Badische Hauptbahn
The construction of the Baden Mainline from Mannheim to Basel was approved at an extraordinary meeting of the Baden parliament in 1838. The first bill, presented by the Minister of State Georg Ludwig von Winter on 13 February 1838, contained no information about the places to be connected. This draft was referred to a commission, which presented its findings on 5 March. Deputy Karl Georg Hoffmann (1796–1865) introduced a motion during the debate that provided, among other things, 500,000 South German gulden to avoid Freiburg being left off the route of the line. The final version of the “Act for the construction of a railway from Mannheim to the Swiss border near Basel” ("Gesetzes betr. die Erbauung einer Eisenbahn von Mannheim bis an die Schweizer Grenze bei Basel"), which was signed by the Baden Grand Duke Leopold at the end of March 1838, included a provision explicitly stating that the line would run through Freiburg.