Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways
The Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways was a state railway company in the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary.
In 1810 a 22-km horse-drawn railway opened at the Styrian Erzberg (Ore Mountain) for the transport of iron stones (see Eisenerz). In 1832 a horse-drawn railway between Linz and Budweis opened. It was 128.8 km long and was the first interurban railway in Europe.
The first section of a new railway from Vienna to Cracow ("Kaiser Ferdinands Nordbahn") opened in 1837. Designed by Franz Xaver Riepl, it was financed by the Rothschilds. The state took a keen interest in railways, and in late 1854, 994 km out of 1,443 km of railway lines were state owned (almost 70%).
After 1854, because of financial crisis in the Empire, the railways in the Austrian part were sold at prices cut to the bone, some to French investors. Concessions for new private companies were granted. The Long Depression, started by Vienna stock market crash in 1873, resulted in the bankruptcy of several railways, and the state took them over.
At the end of 1884 the state railway network covered 5,103 km. On July 1, 1884 the "kk Generaldirektion der Staatsbahnen" ("Imperial General Directorate of the State Railways") was founded; this was the birth of the "kaiserlich-königliche Staatsbahnen" .
By nationalizing other companies or taking over their traffic the company obtained a practical monopoly in railway transport. "Südbahn" (SB, southern railway) was the only major company that remained private until the end of Empire. In 1914, of a total of 22,981 km of railway tracks on Austrian territory, 18,859 (82%) were state owned.
After the end of the First World War the vehicle fleet and infrastructure of kkStB were divided among state railway companies of successor states: Czechoslovak State Railways in Czechoslovakia, Deutschösterreichische Staatsbahnen in Austria (in 1919 renamed to Österreichische Staatsbahnen, ÖStB, in 1921 renamed to Bundesbahn Österreich, BBÖ), and others.