Voigtland State Railway

The Voigtland State Railway (German: Voigtländische Staatseisenbahn, abbreviated as Voigtl. Sts. E. B.) was originally one of the lines of the Royal Saxon State Railways that was built in Vogtland, now in the German state of Saxony and the Czech Republic. The line began from the junction station of Herlasgrün on the Saxon-Bavarian Railway and ran via Falkenstein, Oelsnitz and Bad Elster to Cheb (then a mainly German speaking city called Eger in the Kingdom of Bohemia, which formed part of the Austrian Empire). Only the Herlasgrün–Falkenstein and Oelsnitz–Cheb sections are still operating.

During the construction of the Saxon-Bavarian Railway, a route running further south in Vogtland through Lengenfeld and Auerbach was discussed. In 1856 proposals were developed for a branch line of the Saxon-Bavarian Railway towards Bohemia. In November 1856, a railway committee of Oelsnitz proposed a railway link through the Elster valley from Gera via Plauen, Adorf, Elster and Asch to Eger. A committee established in Auerbach, however, later proposed the variation as built from Herlasgrün.

In the autumn of 1858 the engineering work began on a railway from Plauen, which were interrupted during the Franco-Austrian War of 1859. Only when it was known in Saxony that another project, the Hof–Eger line was being developed in Bavaria, did interest return to the project. Now, however, the link from Herlasgrün via Auerbach and Falkenstein was favoured. On 21 June 1861, the Saxon parliament approved construction of the Voigtland State Railway via Auerbach.

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