They emerged in 1871, after France had ceded the region of Alsace-Lorraine to the German Empire under the terms of the Peace Treaty of Frankfurt following the Franco-Prussian War.

The General Directorate of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine (Kaiserliche Generaldirektion der Eisenbahnen in Elsaß-Lothringen) had its head office in Straßburg (now Strasbourg) and was subordinated directly to the Reich Chancellor.

In 1878, however, it was re-subordinated to the newly created Imperial Ministry for the Management of Railways in Alsace-Lorraine in Berlin.

The French side later built copies of German railway stock, mainly based on Prussian prototypes.

In Alsace and Moselle, many multi-track routes are still driven on the right, whereas in the rest of France they drive on the left.