a new start was made in 1843, when lübeck council decided that it would lead a project to build a railway to hamburg and took the issue up with the danish government. the holstein area lying between hamburg and lübeck, however, was under the rule of the danish king and the danish court refused to allow the building of a direct connection between the two cities. this was probably at the urging of holstein and especially of the kiel district, which considered that the trading activities of hamburg and lübeck and their tax and customs laws discriminated against kiel.