At the Margin of the Empire. Railway Building in Transylvania until 1918
At the Margin of the Empire. Railway Building in Transylvania until 1918

Summary/Abstract: The construction of the Transylvanian railway – the first line only became operational in 1868 – was delayed by several factors. Firstly, political change in this province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Coming under the direct authority of the Austrians in 1849, it only gained control over the construction of the railway after the Compromise of 1867. And then there were conflicts about the choice of routes, between the towns, between the Transylvanian nations and between the Hungarians and the Austrians. Once Hungary took charge, the construction of the railway network continued without an overall plan, depending on the pressure brought to bear by the various nations, by the owners of large estates, forests and mines. The choice of route was essentially dictated by the fixing of the junction points with Romania – the subject of a persisting disagreement with Bucharest – which continually changed as the years went by. Due to the shortage of financial resources, from 1881 onwards the government had to leave the initiative to private companies. They only built local railways, which didn’t contribute to the coherency of the network. It was only at the start of the 20th century that the government, becoming aware of the Russian threat, took control again to complete, finally, the circling of the Transylvanian plateau by the construction of the Székely Land ring line. At the end of the First World War, the Transylvanian railway (2,596.5 kilometres) was fully incorporated into the Romanian railway.

• Details
• Contents