Chronography of railways outside Great Britain�
Page last modified 24 September 2023
See also Railways GB
See also Railways,
socio-economic effects
See also Rail Tunnels
International urban transit
maps,
https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/transitexplorer/#12/47.2193/-1.5583
For map of historical
development of selected canals and railways, Netherlands, click here
The �Global Metro� Most
major cities around the world have an underground metro system, known to
Londoners as �the tube�; what would it be like if there was a �global metro�
that linked all the cities that possess their own metro system? See also London
Underground.
US rail map, https://railmaponline.com/
World rail map, current and disused rails etc, https://www.openrailwaymap.org/
World metro maps, detailed plans of stations, http://carto.metro.free.fr/
European railways
Albania.
11 January 1985, The Shkoder(Albania) - Podgorica freight
line opened.
1949, The railway reached the
capital, Tirana.
7 November 1947, The first
railway in Albania opened. It ran from Durres
to Pekinj, 42km.
27 June 1986, The Eisenertz to Vordenberg railway closed. It was
built to carry iron ore from Eisenertz, but foreign ore undercut the mine here.
1 August 1966, The Minitz to St Erhard
line closed.
27 January 1908, Austria announced plans to build a railway
south towards Salonika, to assist trade and extend Austro-Hungarian political
influence.
8 May 1892, Gabor Baross, who developed the
Austro-Hungarian railway system, died in Hungary (born in Trencsen 6 July 1848).
24 August 1867, The Brenner Pass railway, from Italy to
Innsbruck, Austria, opened.
1860, The line from Vienna to
Belgrade opened.
15 May 1854, The Semmering Pass railway, Austria, opened.
1853, The first railway through the Alps, from Vienna to Trieste, opened.
1852, The line from Vienna to
Salzburg opened.
6 July 1848, Gabor Baross, who developed the
Austro-Hungarian railway system, was born in Trencsen (died in Hungary 8 May 1892).
6 January 1838. The first steam
railway line in Austria opened, between Vienna and Wagram via Florisdorf.
7 September 1827, The first railway in Austro-Hungary
opened. This was from Budweis (now Czechia) �to Trojanov, later extended to Linz, using
horse traction.
Belgium
18 September 1957, The railway between Amsterdam and Brussels was
electrified.
1935, The first line in Belgium was electrified;
Brussels to Antwerp.
1911, Construction began on the Brussels Midi line; a 6-track route
through the centre of Brussels, part underground, part elevated, linking the
city�s Nord and Midi termini. However World War One and economic depression
delayed completion until 1938.
5 May 1835. The railway from Brussels to Malines opened (14.5 miles). The first railway in
Belgium. Belgian State railways was the first State-owned railway
company.
Bulgaria
1899, The Sofia to Varna railway opened.
1888, The railway across Bulgaria from Dragoman
via Sofia and Plovdiv to Silvengrad (and on to Istanbul) opened; this routewas used by the Orient
Express.
1873, The line from Sarambey to
Philippopolis, and onwards to the Turkish frontier, was built.
1866, The first railway in
Bulgaria opened, from Ruschuk (Ruse) to Varna.
Czechia
1919, Czeckoslovak
Statre Railways was established; re-established in 5/1945.
Denmark, see Map of Danish railways
1937, The Storstrom railway
bridge was completed.
1927, Danish railways began
replacing steam locomotives with diesel; the process was completed in 1970,when
the last Danish steam train ran.
26 June 1847, The first railway in Denmark opened;
Copenhagen to Roskilde, 31 km. The Altona to Kiel railway, opened
1844, was in Danish territory when built but from 1864 has been in German
territory.
Finland, see Map of Finnish railways
France see Map of French railways
15� December 2012, The 14�3 km extension of orbital tram route T3
following the Boulevards des Mar�chaux ring road around the eastern side of
Paris was opened for revenue service.
This trebled the length of T3, which ran for 7�9 km across the south of
Paris from Pont du Garigliano to Porte d�Ivry since 2006, and added 24 stops.
3 April 2007, A French TGV train set a
new speed record of 356 mph / 573 kph.
27 May 2001, A French train travelled
from Calais to Marseilles, 1,082 km, in a record 3 hours 29 minutes, reaching
369 kph.
18 May 1990. A French TGV attained a
record speed of 515.3 kph.
22 September 1981. The TGV was inaugurated in France. It
ran at 300
kph (186 mph), was a
quarter of a mile long, and set a record speed of 515.3 kph on 18 May 1990. It ran
between Paris and Lyons, and its route was extended to Marseilles in 1983.
20 May 1977, The Orient Express, between Paris and Istanbul,
ran for the last time.
25 September 1976. It was announced that the Orient Express,
which had run between Istanbul and Paris since 1883, was to be withdrawn.
1961, Paris� RER (Reseau Express Regional) railway network was begun.
1946, Louis Armand became President of
the SNCF. He undertook a programme of rationalisation, closing down some 10,000
kilometres of uneconomic lines.
1937, The Paris to Le Mans line was electrified.
31 August 1937, In France, the SNCF (Societe National des
Chemins de fer Francais) was formed. It took over operation of the French
railways on 1 January 1938.
12 October 1936, A London to Paris through train service began.
1914, Work on the line from le
Puy to Lalevade d�Ardeche was suspended; it was never resumed.
6 June 1906, Paris Metro Line
5 was inaugurated with a first section from Place d'Italie to the Gare
d'Orleans (today known as Gare d'Austerlitz).
1900, Electrification of the Paris-Orleans line
began.
10 July 1900. The Paris Metro
opened.�
It was designed by Fulgence Bienvenue. The first line ran from
Vincennes to Port Maillot.
1890, France standardised time,
to Paris time, on its railways; previously they had all been set to local time,
as had Britain�s railways until 1880 � see railways, social, 24 October 1858. French
stations had also kept their clocks 5 minutes slow, to provide a margin for
late-running travellers.
1 June 1889, The Orient Express made its first through run from
Paris to Constantinople.
6 October 1883, The Orient Express made its maiden run from Paris to Bucharest,
Romania, in just under 78 hours. The route was extended to
Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1889.
1 June 1883, The first regular restaurant car
service on French railways began, on the Paris-Caen and Paris-Trouville routes.
1876, The Wagon Lits Company was founded,
taking over 53 sleeping rail cars from an earlier enterprise. From 1889 Wagon
Lit services began in north Africa, in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and
Tunisia.
1867, The railway reached
Lourdes. The number of pilgrims to the site rose rapidly, reaching 100,000 in
the year 1972 alone.
March 1847, The Paris and Rouen railway (completed 1843) was
extended to Le Havre.
11 June 1842, France passed the Railway Law Act, stipulating
that all French railways were to be under public ownership, with the State
directing what lines were to be built and their operation. However lines could
be leased to private� operators. A key
element of the plan was the Legrand Star;
all main line railways radiated out from Paris. This proved to be a handicap in the Franco-Prussian War. German
troops could reach the front by multiple routes, whereas all French soldiers
had to travel on one line, Paris to Strasbourg. Worse, recruits from south and
west France all had to be funnelled through Paris, causing major congestion.
19 September 1841. The first railway to cross a frontier was opened between Strasbourg and Basle.
26 August 1837, The Paris to St Germain railway opened.
9 July 1835. The St Etienne to Lyons railway opened to passengers.
3 April 1832, Lyons to Givors railway opened.
1830, The Mulhouse-Tann railway opened.
25 June 1830, The first section of the St Etienne to Lyons railway,
from Givors
to Rive de
Gier, opened. It was
initially worked by both horse and steam. Horse traction ceased on 1 August 1844.
1 October 1828, The horse-drawn St Etienne to Andrezieux railway opened; the first public railway in France. It was extended to Roanne in
1833, and was converted to steam on 1 August 1844.
1779, The first railway in
France was built by Englishman William Wilkinson (1744-1808). It
served an ordnance factory at Indret and ran to the River Loire. It was used
until around 1800.
15 May 1933, Germany inaugurated what was then the fastest
train service in the world, between Berlin and Hamburg, covering 178 miles in
138 minutes, an average speed of 77.4 mph.
