Hamburger Hochbahn
Encyclopedia
Hamburger Hochbahn AG or HHA is a company operating the underground system
Hamburg U-Bahn
The Hamburg U-Bahn is a rapid transit system serving the cities of Hamburg, Norderstedt and Ahrensburg in Germany. Although technically an underground, most of the system's track length is above ground. The network is interconnected with the city's S-Bahn system, which also has underground...

 and large parts of the bus system in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, founded in 1911 it is headquartered in Hamburg.

History

On May 27, 1911 the company was founded by Siemens & Halske and AEG
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....

 as a consortium. Since 1912 it is the private holder of the new build railway. The first chairman was Albert Ballin
Albert Ballin
Albert Ballin was a German businessman. He was born into a modest Jewish family of Hamburg with origins in Denmark.- Business :...

.

From 1919 until 1978, the HHA operated a large tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 system in Hamburg, and from 5 December 1921 on, the HHA used the first motor buses in Hamburg for public transport. After the acquisition of the Straßen-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in 1919, and the Hamburg-Altonaer-Centralbahngesellschaft AG in 1923, the HHA had a rolling stock of 865 power cars and 930 trailers, in 1928. The length of tracks was 217.33 km. In 1970 there were only 82.7 km.

In 1965 the company was one of the founders of the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund is a company coordinating the public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide the user with a unified fare system, requiring only a single ticket for journeys with transfers between different operating companies, and to further...

.
Section translated from Hamburg Hochbahn

Operations

HHA operate about 120 bus lines in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and the three underground lines
Hamburg U-Bahn
The Hamburg U-Bahn is a rapid transit system serving the cities of Hamburg, Norderstedt and Ahrensburg in Germany. Although technically an underground, most of the system's track length is above ground. The network is interconnected with the city's S-Bahn system, which also has underground...

 that currently exist in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. In spite of the "U" for "underground", large portions of the net, especially outside the inner city run on the surface. Some parts of the underground, notably along the banks of River Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 in the city, are elevated above the ground (hence the name "Hochbahn" for "elevated railway").

HHA is the second largest public transport operator in Germany and the major partner in the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund.

Subsidiaries

BeNEX plc. is the holding company for public transport corporations outside of Hamburg. BeNex owns railway and bus companies. In August 2007, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n investment firm Babcock & Brown acquired 49% of BeNEX.

Through BeNEX the Hamburger Hochbahn owns 25.1% of the metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft
Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft
Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH is a non State-owned railway company based in Uelzen, Lower Saxony, the largest since December 2005. The company is exclusively for passenger and operates on behalf of the public transportation trains on the lines Hamburg-Bremen, Hannover and...

, a company operating commuter railway trains in northern Germany. nordbahn railway company, riding the railway line Neumünster
Neumünster
Neumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...

 - Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck.It is famous for its annual Karl-May-Festival...

 - Bad Oldesloe
Bad Oldesloe
Bad Oldesloe is a town located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is the capital of the Kreis Stormarn .The area has been inhabited since mesolithic times. The flint tools found here from that era are clearly defined and known as the Oldesloer Stufe...

 in Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

 is owned in joint venture with the AKN Railway Company
AKN Eisenbahn
AKN Eisenbahn AG is a railway company operating commuter and freight trains in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The company headquarters is located in Kaltenkirchen...

. Among others there are also the East German Railway plc and the Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft
Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft
Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH , based in Kassel is a joint subsidiary of Hessische Landesbahn and Hamburger Hochbahn . The word cantus...

, both are also joint ventures with other corporations.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK