Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany)
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2020) ) |
Industry | Rail transport |
---|---|
Predecessor | Deutsche Reichsbahn |
Founded | 7 October 1949 |
Defunct | 1 January 1994 |
Fate | Merged with Deutsche Bundesbahn |
Successor | Deutsche Bahn |
Headquarters | 33 Voßstraße, , |
Area served |
|
The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR (German Reich Railways) was the operating name of state owned
In 1949,
Both the Reichsbahn and the Bundesbahn continued as separate entities until 1994, when they merged to form the Deutsche Bahn.
Organisation
The DR was the largest employer in the GDR and as a state-owned firm was directly subordinated to the
The company was administratively subdivided into eight regional directorates (Reichsbahndirektionen) with headquarters in
.Catering services to the DR, both on board trains and in stations, were provided by Mitropa.
Passenger service
The DR was centrally directed according to socialist principles within the context of a centrally-planned
Electrification
Steam engines were the workhorses after the war and remained important for a long time into the period of German partition. The DR's last steam engine (on normal-gauge tracks) was taken out of service on 28 May 1988. Much of the electrified rail network that existed in (present-day) eastern Germany in 1945 had been removed and sent to the Soviet Union as war reparations in the early years of Soviet occupation. By the early 1970s, only a small portion of the tracks in the GDR had been electrified in comparison with those in Western Europe; the GDR leadership chose to reduce the pace of electrification and instead relied on mostly Russian-made diesel locomotives due to the easy availability of fuel from the Soviet Union at subsidised prices.
When the GDR's energy costs began to rise dramatically in the early 1980s (in part because the Soviet Union ceased to subsidize the price of fuel sold to the GDR), the DR embarked on a large rail electrification campaign as the GDR's electrical power grid could be supplied with electricity generated from the burning of domestically produced lignite. The electrified rail network grew from 11.5% in 1979 to 27.3% by 1990.
The DR in Berlin during the Cold War
Due to the Four-Power Occupation Agreements for Berlin, in which the long-term division of Germany and Berlin (the partition of Germany into two German states; and Berlin partitioned into two principal zones of occupation, West Berlin and East Berlin) was not foreseen, the DR operated the long-haul railway service (Fernverkehr) and barge canals in both East and West Berlin throughout the years of the Cold War (and also after the reunification of Germany) until the merger of the DR and DB in January 1994. This led to unique situations due to the occupied status of West Berlin and the presence of the DR there. For example, there were Bahnpolizei (railway police) employed by the DR in their West Berlin railway stations who were controlled by the GDR Interior Ministry, although the three Western Allies (the United States, Great Britain, and France) never officially recognized the authority of the GDR government in the Soviet (Eastern) sector of Berlin, let alone in West Berlin. For this reason, the West Berlin Polizei had separate patrols who were empowered to maintain law and order in the West Berlin railway stations.
The West German Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) maintained a ticket office in West Berlin for many years on Hardenbergstraße near the main Zoological Garden railway station that was run by the Eastern Reichsbahn. One reason for this was due to the generally poor customer service offered at the DR's ticket counters[citation needed]. Another reason may have been psychological – to promote a visible West German government presence in West Berlin.
Another oddity was the presence of a ticket counter at the East Berlin station until 1994 when the Russian military finally withdrew from Germany. Each of the Western Allies also maintained their stations and ticket offices in their respective zones:
- United States: LichterfeldeWest;
- United Kingdom: Charlottenburg; and
- France: Tegel.
The Western Allies operated military trains over DR lines converging on the route between Berlin-Wannsee and Marienborn. DR conductors and engine crews managed these trains while military transport officers and soldiers dealt with their passengers and the Soviet military checkpoint officials at Marienborn.