5 October 1903, In Berlin, a Siemens electric train reached
125 mph.
15 February 1902. The Berlin underground
railway opened.
1900, The monorail at Wuppertal
opened, 14 km long.
1882, Berlin�s stadtbahn railway
m(city railway), 12 km of elevated tracks through Berlin, was opened. One of
its functions was to facilitate troop movements between east and west Prussia.
1879, Prussia began to
nationalise its railways, a process completed by 1914.
17 November 1866, The railway from Oldenburg to Delmenhorst
opened; in July 1867 was extended to Bremen followed, and in September 1866 the
section from Oldenburg to Heppens was completed.
1846, The Berlin to Brandenburg
railway opened.
1843, The Heidelberg
to Karlsruhe railway opened.
19 September 1841. The first railway to cross a frontier was opened between Strasbourg and Basle.
1840, The Magdeburg to
Leipzig line opened.
1839, The first long-distance line in Germany
opened, 121 km from Leipzig to Dresden. In its first year of
operation it carries 412,000 people. Some female passengers were wary of
unwanted attentions from the men whilst the train ran through the dark tunnels.
7� December 1835, The first railway in Germany, the Ludwigsbahn, opened between
Nuremberg and Furth.
14 February 1834, Construction of the first railway in Germany, 7 km
from Nuremberg to Furth, was sanctioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
1916,
A 90 kilometre railway was completed linking the Greek railways to the rest of
Europe.
Cyprus
21 October 1905, A 110 km
line of gauge 0.75 metres opened from Famagusta (Cyprus) via Nicosia to
Morphou. It closed on 31� December 1951.
1896,
the Salonika to Constantino[le railway opened; a branch to Burgas, on the Black
Sea, opened in 1898.
1869,
The first railway in Greece opened. It was 10km long and ran
from Atens to the port of Piraeus. It was electrified in 1904.
12 August 1888, The
railway from Budapest
to Constantinople opened.
15 July 1846, The first steam railway in Hungary opened;
Pest to Vacs, 35 km.
8/1827, A horse
drawn railway from Pest to Kobanya opened.
Iceland � see Iceland
31 January 1961, The West Claire Railway, immortalised in songs by
Percy French, closed.
1959, The railways from Monaghan
closed.
10 July 1949, The last tramcar ran in Dublin.
30 August 1906, A new express rail service linking Cork and
Waterford with London via the new ports of Rosslare and Fishguard was
inaugurated.
1903, The Letterkenny to
Burtonport railway opened.
12 September 1893, The Killorglin to Valentia Harbour line
opened.
16 May 1893, In Dublin, electric trams started running
31 March 1891, The Tralee and Dingle railway opened.
1887, The narrow gauge West
Clare railway (3ft 0) opened beteween Ennis, Kilrush and Kilkee. It closed
in 1967.
1887, The Tralee to Fenit
railway opened; closed in 1972.
1887, The Cavan and Leitrim
railway opened; closed in 1959.
1883, The Londonderry to
Burtonport railway opened.
1872, Dublin�s first non-horse
tram lines began running. The system grew to 37 miles, reaching out into the
south Dublin suburbs, see 10 July 1949.
12 May 1866, The direct railway from Cork to Macroom opened.
31� December 1863, The railway from Londonderry to Lough
Swilly opened.
1859, The railway reached
Tralee.
12 April 1854, Atmospheric traction on the Dalkey extension of
the Dublin and Kingstown Railway was abandoned.
5 September 1853, The Waterford to Tramore railway opened.
1 October 1852, The Londonderry
to Newtown Limavady railway, 18 � miles, opened.
13 September 1852, The Newton Stewart to Omagh railway, 9 � miles, opened.
10 June 1852, The Wellington
Inn to Mullaglass railway, 6 miles, opened.
3 May 1852, The Tipperary
to Clonmel railway, 24 � miles, opened.
9 February 1852, The Strabane to
Newton Stewart railway, 9 � miles, opened.
6 January 1852, The railway from Portadown to Mullaglass, 16 � miles, opened.
8�
December 1851, The railway from Cork to Bailinhassig, 10 miles,
fully opened (Bandon to Bailinhassig had opened 1 August 1849).
1 August 1851, The Dublin to Galway
railway, 76 � miles, opened.
14 November 1850, In
Kilkenny, Ireland, the Bagenalstown to Laristown Junction railway, 10 �
miles, opened.
6 May 1850, The railway
from Belfast to Newtonards, 13 � miles, opened.
14 February 1850, The railway
from Drogheda to Navan, 17 miles, opened.
1
November 1849, The
Mallow to Cork railway, 19 � miles, opened.
1 August 1849, The Bandon to
Ballinhassig railway, Cork, (10 miles), opened.
28 May 1849, The railway
from Newry to Warrenpoint, 5 � miles, opened.
17 March 1849. The railway
from Limerick Junction to Mallow opened.
15 February 1849, The Dundalk to
Drogheda (22 miles) and the Dundalk to Castle Blayney (18 miles) opened.
2 August 1848, The railway
from Belfast to Holywood opened.
24 July 1848, The Carlow to
Bagenalstown railway, 10 miles, opened.
3 July 1848, The Thurles to
Limerick Junction railway, 20 � miles, opened.
11 May 1848, The Kilkenny to
Thomastown railway, 10 � miles, opened.
11 April 1848, The railway
from Belfast to Ballymena, 33 � miles, also the Carrickfergus branch (3 miles)
and the Randalstown branch (2 miles) opened.
9 May 1848, The Limerick to
Tipperary railway, 24 � miles, opened.
1 March 1848, The Portadown
to Armagh railway, 10 � miles, opened.
19 April 1847, The railway
from Londonderry to Strabane, 14 � miles, opened.
4 August 1846, The Dublin to
Carlow railway, 56 � miles, opened.
26 May 1844, The Dublin to
Drogheda railway opened.
29 April 1844, The
Dalkey extension of the Dublin and Kingstown railway officially opened, using
atmospheric traction. The system was abandoned on 12 April 1854.
1842. The Belfast to Portadown railway opened.
12 August 1839, The railway
from Belfast to Lisburn opened;
extended to Armagh,
1 March 1848.
1836, The Belfast to Armagh railway opened.
1836, The Dublin to Drogheda railway opened.
17�
December 1834, The first railway in Ireland opened, from Dublin to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), 6
miles. The engineer was William Dargan, now known as the �Father of
Irish Railways�.
1964, The Milan metro
openedCanada
1934, The Apennine Tunnel
(Florence to Bologna line), 18.5 km, was completed.
20 August 1925. Rome�s underground railway opened.
5 July 1910, The St Moritz to Tirano railway, Italy, opened.
24 August 1867, The Brenner Pass railway, from Italy to
Innsbruck, Austria, opened.
1857, The Milan to Venice railway opened.
1854, The Turin to Genoa railway opened.
1853, The first railway through the Alps, from Vienna to Trieste, opened.
1846, The railway reached Venice,
via a 1.2 km causeway over the lagoon, ending the city�s status as an island.
4 October 1839, The first railway opened
in Italy: Naples to Portici. 8km.
Liechtenstein
1872, The railway through Vaduz opened.
Malta
1883, The Valetta to Citta Vechia railway, 12 km at 1-metre
gauge, opened. It was unable to compete from the start with horse-drawn road transport,
and was taken over by the State in 1892, With the advent of mmotorised buses
and cars, the line closed in 1931.
Monaco
1964, The main line through
Monaco was removed from the sea front and put in a tunnel. It was electrified
in 1969.
Montenegro � see Yugoslavia
For map of historical
development of selected canals and railways, Netherlands, click here
18 September 1957, The railway between Amsterdam and Brussels was
electrified.
1927, The railway from Rotterdam
to Amsterdam was electrified.
1908, The ralway from Rotterdam to The Hague was electrified.
1 January 1938, The Netherlands railways were nationalised,
having gone bankrupt in 1937.
1910, Differences in gauge
between various Dutch railways hindered goods traffic.
1904, The electrified railway, Amsterdam to Zandvoort,
opened.
1902, The Zutphen to Emmerich tramway opened.
1902, The Enschede to Ahaus (Germany) railway opened.
1900, The Breda to Steenbergen, St Philipsland, Zierikzee and
Brouwershaven tramway opened.
1898, The Rotterdam to Numansdorp (Hollandsch Diep) tramway
opened.
1898, The Purmerend to Alkmaar tramway opened.
1898, The Alkmaar to Hoorn railway opened.
1893, The railway from Hook of Holland to Rotterdam opened.
1892, The Netherlands
railway system was largely complete, apart from minor local lines opened since
then.
1892, The Netherlands
railway system adopted Greenwich Mean Time, which was 20 minutes behind
Amsterdam time.
1890, The Rozendaal to S�Hertogenbosh railway opened.
1885, The railway from Dordrecht to Elst opened (construction
began 1882)
1885, The railway from Stavoren to Leeuwarden opened.
1885, The Zaandam to Enkhuizen railway opened.
1883, The Nijmegen to Venlo railway opened.
1879, The Nijmegen to Arnhem railway opened.
1878, The Amsterdan to Zaandam railway opened.
1878, The Apeldoorn to Zutphen to Ruurlo to Winterswyck railway opened.
1877, Construction of
local steam tramsways, often alongside roads, began in The Netherlands,
suppelementing the main railway network. State subsidies to encourage construction of these tramways was
available from 1893.
1877, The Rotterdam to Zwaluwe railway opened (construction began
1869).
1877, The Rotterdam to Dordrecht railway opened (construction
began 1872).
1875, The Amsterdam to Hilversum to Amersfoort to Apeldoorn
railway opened.
1873, The railway from Bokstel to Goch (Germany) via Vechel opened.
1872, The Flushing to Rozendaal railway opened.
1869, The railway from Groningen to Nieuwe Schans (German border)
opened. From here a conncetion was made to the German railway system in 1876.
1869, The Rotterdam to Utrecht railway opened (constructin began
1866).
1869, The Utrecht to S�Hertogenbosch railway opened (construction
began 1868).
1867, The railway from den Helder to Haarlem opened (construction
began 1862).
1867, The railway from S�Hertogenbosh via Tilburg to Turmhout
(Belgium) opened.
1866, The Hengelo to Enschede railway opened.
1866, The Leeuwarden to Groningen railway opened.
1866, The S�Hertogenbosch via Eindhoven to Hasselt railway
opened.
1866, The Groningen to Zwolle railway opened.
1865, The Zwolle to Arnhem railway opened.
1865, The Nijmwegen to Cleves (Germany) railway opened.
1865, The Venlo to Maastricht railway opened.
1865, The Apeldoorn to Zutphen and Hengelo railway opened.
1865, The Apeldoorn to Deventer to Almelo to Hengelo to
Salzbergen (Germany) opened.
1863, The Harlingen to Leeuwarden railway opened.
1863, The railway from Utrecht via Amersfoort and Zwoole to
Kampen opened.
1863, The Tilburg to Bokstel railway opened.
1860, In view of the slow
progress of railway construction in The Netherlands (see 1845), a Government programme
of construction was inaugurated. By 1872 an additional 873 km of railways had
been built.
1860, The Rozendaal to Tilburg railway opened.
1856, The Arnhem to Emmerich (Germany) railway opened.
1855, The railway from Zwaluwe to Antwerp opened (construction
began 1852).
1847, The Haarlem to Rotterdam railway opened (construction began
1839).
1845, The Amsterdam� to
Utrecht to Arnhem railway opened.
1845, The Dutch State
undertook to develop a comprehensive railway system. Progress was slow,
however,and by 1860 The Netherlands only had 335 km of railways.
24 September 1839, The first passenger railway opened
in The Netherlands.� It was
operated by the Holland Railway Company (Hollandsch Yzeren Spoorweg
Maatschappij), and ran from Amsterdam to Haarlem, 19 km.
Norway see map of Swedish railways with historical changes
1933, A new 590 km
line to link the coal mines of Silesia to the new port of Gdynia was completed.
It was built by a French company, due to financial problems in Poland at the
time.
Portugal � see map of railways here
Romania
16 November 1979, Bucharest Metro Line One opened, from Timpur Noi to Semanatoarea, 8.63 kilometres.
19 October 1869, The first railway in Romania
opened; Bucharest to Giurgiu, 70 km.
9/1989, The
Baikal-Amur mainline (BAM) railway opened. It was intended to assist in
exploiting Siberian mineral deposits.
7 November 1984, The Tynda to Urgal railway, Russia, opened.
5/1982, The Kunerma to Krasnoyarsk railway, Russia, opened.
2 July 1979, The Komsomolsk to Urgal railway, Russia, opened.
9 July 1935. Engineers building
the Moscow Underground discovered Ivan the Terrible�s torture
chamber.
15 May 1935, The Moscow Metro railway was opened
by Joseph Stalin.
March 1931, Plans for building
the Moscow Metro were approved. The first proposals for a metro dated back to
1900 but in these Czarist times, there were strong objections from the Church
about undermining historic buildings. The first line opened ran Sw from
Sokolniki through the city centre and 5then forked to go to Smolensia Rinok and
to Krinskaia Place.
1905, The Orenburg to Tashkent railway opened.
1 January 1905. The Trans-Siberian
railway officially opened. Its aim was to facilitate trade between Russia and
China. Furs, grain, and cattle from Siberia would be traded for tea, silk, and
cotton from China.
21 July 1904. The Trans Siberian Railway was finally completed.
The 4,607 miles of track took 13 years to lay.
1 October 1903, The
Russian railway system was linked to European railways.
1898.
The Perm to Kotlas (River Dvina) railway opened.
30 November 1897, The
Vologda to Archangel railway opened.
1891,
Construction began on the Trans-Siberian
railway, Moscow to Vladivostock. See 21 July 1904.
1887,
The North Caucasus Railway,
connecting Baku and
Novorossiak, opened.
1884,
The line to Tyumen opened.
1883,
The Baku to Batoumi
and Tiflis railway opened.
1878,
The line from Perm to Ekaterinberg opened.
13 November 1851, The railway between Moscow and St
Petersburg opened,
3km; extended to Pavlovsk,
1838.
19 June 1840, John Cockerill,
Russian railway constructor, died.
30 October 1837, The
railway from St Petersburg to the Czar�s Summer Palace at Tsarskoe Selo opened.
9 October 1836, The first public railway in Russia opened, the
Petersburg and Pavlovsk Railway. It was originally horsedrawn, on a 6ft guage,
until steam began in 1837.
Serbia / Yugoslavia
27 November 1975, A new
modern railway from Belgrade to the Mediterranean port of Bar opened
(construction began 1952).
1905, Construction began on the railway from Antivari (Adriatic
coast) to Virbazar (Lake Scutari).
1886, The branch line from the Serbia-Nis main line opened to
Smederevo (Semendria).
15 September 1884, The first railway in Serbia opened;
Belgrade to Nish, 151 miles.
1873,
6 September 1873, The
railway to Fiume / Rijeka opened from Karlstadt / Karlovac; a branch from the
Vienna-Trieste line.
1865, The Zagreb to Karlovac line opened.
1992, The Madrid to Seville high
speed line opened.
1939, The Spanish broad gauge
network was nationalised.
October 1919, The first section of the
Madrid Metro was officially opened by King Alphonso XIII. It ran from Puerta del Sol
to Cuatro Caminos (ca 4 km)
1908, The branch line to Velez
Malaga opened.
1906, The Spanish Government
ratified the 1904 Railway Convention
with France, whereby a line was to be constructed from Oloron via Canfranc to
Jaca, Saragossa and Pau.
1875, First railway in Majorca.
1870, First railway to Cordoba.
1863, The first railway in
Bilbao (to Tudela) opened.
1850, First railway in Madrid.
28 October 1848, The first railway in Spain opened; Barcelona to
Mataro, 27km.
Spain delayed installing railways partly due to fear on another invasion by
Framce. It then used a sloightly wider guage than the rest of Europe.
Spitzbergen
1917, A mineral line 2.5 km long, 1-metre gauge, opened at King�s
Bay to serve the coal mines. It was the most northerly railway in the world. It
closed in 1929, reopened in 1945, and closed permanently in 1965 after a mine
explosion.
Sweden, see map of Swedish railways with historical changes
1950, The Stockholm Metro began
operations.
1999,
The Vereina Tunnel (Lavin to Klosters line), 19.2 km, was completed.
1982, The bFurka Base Tunnel (Oberwald to Realp line),
15.5 km, was completed
1922,
The Simplon No.2 tunnel (Brig to Iselle line), 20.0 km, was completed.
1910, The Swiss
railways were nationalised.
1906,
The Simplon No.1 tunnel (Brig to Iselle line), 19.8 km, was completed/
1903, The railway
from Coire via the Rhine Valley, Reichenau, Thusis, Schyn Gorge, Tiefenkastell,
to Bevers, opened.
1 July 1882, The Gotthard Tunnel
(Goschenen to Airolo line), 15.0 km, was completed. At 9 miles 562 yards it was
then the longest railway tunnel in the world.
9 August 1847, In Switzerland the Zurich to Baden railway, 24 km, opened.
15 June 1844. The first railway in Switzerland
opened, Basle to St Ludwig (now Saint
Louis, France).
Asian railways
China (inc. Hong
Kong).
18 August 2020, Line 6 of the Shenzhen Metro opened.
28 June 2016, Line 11 of the Shenzhen Metro opened.
28 September 2009, Line
Four of the Beijing Metro, 28.2 km long, opened.
8� December 2007,
Construction work began on Line L2 of the Beijing Metro, running 23 km from the southern terminus of
Line Five. Trains began running in December 2010.
2006, The Wushaoling Tunnel (Dacaigou to
Longgou line), 20.8 km, was completed/
2006,
The first railway from China into Tibet opened, from Golmud to Lhasa.
2002, The Qinling Tunnel, Qinling
Mountains, 18.4 km, was completed.
18 August 1988, In Hong
Kong, the Light Rail Transit line between Tuen Mun and Yuen Long, 23 km,
opened.
1 October 1979, The first
section of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway, from Hong Kong Island to
Kowloon, opened.
4 April 1979, Through
services from Canton to Kowloon (Hong Kong) were restored (withdrawn 14 October
1949).
1 October 1969, The
first line of the Beijing Metro, 24 km
long, opened.
Construction had been approved in 1965.
1 July 1952, In China, the Chungking to Chengdu railway opened
(construction began 1951)
14 October 1949, Through train services from Kowloon (Hong Kong) to Canton
were withdrawn, but restored on 4.4.1979.
1936, The Canton to Hankow railway was
completed.
1912, The first Chinese
President, Sun
Yat Sen, called for a railway to be built from China into Tibet. This was a
political move, to counter the British occupation of Tibet proceeding from India.
5 August 1911, The entire Kowloon to Canton railway opened.
1 October 1910, The line from the tip of Kowloon, Hong
Kong, to the Sino-British border opened, see 5 August 1911.
1909, The railway from Shanghai
to Nanking opened.
1908, China nationalised its railways.
1888, Hong Kong�s funicular Peak
Tram line opened.
1888, The Tangshan to Tientsin
railway opened. It was extended to Shanghaikuan in 1894,and to Feng�tai near
Beijing in 1896.
1880, The first permanent
railway in China opened, The 8 km narrow guage line ran from the Kaiping
coalfield, nbear Tangshan, and connected it with a canal that went on to the
Pehtang River. Because of Chinese prejudices against steam locomotives, the
line was worked by mule traction. The company engineer, CW Kinder, then secretly
built a steam locomotive using parts recovered from scrap, but the Chinese
authorities heard about this and sent a party to investigate; Kinder, warned of
this, then dug a large hole and buried his engine. The line was was extended to
Lutai in 1886 and Tientsin in 1888.
1876, First railway in China
opened. It ran for 32 km, Shanghai to Woosung. However the Chinese were
suspicious of the new technology. Some
Chinese feared that the �devil machines� would desecrate ancestral graves, and
even threw themselves in front of the locomotive. After some 20 Chinese had
been killed this way, the line was closed and dismantled in 10/1877.
India
October 1984, Kolkata
became the first city in India to get a
metro system. It then had 5 stations and 3.4 km of track, By 2023 it had 26
stations on 31 km of track.
29 September 1917, McLeod's Light
Railways opened a line between Ahmedpur and Katwa in West Bengal, India.
1915, The Teesta
Valley Railway to Kalimpong, 45 km, opened.
November 1899, The light railways from Gwalior to Sipri, and
Gwalior to Bhind, opened.
1899, The Goona to Baran railway, Gwalior, opened.������������
1856, The
Bombay-Calcutta-Madras-Nagpur railway was completed.
14 February 1873, The railway from Delhi to Rewari, India, 84km,
opened.
1854,
The first line of the East India Railway
Company opened,
18 April 1853, The first railway in India opened;
Mumbai to Thana, 40 km. By 1856 rail lines linked Mumbai, Kolkata, Madras and
Nagpur.
1864, The first railway in Indonesia opened,
from Semarang to Jogkakarta.
Iran
1/1939, The Trans
Iranian Railway was completed, after nearly 12 years under construction,
linking the Caspian Sea with the Persian Gulf.
Iraq
17 July 1940, The Baghdad Railway was completed.
1898, The Baghdad Railway was first proposed in Germany. This was a scheme to build
a railway from Berlin via the Bosphorus to Baghdad and possibly on to the Shatt
al Arab, thereby linking to the Persian Gulf.The scheme alarmed Britain which
perceived a threat to its interests oin southern Persia and India; also Russia
which was seeking to develop the railway system in Persia from its own
territories to the north.
19 October 1898, Baghdad
Railways concession was granted to Deutche Bank again.
Israel
31 August 1908, The Haifa to Derraa railway opened.
It closed in 1949.
8/1892, The railway from Jerusalem to Jaffa (Tel Aviv) opened.
2008, The Sanko Line 108 km,
closed (open 1930).
2002, The Iwate-Ichinohw Tunnel
(Morioka to Aomori line), 25.5 km, was completed.
1988, The Seikan Tunnel
(Hokkaido to Honshu line), 53.5 km, was completed..
1 April 1987, Japan privatised its railways, to seven companies.
1982, The Haruna Tunnel
(Jomo-Kogen-Echigo line), 15.3 km, was completed.
1980, The Daishimizu Tunnel
(Jomo-Kogen-Echigo line), 22.4 km, was completed.
1975, The Shin Kanmon Tunnel
(Honshu to Kyushu line), 18.7 km, was completed.
1972, The Rokko Tunnel (Osaka to
Shinkobe line), 16.3 km, was completed.
1 October 1964, The Shinkansen �Bullet Train� was
inaugurated between Tokyo and Osaka. It averaged 163 km/hr (101 mph).
1927, The frst line of the Tokyo
subway opened. This was the first subway in Asia. It ran between Ueno and
Asakusa.
28 April 1915, The Geibi Railway opened the Geibi Line in the
Okayama Prefecture, Japan, with stations Shiwachi, Kamikawatachi, Kōtachi,
Yoshidaguchi, Mukaihara, Ibaraichi, Shiwaguchi, Nakamita, Karuga, Shimofukawa,
Kumura, and Akiyaguchi serving the line.
15� December 1914, The Iwate Light Railway
opened new stations in the Iwate Prefecture, Japan, including Ayaori,
Iwanebashi, and Futsukamachi.
25 October 1913, The Iwate Light Railway was extended in
Iwate Prefecture, Japan, serving stations Nitanai, Oyamada, and Tsuchizawa.
16 March 1906 Japanese railways were nationalised.
14 October 1872, The Yokohama to Shinagawa line was extended to Tokyo.
12 June 1872, The first railway in Japan opened; Yokohama to Shinagawa.
Jordan
1906, Construction
work began on a branch line from Aqaba to the Mecca-Beirut railway.
