Czechoslovak State Railways (Československé státní dráhy in Czech or Československé štátne dráhy in Slovak, often abbreviated to ČSD) was the state-owned railway company of Czechoslovakia.
The company was founded in 1918 after the end of the First World War and dissolution of Austria-Hungary. It took over the rolling stock and infrastructure of the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways.[1]
In 1930 Czechoslovakia had 13600 km of railways: the fifth-largest network in Europe. Of these 81% were state (ČSD)-owned, and the trend was to nationalize the remaining private railways. Most of the infrastructure was concentrated in the industrial regions of the Czech lands. 87% of the railroads were single-track. 135,000 people were employed on the railways: about 1% of the population.
When Nazi Germany dissolved Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia formed the "Bohemian-Moravian Railway" company (in Czech Českomoravské dráhy-ČMD, in German Böhmisch-Mährische Bahn-BMB) under the control of Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR). In the Slovak State, the "Slovak Railways" company (in Slovak Slovenské železnice-SŽ) was formed.
In 1945, ČSD was re-established.
After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the company was divided into the state-owned České dráhy