on 1 january 1870, the palatine ludwig railway company, the palatine maximilian railway company and the palatine northern railway (with which the neustadt-dürkheim railway company had amalgamated) had formed a management and operational association under the name "united palatine railways" ("vereinigte pfälzische eisenbahnen") or palatinate railway ("pfalzbahn") for short, with its headquarters in ludwigshafen. nevertheless, palatine ludwig railway was responsible for the subsequent opening of the following railway lines: