Railway Company of Zealand

Railway Company of Zealand

The first railway lines on Zealand was constructed by the privately owned company of "Det Sjællandske Jernbaneselskab" DSJ or in English: The Zealandic Railway Company, until it was taken over by the state in 1880. This ownership change was not without issues, and in several cases DSJ refused to build additional lines or make necessary upgrades, without financial guaranties. The last lines to be built by DSJ was "Nordvestbanen" or in English: The Northwest Line, connecting Roskilde, Holbæk and Kalundborg, and "Sydbanen" or in English: The South Line, connecting Roskilde, Køge, Næstved, Vordingborg and Nykøbing Falster. The last parts of the line on the island of Falster, was sold almost as soon as it opened for traffic.

On 2 July 1844 Det Sjællandske Jernbaneselskab or in English:The Railway Company of Zealand, was established with Hjorth and Schram among the board of directors. Amidst considerable resistance from landowners, trouble with unstable labour and excessive expenditures, the economic resources necessary to complete the line were provided, and the Copenhagen-Roskilde line was opened, as the first in Denmark, on 26 June 1847. English engineer William Radford led construction. Sharp Brothers and Company, in Manchester, England, built the initial batch of locomotives, the first of which was named 'Odin'.

The Danish state took over Det sjællandske Jernbaneselskab or in English:The Railway Company of Zealand, on 1 January 1880, forming De sjællandske Statsbaner (the State Railways of Zealand). With the majority of railways on both sides of the Great Belt thus owned by the Danish state, it was not until 1 October 1885 that the companies of Jutland/Funen and Zealand merged into one national railway company, De danske Statsbaner (the Danish State Railways), the merger being finalised on 1 April 1893.

When DSB was founded in 1885, the state-owned companies De jysk-fynske Statsbaner and De sjællandske Statsbaner merged. DSB was established in 1885, after the state in 1867 under the name De Jutland-Fynske Statsbaner took over the private company Det Danske Jernbanedriftselskab and in 1880 they also took over the privately owned Zealand Railway Company.