Eszter Szabó: The History of Railways in Csallóköz from the Beginning to 1918
My study deals with the history of the local railway, crossing Csallóköz, from the beginning of its building to the disintegration of the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy. The Csallóköz railway was built in two parts: the 43,6 km long Pozsony–Dunaszerdahely1 line was delivered to traffic in 1895, while the 53,5 km long Komárom–Dunaszerdahely route was accomplished one year later. The two were united in 1904 and named Pozsony–Komárom United Local Railways.
In spite of the fact that all the local railways (or branch lines) were built on the basis of similar designs, due to the big role of local interest (villages, landowners), the constructions were provided differently. Their building was initialised from lower layers and the building of such railways needed the union of the whole region, and requested substantial financial means.
Since in the construction of railways the local people had a very important role, the first chapter is about the region. In the second chapter the reader can read about the precedents and building of the railway. Because of the context the problems of building local railways in Hungary are touched. The third chapter examines the functioning of the railway on the basis of annual reports issued by railway joint stock companies. The last part tries to show the railway’s influence on the region, although stresses that an overall survey of the topic requires a more extensive complex research touching the area’s economical and social issues.
For writing a complex history of the railway would require the process and evaluation of several other data except of these. Therefore, we could achieve a picture on the interaction between the railway and the development of the Csallóköz region. A more extensive knowledge and introduction of the history of railway would discover a newer branch of the region’s history, and the examination of social, economic, cultural, and civilisation processes can reveal the influencing factors from the past. Information found this way can help development efforts of the region.