Korea
(North and South)
First railway opened 1899.
Mongolia
1956, the
Trans-Mongolian Railway opened, linking to Beijing and to the Trans-Baikal
Railway at Naushki.
Myanmar (Burma)
1903, The railway
from Hernzada to Letpadan opened.
1902, The railway
from Henzada to Bassein opened.
1900, The railway
from Saigang to Alon via Monywa, and the railway from Meiktila to Myingyan,
opened.
1888, The railway
from Yangon
(Rangoon) to Mandalay opened.
1884, The railway
from Yangon
(Rangoon) to Toungoo opened.
1 May 1877, The first railway in Myanmar
opened, Yangon to Prome, 257 km.
Pakistan
13 May 1861. The first railway in what is now (2016)
Pakistan opened,
from Karachi City to Kochi, 169 km.
20 October 1902, The Philippines Government approved a bid
to build an electric streetcar system in Manila.
24 November 1892, The first railway in The Philippines,
from Manila Bay to Gulf of Linguven, 120 miles, opened.
Saudi Arabia
1864, The Hejaz Railway. A �pilgrim�s railway� was first proposed, to run
from Damascus and Cairo
to Mecca
and Medina. The idea failed to gain headway until the British gained influence
in the region due to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. That incentivised
Germany, along with Ottoman Turkey, to create a rail link under Turkish control
down into Saudi Arabia. A Turkish engineer surveyed the route in 1900. The
route would follow the old caravan route, which had water supplies, needed by
steam engines as well as people. A unique rail guage of 105 cm was chosen so no
other nation�s rolling stock would fit. The route from Damascus to Medina, some
1400 km, opened on 1 September 1908. During World War One, the Arab revolt
against Ottoman
Turkey, led by Lawrence of Arabia, resulted in this railway being
largely destroyed. However the northern section between Ma�an and Damascus was
repaired by the Allies as they needed it for the assault on Damsacus and
further north in 1918. Plans to restore the entire line were made in the early
1960s but were cancelled due to the Six Day War in 1967. Restoration plans
continue to be proposed in the early 21st century.
Sri
Lanka
2 October 1865, The first railway in Sri Lanka opened,
from Colombo to Ambepussa, 93 km. Construction had begun in 1858.
Taiwan
3 November 1900, In Taiwan, the Takau to Tainan railway, 43
km, opened.
1887, First railway
condstruction started.
Turkey,
1939, The railway
reached Elazig. From here it was extended to Genc in 1954 and to Mus in 1955.
1935, The railway
reached Kayseri (378 km east of Ankara).
1887, The Tersus,
Adana and Mersina railway opened.
1870, The first
section of the Anatolian Railway,
from Haidar Pasha to Ismid, 58 miles opened.�
Ismid to Angora, 301 miles, opened in 1892. A branch from Eskishehr
(between Ismid and Angora) to Konieh, 276 miles, opened in 1896.
Uzbekistan
1905,
Samarkand was connected by rail with Tashkent.
1888,
Samarkand was connected by rail with the Caspian Sea.
Vietnam,
1986, A new line
from Hanoi to Da Nang opened.
1/1910, The railway
from Hanoi to Yunnan-Fu opened.
1885, The first railway in Vietnam opened, from Saigon to My Tho.
Australasian railways
9 October 1980, A new line was opened from Tarcoola,
Australia, to Alice Springs; the old route closed on 1 January 1981.
23 February 1970, Passenger services began on the railway between Perth and
Sydney, Australia, a distance of 2,461 miles.
2 August 1929, The first Trans-Australian Railway, N-S, was
completed,
20� December 1926, The first underground
railway in Australia opened, in Sydney.
29 October 1917, The Merriwa railway line in New South
Wales, Australia was completed.
22 October 1917, The
Trans-Australia Railway opened, from Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta.
1914,
The first railway in the Australian Capita, Territory opened,
a 10 km goods� line to Canberra from
Queanbeyan, New South Wales. The line began taking passengers from 1923.
28� December 1914,
South Australian Railways opened the Peebinga railway line from Karoonda to
Peebinga, South Australia, Australia.
1912,
Construction of the Trans-Australia railway began.
10/1889,
The first railway in the Northern Territory opened.
This ran 233km from Darwin to Pine Crek. It was extended as far south as
Larrimah, near Birdum, by 1929.
1883, The Sydney, New South Wales, to
Melbourne, Victoria, railway was completed.
14 June 1883, The
railway bridge over the River Murray opened, uniting the rail systems of New
South Wales and Victoria.
1881,
The railway from Perth to Freemantle, 33 km, Western Australia, opened.
1879,
The railway from Geraldton to Northampton, 55 km, Western Australia, opened.
6 June 1871, The first railway in Western Australia opened.
It was a private timber line from Lockville to Yoganup, south of Perth.
1868,
The first railway in Tasmania opened.
It ran 72 km� between Launceston and
Deloraine.
31 July 1865, The Ipswich to Grantchester railway,
21 miles, opened.
The first railway in Queensland.
21 April 1856, The Adelaide to Port Adelaide railway,
Australia, opened.
26 September 1855, The first railway in New South Wales opened,
Sydney to Parramatta.
12 September 1854, The Flinders Street to Port Melbourne
railway opened,
the first steam railway in Australia.
18 May 1854, The Port Elliot & Goolwa railway,
South Australia, opened. Drawn by
horse, this was the first public railway in Australia,
carrying goods and people.
1837,
The first railway in Australia ran in Tasmania from Norfolk Bay to Long Bay
across the Tasman Peninsula. Passengers were pushed in open wagons by teams of
four convicts.
1827,
An inclined tramway of iron rails was opened to carry coal from a mine at
Newcastle to Port Hunter.
27 February 1971, In New
Zealand, the Catlins River branch railway through Maclennan (opened 1915)
closed.
1945, The Christchurch to Picton railway opened.
1891, The Wellington to Napier railway opened.
1886, The Wellington toNew Plymouth railway opened.
1879, The Christchurch to Bluff railway opened.
24� December 1873,
The railway from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, to Onehunga opened.
9� December 1867,
The line to Lyttleton, from Christchurch, was opened, and the short section to
Ferrymead was abandoned.
5 February 1867, The
Invercargill to Bluff railway, New Zealand, opened.
1864,
A railway, 18km was opened from Westport to the coal mines. Westport to
Fairdown via Sergeants Hill opened 31�
December 1875; extended to Seddonville 1895. These railways remained
isolated until joined to the national network by the opening of the Stillwater
to Westport via Buller Girge railway, 1942.
1� December 1863,
The first steam railway in New Zealand opened,
from Christchurch
to Ferrymead.
3 February 1862, The first
railway in New Zealand opened, the horse operated Dun Mountain railway. It ran
22 km from a chrome mine to Nelson in South Island. It closed in 1866.
African railways
Algeria
1871, The Algiers to Oran
railway, 430 km, opened.
15 August 1862, First railway opened in Algeria.
It ran 50 km south west from Algeirs.
The foundation stone of Blidah Station, on this
line, was laid in 1859.
Benin,
1 January 1935, The rail terminus at Parakou, Benin,
opened.
1905, The railway reached
Abomey, and onwards to Pauignan.
1902, The railway from Kotonu to
Toffu opened, 89 km.
Congo
(Republic of),
1962, The mineral line from Mont
Belo to M�Bindo opened.
Egypt
1987, The Cairo metro opened; the first subway
system in Africa. It was built by the French.
1904, The broad gauge line from
Cairo to Port Said opened. A railway was begun running west from Alexandria, to
reach Tripoli, and eventually Tangier.
1858, The Alexandria to Suez
railway opened.
January 1856, The first
railway in Africa opened, 208 km, from Alexandria to Cairo.
Eswatini
(formerly Sawziland)
10/1964, The line from Ka Dake to Goba, Mpozambique,
200km, opened (construction began 5/1962). Built to take iron oire to the port
of Lourenco Marques, and then on to Japan, saldo ulso used for agricultiral
exports
Ethiopia
6 February 1902, France agreed with Ethiopia to finance a
railway from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. Britain and Italy both protested.
Kenya
26� December 1901, The Uganda Railway was completed, linking Mombasa with Lake Victoria. This
railway both facilitated British colonisation of Uganda and (by superseding the
carriage of goods by humans) did much to eliminate the local slave trade.
Morocco
September 1908, First railway in
Morocco opened, from Casablanca to Ber Rashid. This line was to
export the agricultural produce from the area.
28 November 1933, The Moroccan � Tunisian railway opened,
connecting up the French north African colonial possessions.
Niger,
1879, France proposed a railway
from the Niger across the Sahara to the Mediterranean. France allocated 800,000
Francs (�32,000) for an initial survey of the route, but the scheme was
abandoned when Tuareg nomads massacred the survey team. In 1880 the French also
proposed a railway from Niger to Senegal, but funding for this line, also the
forts needed to protect it, was not forthcoming.
Nigeria
1912, Railway to Kano opened.
1908, The railway from Lagos
reached Ilorin (Ibadan to Ilorin, construction began 1905).
1901, The railway reached Ibadan
(construction began 1896).
1899, The railway from Lagos to
Abeokuta, 103 km, opened.
Senegal.
1885, The first railway in
West Africa opened, between Goree (Dakar) and St Louis.
1907, Construction of a line
from Thies to Kayes began.
Sierra
Leone,
1976, The Sierra Leone railway system closed.
1905, The railway reached
Pendembu.
1903, The railway reached Bo.
1896, Constructiuon began on the
railway from Freetown to the Liberian border. It was completed in 1905.
5 March 1917, The 63 km railway from Izingolweni to Harding,
South Africa was completed.
22 June 1904, The Cape to Cairo railway opened.
10 October 1895, The Cape Town to Durban railway, South
Africa, opened.
8 July 1895. The opening
of the Delagoa Bay railway, from Johannesburg to Maputo Bay, gave the
Transvaal access to the sea independent of the British colonies.
1894, The railway reached Mafeking.
1892, The Cape Town to Johannesburg
railway was completed.
1886, The Durban to Ladysmith railway
opened; subsequently extended from Ladysmith to Johannesburg.
1863, The Cape Town to Wellington railway
opened. From Wellington the railway reached Worcester in 1876, Beaufort West in
1880 and De Aar in 1884. The railway from Port Elizabeth to De Aar also opened
in 1884. Kimberley was reached in 1885.
13 February 1862, In South Africa, the Cape Town to Erste River railway opened.
26 June 1860, The first railway in South Africa
opened; Durban to Point (Natal).
North American railways (US, Canada)
1989, The Mt MacDonald Tunnel (Selkirk Mountains,
British Columbia line), 14.7 km, was completed.
1956, The railway
from Terrace to Kitimat opened.
1956, The railway
from Squamish to Vancouver, 61 km, opened.
March 1954, The
Toronto Metro opened.
9 March 1919, The Canadian Grand Trunk Pacific Railway went
bankrupt. It was nationalised in 1920.
25 January 1915. In Canada, the Northern Railway from Lake Superior
to the Pacific Coast was completed.
3 June 1908, Sir Robert Gillespie Reid,
Canadian railway contractor, died.
1906, The Canadian
Northern railway from Winnipeg to Edmonton was completed.
1900, The railway
from Skagway to White Horse opened, 177 km.
1899, The railway
from Hearst to Sault Sainte Marie, 476 km, opened.
29 June 1898, Passenger services began on the first railway in
Newfoundland, from St Johns to Hall Bay, Construction of the line had begun on
9 August 1881, against considerable local opposition and violence. The line was
completed in 1896.
23 May 1887, The Canadian Pacific Railway reached Vancouver.
28 June 1886, The first through train for the Pacific left
Montreal.
7 November 1885, The last spikes were driven in at
Craigellachie in British
Columbia, completing the Canadian
Pacific Railway after 4 � years work. The Government of British Columbia had
stipulated that they would only join the Canadian federation, rather than the
USA, if they were connected by railway to the rest of Canada by 1891.
Trains running from Montreal to Port Moody, capital of British Columbia from
1886, took 5 to 6 days.
1881, The Canada Pacific Railway Company was founded.
1876, Canada�s Intercolonial Railway was completed,
linking Ontario to the Maritime Provinces.
1 July 1876, The railway from Amherst to Riviere du Loup,
Canada, opened.
1872, The Halifax-Truro railway
was extended to Amherst.
31� December 1860, The first railway tunnel
in Canada opened; it ran for 540 metres below Brockville, and was abandoned in
1974.
1858, The Halifax to Truro
railway opened.
16 August 1851, The railway from Laprarie, Quebec, Canada
to Rouses Point, New York, USA, opened.
31 July 1851, Canada legislated to make the 1676 mm gauge, the
�Provincial Gauge�, a pre-co0ndition of financial aid to any railway, thereby
introducing a standard gauge for the country.
1847, The Montreal and Lachine
railway opened.
21 July 1836, The Champlain & St Lawrence Railroad, the first steam railway in Canada, opened between Laprarie and St
John.
7 January 1827, Sir Sandford Fleming, Canadian engineer who
oversaw the construction of much of the Canadian railway system, was born.
US rail map, https://railmaponline.com/
June 1996, The Dalla (Texas) light rail system opened, 18 km.
1993, The Los Angeles subway opened.
14 October 1980, In the USA, the Staggers Rail Act was passed. This deregulated the US railways,
allowing them to alter charges, close unprofitable routes or merge companies
with much less government interference, except in areas where they have �market
dominance�. However other forms of transport continued to enjoy more government
subsidies.
27 March 1976, The first 4.6 miles of the Washington
DC subway system opened.
1 May 1971, Amtrak, the US rail operator, began
operations. It took over virtually all US rail routes, in a
Federally-funded effort to halt the decline in US rail service. However rail
services to many US cities now ended.
1970, Penn
Central collapsed, It had been the USA�s largest railway company,
and the 6th largest US company overall
31 October 1970, In the US, Amtrak, or The National Railroad Passenger
Association, was formed, to promote rail travel for passengers.
29 March 1957, 871 km of rail track in the US was closed
on one day by the New York western and Ontario Company.
23 May 1952, US railways, having been
operated by Federal troops for the previous 21 months, now returned to private
ownership.
1950, The Virginia
and Truckee Railway, which had gone into administration in 1937, was abandoned.
25 August 1950, To avert a possible US
railway strike, President
Truman ordered Federal troops to operate the US railway system.
1949, General Motors and other auto companies
were found guilty, in a trial that had begun in 1947, on Federal antitrust
charges. They had, from the late 1920s,
secretly purchased many of America�s tram and light rail systems so as to close
them down, to boost the car market. However the Judge in the case, William J
Campbell, imposed only a nominal pena;lty, a fine of US$ 5,000 on GM
and the other companies, and a fine of US$ 1 on each of the dirctors.
1944, The Leadville
to Ibex railway, Colorado, closed.
28 February 1936, The Interstate Commerce Commission ordered a
reduction in basic rail passenger fares from 3.6 to 2 cents per mile everywhere
in the United States.
18� December 1935, The Huey P Long Bridge in
Mentaine, Louisiana, opened.�
It was the world�s longest railway bridge.
12 October 1934, The Association of American Railroads was
set up. Almost all significant railway companies in the US, Canada and Mexico
are members.
27� December 1917, The US Government took over the American railways.
12 March 1914, George Westinghouse, American engineer who
patented the Westinghouse Railway Brake
in 1868, died in New York City.
20 May 1913, The Florida East Coast Railway reached Key West,
but its constructor, Henry M Flagler, died this day aged 83. 3,000
men had died during the 7 years construction of this line, many of yellow
fever, and hurricanes damaged the railway in 1926 and 1935.
2 February 1913. Grand Central
Station in New York,
the world�s largest railway station, opened,
at 42nd Street, replacing an earlier shed. The cutting that carried
the tracks down 4th Avenue to 42nd Street was now paved
over, creating Park Avenue.
