History
The line was built by the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (German: Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie) established by twelve businessmen in 1835. It was brought into operation in several stages:
- 1837, 24 April: Leipzig–Althen (10.60 km)
- 1837, 12 November: Althen–Borsdorf–Gerichshain (4.32 km)
- 1838, 11 May: Gerichshain–Machern (2.93 km)
- 1838, 19 July: Weintraube–Dresden (8.18 km)
- 1838, 31 July: Machern–Wurzen (8.00 km)
- 1838, 16 September: Wurzen–Dahlen (17.53 km)
- 1838, 16 September: Oberau–Coswig–Weintraube (13.44 km)
- 1838, 3 November: Dahlen–Oschatz (9.56 km)
- 1838, 21 November: Oschatz–Riesa (13.07 km)
- 1839, 7 April: Riesa–Oberau (28.45 km)
On 7 April 1839, on the completion of the Elbe bridge at Riesa, the entire route from Leipzig to Dresden was finally opened. It included the 513 metre long Oberau Tunnel, the first standard gauge rail tunnel in continental Europe. It was preceded only by the Prince William Railway, a narrow-gauge plateway opened in 1831 and the Bavarian Ludwig Railway opened in 1835, which was a short line and was initially operated largely by horse-drawn trains, partly because it was located a long way from coal fields and no railways existed to convey coal to Nuremberg. In contrast the Leipzig–Dresden Railway used only steam traction from its beginning.
The Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company was nationalised in 1876 and became part of Royal Saxon State Railways. On 4 December 1915, the new unified Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (central station) opened; it including a Saxon section, which included the terminus of the line to Dresden.
Read more about this topic: Leipzig-Dresden Railway
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