Hungarian-Czech railways
Gacia, or Galicia, was the name given to the part of historic Poland that was annexed to the Habsburg Empire when it was partitioned at the end of the 18th century. This province was of particular importance to the Monarchy in the second half of the 19th century, not only economically but also militarily.
That is why the idea of a line from Hungary to Przemysl was already being considered in 1854. In the following years the question was which route the line should take, towards Lupkow or Dukla. After it was decided that the line should go to Lupkow, in 1868 Gr. Andrássy Aladár and gr. Ádám Potoczky.
The licence document was received on 20 May 1869, for a line branching off from the Sátoraljaújhely-Kassa line at Mihályi, via Lupkow to Przemysl. The Hungarian government, of course, decided only on the Hungarian section, the Galician section being agreed with the Viennese government. The Hungarian licence was sanctioned by Act VI of 1869.
The licence was for 90 years, with the usual restriction for other railways, i.e. after 30 years the government could buy the line for the average of the gross income of the best five years of the last seven years. The railways received interest insurance, with the government compensating for the income up to 40 000 forints per mile of net income, plus the net share to be used for repayments. For the section up to Homonna, excluding the repayment amount, the State guaranteed interest insurance up to HUF 30 900 only.
However, licensees had to deposit a security of HUF 500 000 and show that 30% of the share capital had been paid up within 2 weeks of the entry into force of the Licensing Act.
(For the Galician part, the Austrian State guaranteed a return of HUF 5% on the nominal capital of HUF 955 000 per mile and the repayment of the principal.)
The capital of the company was set at 31 500 000 forints at the time of its foundation, for the acquisition of which it was planned to issue a total of 62 500 200 forint shares and 95 000 200 forint preference bonds, the securities being issued by the bank managing the company, the Cs. The securities were to be sold immediately on the stock exchange by the Austrian Credit Institute, which managed them, i.e. there was no prior subscription.
The company was founded as the "I Hungarian-Czech Railway" on 17 December 1870.
However, construction was delayed almost immediately, the contractors encountered unforeseen obstacles in the difficult terrain, so they applied for state aid and wanted to change the gradient of the stretch from Mezőlaborc to the border. This permission was granted, on condition that the substructures and other works on the section from Vidrány to Lupkow were built as double-track, that the company had to deposit HUF 200 000 with the government for the construction of the siding station as double-track, and that the company transferred HUF 180 000 of its shares to the Hungarian government.
In 1871, the company issued another 8000000 forints of preference bonds at 87%, but the increased prices of the construction could only be covered by new loans and later by share issues.
The biggest difficulty was the construction of the Lupkow tunnel on the Hungarian-Galician border, where not only technical obstacles and cave-ins hampered the work, for example the sandstone masonry used until then had to be rebuilt with more solid material, which increased the costs, but also the lack of labour due to cholera.
By the end of 1873, the business was in a precarious situation due to overspending and loans. The situation was settled by financial aid from the two governments, the Austrian government in the summer of 1875 provided the company with 1,800,000 forints in cash, which was to be paid out in interest and repaid in the same way as the other interest insurance advances, and the Hungarian government increased the original state insurance by a further 139,836 forints for the whole of the Hungarian section of the line from 1 January 1875. The company issued additional senior loans of HUF 2 382 200, and was required to issue further senior loans in the future.
The various sections of the railway were opened between 25 December 1871 and 30 May 1874, where the traffic started.
From practically the end of the 1870s, governments were pushing for the construction of a second track, mainly for military reasons, despite the fact that the licence only required the construction of a second track above a certain turnover (gross revenue of 120 000 forints per mile).
According to the original contract, the state would have had the opportunity to redeem the railway only from 1899, but negotiations on the takeover of the Hungarian part of the line had already begun in 1888, and as a result, under the contract concluded on 22 December 1888 (sanctioned by Article XIV of Act XIV of 1889) the Hungarian section of the line was taken over by the Hungarian state on 1 January 1889. The Hungarian section was operated by MÁV, the Austrian section by the Imperial and Royal State Railways. The Galician section was nationalised by the Austrian government in 1905.
Points of interest
At the end of September 1873, press reports about the construction of the Lupkov tunnel said that a serious accident had occurred, with the death toll estimated at dozens and some reports even in the hundreds. However, a few days later it was revealed that no such disaster had occurred.