9 September 1909, Edward Harriman, US rail magnate who turned
the Union Pacific Railway around from near-bankruptcy in 1898, died (born 25
May 1848).
25 February 1908, The first railway tunnel under Hudson
River, New York, opened
1906, The
Alsakan Central Railway was authorised, to run 745 km from Seward to Fairbanks.
72 km of this railway was already in operation in 1905.
1906, The Hepburn Act allowed the US
Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railway services.
New York
suburban
4 January 1962, The first driverless trains appeared on the New
York subway.
2 June 1923, The Kaufman Act was
signed, authorising the electrification of all railways in New York City by
January 1, 1926.
3 March 1917, New York City Subway
stations for the White Plains Road Line, including Allerton Avenue, Bronx Park
East, Burke Avenue, East 180th Street, Gun Hill Road, Nereid Avenue, Pelham
Parkway, 219th Street, 225th Street, and 233rd Street opened.
27 October 1904. The first
section of the New York subway opened. Trains ran from City Hall to Broadway
and 145th Street.
24 March 1900, Construction began on the New York Subway. The
elevated railway had been prone to shut down in snowstorms.
1879, New York City�s 3rd
Avenue elevated railway reached 129th Street, after reaching 67th
Street in 1878.
1878, New York City�s elevated
railway along 6th Avenue opened from Rectory Street to Central Park.
By 1880 it reached north to 155th Street, causing a conbstruction
boom in apartment houses along its route.
26 February 1870, The first
underground railway in the USA opened, in New York.
14 March 1904, In the USA, a Court ruled (Northern Securities
case) that proposed mergers of railway interests violated the Anti-Trust Act.
8 March 1904,
The Denver and Salt Lake railway opened,between Ogden and Lucin, USA.
1903, In the US, the Elkins Act
forbade rail companies to give preferential carriage rates to favoured
customers, and forced them to issue public notices of rates.
1902, The El Paso to Bisbee railway opened.
1899, Boston South station
opened; Boston North station had opened in 1894.
1901, Henry R Huntington
incorporated the Pacific Railway Company, and began construction of inter-urban
lines around Los Angeles. By 1913 the network reached 42 cities, provoking a
building boom.
1898, The settlement of Alamogordo, New Mexico, was founded when the El Paso
and North Eastern Railway reached this location.
19 October 1897, George
Pullman, US manufacturer of railway sleeping and dining cars that bear his
name, died in Chicago, Illnois, aged 66. In
1864 he had patented the railway sleeping car with folding upper berth.
1 September 1897. Boston�s underground railway began
operating.
1895, The Chicago
overhead electric railway, 29km, opened.
18 September 1893. In the USA, the Great Northern Pacific
Railway opened. This was the most
northerly of the USA�s rail routes between the Mississippi River and the
Pacific.
10 August 1885, The first electric street car railway
in the US was opened
in Baltimore by Leo Daft.
8 September 1883, The Northern Pacific Railway was completed,
as the last spike was driven at Gold Creek, Montana, after 13 years
construction.
1882, The railway from Denver to
Gunnison, USA, opened.
17 March 1881, The first through train from Kansas City to
California ran.
8 March 1881, The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway linked up
with the Southern Pacific Railway in New Mexico.
1880, The first railway reached
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1878, A �railway war� resulted when two railway
companies, the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe, and the Denver and Rio Grande,
both attempted to run tracks along the Arkansas River canyon, Colorado State.
The canyon was only wide enough for one set of tracks. During the day each
company laid tracks, and at night they sabotaged each other�s work, throwing
tools in the river and dynamiting the track works. The dispute took two years
to settle, in favour of the latter railway company.
6 September 1876, The first railway reached Los Angeles
(Southern Pacific Railroad), from San Francisco. The Santa Fe Railroad reached
Los Angeles in 1885. For a time the rail
fare westwards from Chicago was just 1US$, although considerably more going
east. This pricing strategy was adopted to encourage more settlers to move
west, so railway income from fruit harvested around Los Angeles would increase.
1875, Railway tracks from New York�s Central Station were placed in a large cutting that ran along 4th
(Park) Avenue;the cutting had taken 3 years to build. By 1915 the cutting was
largely covered to create a tunnel.
1874, The Hoosac Tunnel, 9.3 km, in NW Massachusetts, was
completed (begun 1855).
4 July 1874, The
railway east from St Louis, USA, opened, crossing the Mississippi by the Eads
Bridge.
1 August 1873, The first street cable cars in the world
were installed in San Francisco, on Clay Street Hill; the steep terrain made
horse buses impractical. They were the invention of engineer Andrew Smith
Hallidie, 37.
19� December 1871,� The city of Birmingham,
Alabama, was incorporated. In 1870 the site of Birmingham was a
cotton field crossed by two railways. Birmingham was founded by a land company backed by the
railways.
15 August 1870, In the US, the Transcontinental Railway was
completed in Colorado.
24 July 1870. The first transcontinental train
arrived in New York from San Francisco.
1869, A cog railway up Mount Washington,
1,907 metres in |New Hampshire, was completed.
10 May 1869. The first railroad
across the USA from east to west, 1,776 miles long, was completed
after three years work at a ceremony west of Ogden, in Utah. The Union Pacific
Line finally met with the Central Pacific Line. Both companies raced to lay as
much track as possible as they converged, spurred on by government payments of
US$16,000 per mile, more for mountainous areas. A golden spike was driven in at
Promontory Point, Utah, where the railways met. Travel time between New York and San
Francisco was slashed from 3 months to 8 days.
4 July 1869, The Kansas City to Chicago railway opened.
1867, The first elevated track
railway in New York City opened, from Battery Place to 30th Street,
above Greenwich Street (9th Avenue). It was much faster than the
horse car transport at street level. This ;ine, the Gilbert Line, would later
be linked to the 3rd Avenue Railway, running between City Hall and
42nd Street.
1865, The Union Pacific Railway
which was begun from Omaha in 1862 now reached Kansas City.
1865, The first train hold-up, at North Bend, Ohio.
2� December 1862, Construction began on the
Union Pacific Railway at Omaha, Nebraska Territory.
22 February 1862, Construction began on the Central Pacific Railway
at Sacramento, California.
1860, The first railway in Texas
opened, Harrisburg to Alleyton.
1859, The Pullman carriages on
the Chicago and Alton railroad were first equipped with toilets.
14 February 1859, The railway reached St Joseph, Missouri River,
USA.
22 April 1856, The first railway bridge to cross the Mississippi
River opened between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Boat operators
on the Mississippi mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge, claiming that the
bridge was a nuisance.
1 April 1857, The railway from Charleston to Memphis, USA,
opened.
1856, The Illinois Central
Railroad was completed between Chicago and Cairo, Illinois.
22 February 1856, The Sacramento to Folsom railway,
California, 35.4 ikm, opened.
1855, The Lehigh Valley Railway
opened its first section between Easton and \Mauch Chunk. The line evenstually
ran from New York to Buffalo.
1854, The Pennsylvania Railway,
headed by J
Edgar Thomson, aged 46, opened between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.
1854, The B&O railway between
Baltimore and Wheeling opened.
22 February 1854, The Chicago and Rock Island Railroad was
completed to Rock Island, Illinois.
1853, The railway from
Philadelphia reached Absecon, New Jersey, later famous as Atlantic City.
18 February 1853, August Belmont, US railway financier, was born
in New York.
1852, The first street railway
opened in the Boston area, between Harvard Square, Cambridge, and Union Square,
Somerville.
10 October 1852, The first train ran on the Rock Island
line, 70 km from Chicago to Joliet, Illinois, in 2 hours. In 2/1854 this line
reached Rock Island on the Mississippi to link Chicago to this major waterway.
This railway eventually reached Minneapolis-St Paul, Galveston, Denver,
Colorado Springs, Santa Rosa and Memphis.
20 February 1852, The first through train from the eastern
USA reached Chicago on the Chicago Southeastern Railway. The railway helped
make Chicago into a major grain and meat packing centre.
1851, The Hudson River Railway
opened, linking New York with East Albany.
