech Republic, Czech border. The population in 2016 was 6,224. Geography The town is located in the northern Weinviertel region, near the Thaya river, ...

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

. The company was nationalized in 1909. After 1945, the service between Laa and Brno was disconnected. The Vienna East Station from which the lines operated had been destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was merged with the nearby

Vienna South Station Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

during reconstruction.

References

{{reflist

External links

Wien-Südbahnhof
Photogallery and documentation about the Vienna Southern Railway Station (Wien-Südbahnhof) by Martin Frey and Philipp Graf

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

Transport in Austria-Hungary Organizations based in Austria-Hungary