Sources
- Act VI of 2006
- Hungarian Railway History 1 (Editor-in-Chief Dr. László Kovács) MÁV, Budapest, 1995
- Vörös L. (ed.): Hungarian Railway Yearbook 1-6
Date of foundation: 1869
Date of cessation: 1899
Founders: gr. Founders. Ádám Potoczky
Securities issued:
Hungarian-Czech railways |
Determinant drivers are not set
Main activity: railway operation
Main products are not set
Seats are not configured
Locations are not set
Main milestones are not set
Author: by Domonkos Csaba
Date of foundation: 1869
Founders: gr. Founders. Ádám Potoczky
Determinant drivers are not set
Main activity: railway operation
Main products are not set
Seats are not configured
Locations are not set
Main milestones are not set
Author: by Domonkos Csaba
Hungarian-Czech railways
Gacia, or Galicia, was the name given to the part of historic Poland that was annexed to the Habsburg Empire when it was partitioned at the end of the 18th century. This province was of particular importance to the Monarchy in the second half of the 19th century, not only economically but also militarily.
That is why the idea of a line from Hungary to Przemysl was already being considered in 1854. In the following years the question was which route the line should take, towards Lupkow or Dukla. After it was decided that the line should go to Lupkow, in 1868 Gr. Andrássy Aladár and gr. Ádám Potoczky.
The licence document was received on 20 May 1869, for a line branching off from the Sátoraljaújhely-Kassa line at Mihályi, via Lupkow to Przemysl. The Hungarian government, of course, decided only on the Hungarian section, the Galician section being agreed with the Viennese government. The Hungarian licence was sanctioned by Act VI of 1869.
The licence was for 90 years, with the usual restriction for other railways, i.e. after 30 years the government could buy the line for the average of the gross income of the best five years of the last seven years. The railways received interest insurance, with the government compensating for the income up to 40 000 forints per mile of net income, plus the net share to be used for repayments. For the section up to Homonna, excluding the repayment amount, the State guaranteed interest insurance up to HUF 30 900 only.
However, licensees had to deposit a security of HUF 500 000 and show that 30% of the share capital had been paid up within 2 weeks of the entry into force of the Licensing Act.
(For the Galician part, the Austrian State guaranteed a return of HUF 5% on the nominal capital of HUF 955 000 per mile and the repayment of the principal.)
The capital of the company was set at 31 500 000 forints at the time of its foundation, for the acquisition of which it was planned to issue a total of 62 500 200 forint shares and 95 000 200 forint preference bonds, the securities being issued by the bank managing the company, the Cs. The securities were to be sold immediately on the stock exchange by the Austrian Credit Institute, which managed them, i.e. there was no prior subscription.
The company was founded as the "I Hungarian-Czech Railway" on 17 December 1870.
However, construction was delayed almost immediately, the contractors encountered unforeseen obstacles in the difficult terrain, so they applied for state aid and wanted to change the gradient of the stretch from Mezőlaborc to the border. This permission was granted, on condition that the substructures and other works on the section from Vidrány to Lupkow were built as double-track, that the company had to deposit HUF 200 000 with the government for the construction of the siding station as double-track, and that the company transferred HUF 180 000 of its shares to the Hungarian government.
In 1871, the company issued another 8000000 forints of preference bonds at 87%, but the increased prices of the construction could only be covered by new loans and later by share issues.
The biggest difficulty was the construction of the Lupkow tunnel on the Hungarian-Galician border, where not only technical obstacles and cave-ins hampered the work, for example the sandstone masonry used until then had to be rebuilt with more solid material, which increased the costs, but also the lack of labour due to cholera.
By the end of 1873, the business was in a precarious situation due to overspending and loans. The situation was settled by financial aid from the two governments, the Austrian government in the summer of 1875 provided the company with 1,800,000 forints in cash, which was to be paid out in interest and repaid in the same way as the other interest insurance advances, and the Hungarian government increased the original state insurance by a further 139,836 forints for the whole of the Hungarian section of the line from 1 January 1875. The company issued additional senior loans of HUF 2 382 200, and was required to issue further senior loans in the future.
The various sections of the railway were opened between 25 December 1871 and 30 May 1874, where the traffic started.
From practically the end of the 1870s, governments were pushing for the construction of a second track, mainly for military reasons, despite the fact that the licence only required the construction of a second track above a certain turnover (gross revenue of 120 000 forints per mile).
According to the original contract, the state would have had the opportunity to redeem the railway only from 1899, but negotiations on the takeover of the Hungarian part of the line had already begun in 1888, and as a result, under the contract concluded on 22 December 1888 (sanctioned by Article XIV of Act XIV of 1889) the Hungarian section of the line was taken over by the Hungarian state on 1 January 1889. The Hungarian section was operated by MÁV, the Austrian section by the Imperial and Royal State Railways. The Galician section was nationalised by the Austrian government in 1905.
Points of interest
At the end of September 1873, press reports about the construction of the Lupkov tunnel said that a serious accident had occurred, with the death toll estimated at dozens and some reports even in the hundreds. However, a few days later it was revealed that no such disaster had occurred.
Sources
- Act VI of 2006
- Hungarian Railway History 1 (Editor-in-Chief Dr. László Kovács) MÁV, Budapest, 1995
- Vörös L. (ed.): Hungarian Railway Yearbook 1-6