What caused the failure of nationalisation of the railway system in Germany? : Malfunction of the German Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt) in the 1870s and 1880s.

Banzawa, Ayumu

What caused the failure of nationalisation of the railway system in Germany? : Malfunction of the German Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt) in the 1870s and 1880s.

Banzawa, Ayumu

Discussion Papers In Economics And Business, 2012, 12-18

Number of Access:174（2025-08-30 01:10 Counts）

Identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11094/23024

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Title	What caused the failure of nationalisation of the railway system in Germany? : Malfunction of the German Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt) in the 1870s and 1880s.
Creator	NRID 1000090238238 1000090238238 researchmap permalink read0012264 read0012264 Scopus Author ID 57206085543 57206085543 CreatorName Banzawa, Ayumu
Subject	railways
	Germany
	nationalisation
	statistics
	the19th century
Abstract	This paper identifies the causes of failure of the nationalisation of the German railway system by the Imperial Railway Office (das Reichseisenbahnamt; REA) that was established during 1873–1874 under the order of Otto v. Bismarck, the first Imperial Chancellor (Reichskanzler). The REA was not able to keep railways in the Reich (unified Germany) under its perfect control as provided by the German Imperial Constitution. What impeded the REA’s mission? We must pay attention to the REA’s problems as an organisation. As the official documents of the REA suggested, the organisation was not free from bureaucratic inflexibility in both structural and personal matters. Furthermore, compared with the other railway administration bodies in Germany in the 19th century, I point out the REA’s incapability in collecting regional information. The REA, the central bureau in the German-Prussian capital, had no regional unit. Its top-heavy structure and the higher-ups in the bureaucracy did not collect the non-lettering information from those who were doing the actual work at each railway, and this caused a criticized ‘disproportionate emphasis on documents’. To illustrate this point, I focus on the failure by the REA in playing the leading role in compiling the first German national railway statistics.
Publisher	Graduate School of Economics and Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University
Source Title	Discussion Papers In Economics And Business
Volume (Issue)	12-18
Date of Issued	2012-10
Language	English
Handle URL	https://hdl.handle.net/11094/23024
NCID	AA1160366X
Relation.references	URI http://www2.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/global/dp/1218.pdf
Access Rights	metadata only access
Category	ディスカッション／ワーキング・ペーパー DP/WP
Category	Discussion Papers In Economics And Business

Resource Type	technical report
Local Type	DP/WP
DCMI Type	Text
DCTERMS.bibliographicCitation	Discussion Papers In Economics And Business. 2012, 12-18
DC.title	What caused the failure of nationalisation of the railway system in Germany? : Malfunction of the German Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt) in the 1870s and 1880s.
DC.creator	Banzawa, Ayumu
DC.publisher	Graduate School of Economics and Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University
DC.language' scheme='DCTERMS.RFC1766	English
DC.type' scheme='DCTERMS.DCMIType	Text
DCTERMS.issued' scheme='DCTERMS.W3CDTF	2012-10
DC.relation' scheme='DCTERMS.URI	http://www2.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/global/dp/1218.pdf
DC.subject	railways
	Germany
	nationalisation
	statistics
	the19th century
DCTERMS.abstract	This paper identifies the causes of failure of the nationalisation of the German railway system by the Imperial Railway Office (das Reichseisenbahnamt; REA) that was established during 1873–1874 under the order of Otto v. Bismarck, the first Imperial Chancellor (Reichskanzler). The REA was not able to keep railways in the Reich (unified Germany) under its perfect control as provided by the German Imperial Constitution. What impeded the REA’s mission? We must pay attention to the REA’s problems as an organisation. As the official documents of the REA suggested, the organisation was not free from bureaucratic inflexibility in both structural and personal matters. Furthermore, compared with the other railway administration bodies in Germany in the 19th century, I point out the REA’s incapability in collecting regional information. The REA, the central bureau in the German-Prussian capital, had no regional unit. Its top-heavy structure and the higher-ups in the bureaucracy did not collect the non-lettering information from those who were doing the actual work at each railway, and this caused a criticized ‘disproportionate emphasis on documents’. To illustrate this point, I focus on the failure by the REA in playing the leading role in compiling the first German national railway statistics.
DC.format	23024
citation_title	What caused the failure of nationalisation of the railway system in Germany? : Malfunction of the German Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt) in the 1870s and 1880s.
citation_author	Banzawa, Ayumu
citation_publisher	Graduate School of Economics and Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University
citation_language	English
citation_date	2012-10
citation_journal_title	Discussion Papers In Economics And Business
citation_volume	12-18
citation_public_url	https://hdl.handle.net/11094/23024
citation_abstract_html_url	http://www2.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/global/dp/1218.pdf

What caused the failure of nationalisation of the railway system in Germany? : Malfunction of the German Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt) in the 1870s and 1880s.

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