Eastern National Railway (Austria)

The company relied on the base of the Kraków–Upper Silesia Railway (German: Krakau-Oberschlesische Bahn; Polish: Kolej Krakowsko-Górnośląska), opened in 1847.

On 1 March 1844 the Senate of the Free City of Kraków received the commission for the building of a railway line to Myslowitz (present-day Mysłowice), a border town in Prussian controlled Upper Silesia.

The line with a length of 67 km (42 mi) was inaugurated on 13 October 1847; the continuation by the Upper Silesian Railway to Breslau (Wrocław) opened five days later.

On 30 May 1850 the Kraków-Upper Silesia Railway was purchased by the Austrian state; responsibility for operating the link was transferred per 1 January 1852.

Another branch-off from Trzebinia via Auschwitz (Oświęcim) to Dzieditz (Dziedzice) was inaugurated on 1 March 1856, providing a direct link to the Northern Railway on Austrian territory.