Siemens History

On December 13, 1929, Siemens and the Deutsche Reichsbahn presented the new Berlin Siemensbahn to the public; official operation began five days later. The trip on the 4.7-kilometer route from the Jungfernheide light rail station to Gartenfeld via the Wernerwerk and Siemensstadt stations took less than ten minutes, and during rush hours the trains ran every five minutes. The popular and trade press sang the praises of the new route that closed the gap between the Ringbahn and Siemensstadt, a part of Spandau, yet for four decades now the line has led a sad existence, and counts as one of the capital’s most famous “abandoned places.” Still, the “new Siemensstadt” project is expected to change all that in the near future.        

On October 23, 1879, under the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, Siemens & Halske opened its first Technical Bureau on Magdalenenstrasse 12 in Vienna. It was initially headed by Arnold von Siemens, the eldest son of the company founder. Unlike earlier efforts to establish a foothold in the Habsburg Empire, this time the electrical engineering company’s efforts were successful. Now, 140 years later, Siemens Austria is one of the country’s leading technology companies employing around 10,700 people. 

Nearly 30 years after German reunification, Siemens maintains a presence in 14 cities in the eastern part of the country, where some 5,600 of its employees work at seven branch offices and at 13 manufacturing and development locations. Siemens is an important economic engine in Germany’s eastern region. This impact stems partly from the company’s development and manufacturing operations, sales and service organizations, and training programs. While the impact of Siemens’ strategic realignment on the development of the locations that the company acquired in East Germany has caused conflict, it has also opened the door to new opportunities – a fact well illustrated by the Görlitz turbine factory, whose roots go back to the founding year of the Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske.