The main society of Russian railways

This network was supposed to extend: from St. Petersburg to Warsaw and to the Prussian border on Koenigsberg , from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod , from Moscow via Kursk and the lower Dnieper to Feodosia , and from Kursk or Orel via Dinaburg to Libava , and thus uninterrupted, through twenty-six provinces , by rail, connect the three capitals, the main navigable rivers and two ports on the Black and Baltic Seas. Ten years after the construction of the railroads, the company was granted the right to use them for eighty-five years, after which the entire network should be transferred to state ownership for free (the state had the right to redeem them after thirty years from the moment the company was founded).

The founders of the “Main Society of Russian Railways” were ^[2] :

• St. Petersburg banker Stieglitz and Co.
• Warsaw banker S. A. Frenkel
• London bankers brothers Bering and Co.
• Paris bankers:

  Gottinger & Co.

  B. L. Fuld and Fuld-Oppenheim

  The Mallet Brothers

  Baron Sellier

  N.I. Uribaren

  Desar Mussar '

• Amsterdam Bankers: Gopé & Co. °
• Berlin Bankers: Mendelssohn & Co.
• Director of the railway company from Paris to Lyon Isaac Pereira
• Director of Western Railways of France August Tourneisen
• Chairman of the Council of Southern Roads of France and the Garon Canal Emilius Pereira
• Representative of the Main Maritime Co. in France Adolf Eichtal
• Paris capitalists:

  Friedrich Greeninger

  Casimir Salvador

At the same time, the London banker Thomas Bering also acted as the trustee of Amsterdam bankers Gopé and Co. , the French railway leaders Isaky and Emilius Pereira and August Turnesen, on their own behalf and by proxy from the Berlin bankers Mendelssohn and Co. , Paris bankers: the Mallet brothers , Baron Sellier, I.N. Uribaren, Desar-Mussar and Co. ° , Adolf Eichtal, as well as Friedrich Greener and Casimir Salvador. The fixed capital of the company was determined in accordance with the charter of 275 million rubles in silver and should have been formed by the issue of shares and bonds. The first issue of shares of 75 million rubles was purchased by the founders during the formation of the company.

Management was carried out through the Management Council , which was located in St. Petersburg and consisted of 20 members. The Chairmen of the Council were successively: Baron P.K. Meyendorf , Count G. A. Stroganov , Count E. T. Baranov , Count A. N. Lamsdorf , V. A. Polovtsov.

The Society invited French engineers, technicians and other agents to all higher and a significant part of other posts, and entrusted the main order to the French engineer Collignon , who was appointed chief director. Private directors helped him: Gustav Guerin and Karl Poiret. An advisory technical committee of 4 Russian engineers was formed under the chief director to review projects. The company took over the St. Petersburg-Warsaw Railway , begun by the government, on which a section of 42 versts , between St. Petersburg and Gatchina , was already open for movement.

In 1857, the company began to continue work on the Warsaw line, and on other lines began the search and compilation of projects. In the second half of 1858, work began on the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod line . In 1859, a small amount of work was begun in the Crimea , on the Feodosia line, which had to be suspended in 1861 due to a lack of public funds. After four years from the date of approval of the charter, that is, in 1861, the company was convinced that, for the expenses incurred for the construction of the railways: Warsaw, Koven, Nizhny Novgorod and part of Theodosia, as well as the significance of contract prices for work and materials collected by the issue 110 million rubles of shares and bonds will not be enough to complete the started lines.

Due to the impossibility of continuing the actions of the company on a previous basis, in the same 1861, by agreement of the government with representatives of the “Main Society of Russian Railways”, its radical transformation was followed, expressed by the new Charter, highly approved on November 3, 1861. According to this charter, the obligations of the company are limited to the construction of the Warsaw Railway, with a branch to the Prussian border, length 1206 miles, and Nizhny Novgorod road, 410 miles.

The last sections of the lines of the "Main Society of Russian Railways" were opened for traffic in 1862.

• Petersburg-Warsaw Railway
• Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod Railway
• Nikolaev railway

• Track and building repair service
• Rolling stock service
• Own Service

RGIA, f. 265, op. 2, d. 1054. “On the redemption of the Russian railways of the Petersburg-Warsaw and Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod railroads from the Main Society, and on the re-admission of the Nikolaev railway to the treasury.”

• The main society of Russian railways // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Commemorative book of the Main Society of Russian Railways for 1859. SPb, 1859
• Report of the Council of the Main Society of Russian Railways for 1863. SPb. 1864