page_title: Deutsche Bundesbahn
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Deutsche Bundesbahn / Background
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bahndienstfernschreiben zur Gründung der Deutschen Bundesbahn, 07. September 1949 English: Railway telegram regarding the foundation of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, September 7 1949
context_page_description: The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. The DB remained the state railway of West Germany until after German reunification, when it was merged with the former East German Deutsche Reichsbahn to form Deutsche Bahn AG, which came into existence on 1 January 1994.
context_section_description: After World War II, each of the military governments of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany were de facto in charge of the German railways in their respective territories.  On 10 October 1946, the railways in the British and American occupation zones  formed the Deutsche Reichsbahn im Vereinigten Wirtschaftsgebiet (German Imperial Railway in the united economic area), while on 25 June 1947, the provinces under French occupation formed the Südwestdeutsche Eisenbahn. With the formation of the FRG these successor organisations of the DRG were reunited, a situation codified by the Federal Railways Law (Bundesbahngesetz) that was ratified on 13 December 1951.  The railways in the Saarland joined on 1 January 1957.
caption: Telegram announcing the formation of the Deutsche Bundesbahn
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