Railway divisions in Germany
On the formation of the Deutsche Bahn AG in 1994 the system of railway divisions (Eisenbahndirektionen) in Germany was discontinued and their tasks were transferred to new "business areas".
Internally they frequently had departments assigned to "Finance and Staff", "Timetables, Fares and Operating Procedures" and "Construction, Maintenance and Vehicles".
Beyond that, a railway division could have several traffic operating offices, main workshops or locomotive depots at various locations, that were each allocated to specific lines.
For example, the "Royal Berlin Division of the State Railways" was divided into eleven external "traffic operating offices" (Betriebsämter) for the routes shown:[1] Following its restructuring on 1 April 1895 the Berlin division had: In addition to the president, the workforce comprised 15 members of the board, 10 assistants, an accounts director, an accounts manager and 580 office workers.
In addition to the railways, it was responsible for the construction of canals and country roads, thus it was a sort of transport ministry.
The latter were located in Augsburg, Bamberg, Ingolstadt, Kempten, Munich, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Rosenheim, Weiden and Würzburg.
From 1906 'railway operating divisions' (Eisenbahnbetriebsdirektionen) were created, that reported to the "State Ministry for Transport" (Staatsministerium für Verkehrsangelegenheiten).
In Saxony there were initially several organisationally separate "state railways", based in Dresden, in Leipzig and briefly it would seem in Chemnitz.
On 1 August 1848 the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bohemian State Railway" (Königliche Direction der Sächsisch-Böhmischen Staatseisenbahn) was founded.
On 1 April 1847 in Leipzig the "Royal Division of the Saxon-Bavarian State Railway" (Königliche Direction der Sächsisch-Bayerischen Staatseisenbahn) was founded; on 1 October 1853 it became the "Royal Division of the Western State Railway" (Königlichen Direktion der westlichen Staatseisenbahn).
These took over the responsibility formerly discharged by the divisions in the former eastern territories and by those now in the Federal Republic of Germany, keeping the identification letters.
In Hungary, central management of operations was in the hands of a division in Pest with a director at its head, who had sub-directors appointed to run the various functional branches.
[6] After the annexation of Austria in 1938 into the German Reich the territory operated by the BBÖ was allocated to the following Reichsbahn divisions: After the invasion of Poland the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) organised the railway routes in the so-called Generalgouvernement on 1 November 1939 into the "General Division of the Eastern Railway" (Generaldirektion der Ostbahn) (GEDOB) with its headquarters in Kraków (Krakau).
The majority of the staff of the Deutsche Ostbahn came from Germany; Polish citizens were only permitted to be employed in the lower ranks.
