The company was formed from the privatization of the Austrian Eastern National Railway, whose asset west of Kraków were transferred to the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway, while a 111 kilometer long line from Kraków to Dębica through Bochnia and Tarnów, along with a 5 kilometer branch line from Bieżanów (today a part of Kraków) to the salt mine in Wieliczka, was assigned to the newly created Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Luis.
