Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway Company

Hamburg public opinion was most interested in a rail connection with the Baltic port of Lübeck.

This route would have, however, needed to pass through Holstein, which was administered in a personal union by the Danish king.

Two days earlier, the Great Fire of Hamburg broke out and largely destroyed the city.

The stations on the line were all designed by the Hamburg architect Alexis de Chateauneuf.

[1] Already during the planning of the railway an extension had been considered via Geesthacht and Lauenburg to Berlin.