Building Europe on the Rails
Status: Completed
The rise and diffusion of railway technology in Europe has been the subject of a great amount of historical literature. However, the unit of analysis of most of these studies is the nation-state. In the last decades the issue of the rise of international traffic has received attention by some historians (1). As this literature suggests international railway traffic became possible through the establishment of international agreements and the work of international associations with regard to railway traffic. However, historians have only started to analyze the significance of such agreements and associations for the history of transnational railways, and therefore for Europe (2).
The main research question of this project concerns the interrelationship of railway development to ideas and projects about Europe. By looking at discussions and decisions on technical and commercial issues with regard to transnational railway traffic, I will try to see how different ideas and visions about Europe influenced the shape of railways in different historical periods. My hypothesis is that internationalization and europeanization of railways in a geographically defined Europe were two distinct processes that influenced the shape of railways throughout the 19th and 20th century (3): Europeanization of railways started in the 1950s and reached a peak in the 1970 when different actors (E.C.M.T., U.I.C., European Commission-drafting plans of a European railroad network and developing common transport policy) concentrated their efforts in designing and promoting the establishment of what they named a "European railroad network". I will use the concepts of internationalization and Europeanization as analytical categories that will help me to investigate whether there was continuity or discontinuity in thinking about railways in a transnational level in a geographically defined Europe.
In order to test my hypothesis I am going to look at discussions of the network of actors engaged in transnational railway traffic in Europe. In particular, the work of international associations and political bodies that were concerned with railway issues will be central for my analysis. The period that I will cover spans from the establishment of the first organizations for regulating railway traffic (Verein Preussischer Eisenbahn-Verwaltungen) in 1846 till the late 1970s when different actors such as the UIC and the ECMT drafted projects for a European railway network. I divide this period into three sub-periods in which I will look at the work and interrelationships of the following associations: 1st period) the long 19th century: the Verein Deutscher Eisenbahn- Verwaltunger, L' Unite Technique, The Central Office for International Railway Transport and the Central Transport Committee (CIT). 2nd period) The interwar period: the League of Nations and the Union International des Chemins de Fer. 3) The post-war period: the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the European Conference of Transport Ministers, the Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer and the transport policy of the European Communities.
By looking at the work of these actors in negotiating the building of "Europe" through the building of railways, I aim at contributing to the literature on European integration and the idea of Europe.
1) Laurent Tissot, 'The Internationality of Railways; An Impossible Achievement?', in Die Internationalitat der Eisenbahn (Zurich:
Chronos, 2003), Laurent Tissot, 'Naissance d' une Europe Ferroviaire:
La Convention Internationale de Berne (1890)', in Michele Merger and Dominique Barjot, eds., Les Enterprises et Leurs Reseaux: Hommes, Capitaux, Techniques et Pouvoirs XIXe-XXe siecles. Melanges en l' honneur de Francoic Caron.
(Paris: 1998), Douglas J. Puffert, 'The Technical integration of the European railway Network', in Albert Carreras, Andrea Giuntini, and Michele Merger, eds., European Networks: The Development of a Trasnational System of Transport and Communications 1994)
3) For the definitions of these two terms look at my Research Design.
