COMPAGNIE GENERALE D' EXPLOITATION DES CHEMINS DE FER DE LA TURQUIE D' EUROPE

GENERAL COMPANY FOR OPERATION OF EUROPEAN TURKEY RAILWAY: On 17 April 1869, a convention was signed between the Minister for Public Works Davut Pasha and Baron Maurice de Hirsch who founded the Societe Imperiale des Chemins de Fer de la Turquie d' Europe. This company had as a project the construction of the railway lines Istanbul - Adrianople 319 km long, Adrianople - Alexandroupolis length 149 km, Thessaloniki - Skopje length 243 km, Banja Luka - Bosanski Novi length 102 km and Adrianople - Serabey length 243 km. After the end of the construction, the exploitation would be undertaken by the company of Austrian Southern Railway. When the inauguration of the individual lines began in 1873, the operation was finally undertaken not by the Austrian company but by a new company set up by Hirsch which replaced his predecessor, the Compagnie Generale d' Exploitation des Chemins de Fer de Fer de la Turquie d' Europe (General Company for Operation of European Turkey Railways). This company was based in Paris. Hirsch on 23 December 1879 he set up a new company based in Vienna, this time under the name CO (Eastern Railways Exploitation Company), which undertakes entirely the operation of the lines of his previous company.