beyond the nogat and vistula rivers, the railway continued to be built from marienburg (malbork) via elbing (elbląg) to braunsberg (braniewo) (83.75 km); it was opened on 19 october 1852. it was extended to königsberg (62 km) on 2 august 1853. after the completion of the railway bridges over the vistula in september 1857 and over the nogat on 12 october 1857, the 18 km long dirschau (tczew)–malbork line was completed. at the same time, the 29 km long direct line from frankfurt (oder) via lebus to küstrin as well as the 105 km line from küstrin via landsberg an der warthe (gorzów wielkopolski) to kreuz was opened. berlin was therefore reached by a shorter route via the lower silesian-märkische railway ("niederschlesisch-märkische eisenbahn-gesellschaft", nme). the prussian state railways acquired a stake in the nme and took over its management in 1850 and purchased the remaining shares of the railway in 1852.