The presence of the DR in West Berlin was costly to the GDR – the annual operating deficit for the DR in West Berlin in the early 1980s was estimated to be around 120-140 million
The S-Bahn in West Berlin during the Cold War
The DR also operated the S-Bahn local train service in West Berlin during much of the Cold War period. Following the erection of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, many West Berliners boycotted the S-Bahn in West Berlin. After a strike by West Berlin-based DR employees in September 1980, the S-Bahn service in West Berlin was greatly reduced. Almost half of the West Berlin S-Bahn railway network was closed following this action, including the closure of the western portion of the Berlin circular ring railway (Ringbahn).
On 9 January 1984, a treaty between the GDR and the West Berlin Senate entered into force and turned over the responsibility for the operation of the S-Bahn in West Berlin to the West Berlin transport authority BVG. The BVG gradually restored much of the S-Bahn service that had been previously reduced. Following the reunification in October 1990, the arrangements were kept until the creation of Deutsche Bahn AG on 1 January 1994 when the new company took over all S-Bahn operations in the Greater Berlin region.
It took several years to fully restore all of S-Bahn services throughout the Greater Berlin region. Service on the West Berlin portion of the Ringbahn was not restored until after reunification (in phases, from 1993 to 2002). Capital projects continue to address the backlog of construction needs that developed during the DR-GDR era.
The DR after the reunification of Germany
Article 26 of the Unification Treaty (Einigungsvertrag) between the two German states signed on 31 August 1990 established the DR as special property (Sondervermögen) of the
Directors General of the DR
- Willi Besener (1946–1949)
- Willi Kreikemeyer (1949–1950)
- Erwin Kramer1 (1950–1970)
- Otto Arndt1 (1970–1989)
- Herbert Keddi (1989–1990)
- Hans Klemm (1990–1991)
- Heinz Dürr (1991–1992)
(1) Was also GDR Minister of Transport during his term of service as Director General of the DR.
Chairman of the board of the DR
- Heinz Dürr (1991–1992)
Dürr was also concurrently chairman of the board of the DB. He later served as the chairman of the joint board of directors of the DB and DR from June 1992 – January 1994.
See also
- List of East German Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotives and railbuses
- Deutsche Reichsbahn service ranks
- Berlin S-Bahn
- Interflug
References
- Heym, Rudolf (2003). Das Buch der Deutschen Reichsbahn: Erinnerungen an den Schienenverkehr in der DDR [The Book of the Deutsche Reichsbahn: Memories of Rail Transport in the GDR] (in German). München: GeraMond Verlag. ISBN 3765472468.
- Heym, Rudolf (2010). Das Album der Deutschen Reichsbahn: Eisenbahnalltag in der DDR [The Album of the Deutsche Reichsbahn: Railway Everyday in the GDR] (in German) (approved special ed.). München: GeraMond Verlag. ISBN 9783862451029.
- Kuhlmann, Bernd (2013). Deutsche Reichsbahn geheim: Giftzüge, Militärtransporte, Geheimprojekte [Deutsche Reichsbahn Confidential: Poison Trains, Military Transports, Secret Projects] (in German) (fully revised and expanded new ed.). München: GeraMond Verlag. ISBN 9783862451876.
- Kuhlmann, Bernd (2020). Die Deutsche Reichsbahn in West-Berlin – Interzonenverkehr, die S-Bahn und die DR [The Deutsche Reichsbahn in West Berlin - Interzonal Traffic, the S-Bahn and the DR] (in German). Stuttgart: Transpress Verlag. ISBN 9783613713116.
- Preuss, Erich (2001). Der Reichsbahn-Report: 1945–1993; Tatsachen, Legenden, Hintergründe [The Reichsbahn Report: 1945–1993; Facts, Legends, Backgrounds] (in German). Stuttgart: Transpress Verlag. ISBN 9783613711600.
- Preuss, Erich; Preuss, Reiner (2011). Deutsche Reichsbahn intern geheime Akten, brisante Tatsachen [Deutsche Reichsbahn Secret Internal Files, Explosive Facts] (in German). München: GeraMond Verlag. ISBN 9783862451098.
External links
Media related to Deutsche Reichsbahn (GDR) at Wikimedia Commons