Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis
The Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis (German: k.k.priv. Galizische Carl Ludwig-Bahn (CLB), Polish: Kolej galicyjska im. Karola Ludwika) was a railway system, named after Archduke Charles Louis of Austria. It was built in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia in the second half of the 19th century, under management of Prince Leon Sapieha, with licence granted to him by Emperor Franz Josef on April 7, 1858. Works on the system, carried out by the Association of Charles Louis Railway were not completed until 1892.
Once finished, the line crossed whole Galicia from west to east, joining main urban centers of the province - Kraków, Tarnów, Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Lwów (Lemberg) and Tarnopol. It started in Kraków and ended at the border rail station of Podwoloczyska (today Pidvolochysk), where it was connected over Zbruch with railroads of the Russian Empire at Volochysk. Apart from the main, west-east line, the system was made of secondary importance connections, such as:
- Kraków - Wieliczka,
- Kraków - Niepołomice.
Further west, the Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis was connected with rail system of Bohemia and Austria at the junctions of Cieszyn and Bohumin. Also, in 1884, the Tarnów – Stroze – Jasło line was completed, which connected the Archduke Charles Louis Rail with network of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Currently, the Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis is part of Polish line number 91, which goes from Kraków to the border crossing of Medyka near Przemyśl.
See also
- Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways
- History of rail transport in Poland
- Galician Transversal Railway