1851, The Baltimore and Ohio
Railway reached the Ohio River at Wheeling.
1851, The railway reached Cleveland, Ohio.
16 August 1851, The railway from Laprarie, Quebec, Canada
to Rouses Point, New York, USA, opened.
4 July 1851, Construction began at St Louis on the Missouri
Pacific Railway. This railway was extended to serve the Mississippi Valley
south to Memphis and New Orleans, and the Missouri Valley west to Kansas City
and Pueblo, Colorado.
15 May 1851, The Erie Railway (begun 1832) reached Dunkirk on
Lake Erie, linking New York with the Great Lakes and competing with the 1825
Erie Canal.
1849, The Chicago and Galena
Railway reached Chicago. By 1869
Chicago was served by 10 railway lines.
1847, The railway first reached
Indianapolis, Indiana State.
6 October 1846, George
Westinghouse, US engineer and inventor of the railway air brake, was born in
Central Bridge, New York State.
1842, The railway from
Washington DC to Cumberland, Maryland, opened.
1841, The Boston to Albany railway opened.
1840, First railway in
Mississippi opened, Vicksburg to Clinton.
1838, The first railway in
Illinois opened, Jacksonville to Meredosia.
16 September 1838, James Hill, US railway capitalist, was born.
1/1838, Washington and New York
were now linked by a chain of railways, with ferries across major rivers and
stagecoach links between stations.
1837, The New York and Harlem
Railway reached Harlem.
1836, The first railway in
Maine, Bangor to Old Town, 20km, opened.
18 April 1836, The Long Island Railroad, USA, began operations.
1835, First steam hauled railway
opened in Kentucky; Lexington to Franklin, 44 km. Extended to Louisville in
1851.
24 August 1835, Passenger rail
services began into Washington DC, USA.
27 May 1835, Charles Francis
Adams, President of the Union Pacific Railroad 1884-90, was born in
Boston.
1834, The Tuscumbia to Decatur railway, Alabama, opened.
1834, The Camden to South Amboy railway, New Jersey,opened.
1834, The Baltimore to Harpers Ferry railway, West
Virginia,opened.
1834, The Tallahassee to Port Leon railway, Florida, opened.
7 October 1834, Staple
Bend rail tunnel, 6.4 km east of Joihnstown, poennsylvania, 275m long, opened.
1833, The Weldon, North Carolina, to Petersburg, Virginia,
railway opened.
1833, The Charleston to Hamburg railway, South Carolina, opened.
9 November 1833, The first
passenger train accident in the US. 12 of the 24 passengers on the
Camden and Amboy line between Spotswood and Hightstown, New Jersey, were
seriously injured.
6 June 1833, The
Baltimore to Ohio railroad became the first railway to carry a US President, Andrew Jackson.
1832, The Northwich to Killingly railway, Connecticut, opened.
1832, The Detroit to St Joseph railway, Michigan, opened.
26 November 1832, Trams began
running in New York City, between Prince Street and 14th
Street.� They were introduced by John Mason.
14 November 1832, The New
York and Harlem railway began operations. It was New York�s first street
railway. In 1834 itwas extended up 4th Avenue to 84th
Street.
1831, The New Orleans to Lake
Pontchartrain railway, Louisiana, opened.
1831, The Newcastle to
Frenchtown railway, Delaware, opened.
1831, The New York to
Schenectady railway,New York State, opened.
7/1831, The Newcastle and
Frenchtown Turnpike and Railway Company opened a 27.8 km route; steam powere was
used from 10/1832. It is now part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
30 June 1831, The
Baltimore to Ohio railroad became the first railway in the US to carry troops.
3 March 1831, George
Pullman, who developed the Pullman Railway Carriage, was born in Brocton,
New York State.
15 January 1831, The South Carolina Railroad opened in the
US. It was the first in the US with a regular passenger service.
1830, The Mohawkand Hudson
railway began operations. It later formed part of the New York Central railway
in 1853.
25� December 1830, The first steam-powered regular train service
in America began, running from Charleston on the South Carolina
Railroad.
14�
December 1830, The first practical rail locomotive capable of
running a regular passenger service began operations on the South Carolina
Railroad. Full passenger services began on 25�
December 1830.
25 August 1830, A lighter
steam locomotive began operating on US rails; and was capable of 13 mph.
24 May 1830, The first passenger railway in America opened,
from Baltimore
to Ohio, 22 km.
9 October 1829, In the US
the Carbondale to Honesdale railway was opened by the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company. However the steam locomotives were too heavy for the track, which was
initially worked as a gravity line.
7 August 1829, The first
steam railway engine ran in the USA. It operated on the Delaware and Hudson Bay
railways, but was too heavy for the rails so was impractical.
4 July 1828,
Construction began on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.
7 October 1826, The first railway in the USA opened, at
Quincy, Massachusetts.
25 August 1819,� Allan Pinkerton,
founder of the Pinkerton detective agency, which specialised in railway theft,
was born.
10 January 1804, Oakes Ames, US industrialist who played a major
role in the construction of the transcontinental railway across the USA to
California, was born in Easton, Massachusetts (died in North Easton,
Massachusetts, 8 May 1873).
Caribbean islands
Bermuda
1931,
A 22.5km line opened from Somerset to St Georges via Hamilton. It closed in
1947.
Cuba
19 November 1837, The first railway in Cuba opened. It ran from Havana to Bejucal.
Jamaica,
21 November 1845, The first railway in Jamaica opened. It ran 20 km between Kingston
and Spanish Town.
Central American railways
Mexico
1970,
The Mexico City metro system opened.
1907, The Mexican Isthmus railway formally
opened, across from Coatzacoalcos (Puerto Mexico) on the Atlantic coast 309 km
to Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast. The line had actually been completed in 1894,
but lack of port facilities along with defective construction rendered it
useless.
1880, Concessions were granted for three
rail lines from Mexico City south to Oaxaca, and north to the US frontier at
Cuidad Juarez and to Laredo.
1874, A concession was granted for a 39
km line from the port of Progreso to Merida.
1873,
The line from Mexico City to the seaport of Veracruz, 424 km, opened.
1862, 16 km of railway were in operation
from Veracruz. This was to be part of the line to Mexico City.This year it was
extended to Paso del Macho, total length 60 km.
1857, The Ferrocarril Mexicano was
created.
1854, The Mexico City to Guadeloupe line,
7 km, opened.
El
Salvador,
1882, First railway in El Salvador
opened. It was a narrow guage line from Sonsonate to the port of Acajutla.
19 March 1900, The
railway from San Salvador to Santa Anna and the port of Acajutala opened.
Honduras
1869,
First railway opened, Puerto Cortes to La Pimienta, 95 km.
Nicaragua.
1903,
The railway reached Managua.
Panama
28 January 1855. The 47-mile Panama Railway, linking the
Atlantic and Pacific across the Isthmus of Panama, opened.
South American railways
Argentina
1948,
Argentinian railways were nationalised.
20 February 1948, The 863
kilometre railway from Salta, Argentina, to Antofagasta, Chile, was completed.
12/1913,
The first urban
metro system on South America opened, in Buenos Aires.
5 April 1910, A
Trans-Andean railway from Mendoza, Argentina to Los Andes, Chile was completed.
The line had been proposed back in 1854, but work did not begin until 1887.
Passenger services were withdrawn in 1979 due to lack of demand, but freight
traffic has grown.
1884, The railway reached the city of
Mendoza.
14� December 1865,
The Buenos Aires to Chascomus railway, 70 miles, opened.
30 August 1857, The first railway in Argentina opened,
Parque to Floresta (Buenos Aires), 9.9 km.
Bolivia
1913,
The Arica to La Paz railway opened.
1873,
The first railway on Bolivia opened,
from Antofagusta (now part of Chile) to the nitrate mines.
Brazil
30 May 1957, Brazilian
Federal Railways, RFFSA, was established.
1912, The Madiera to Mamoro railway opened, 410 km, after 6 years
construction during which 6,000 workers had died. Smakenbites, arrows from
hostile indigenous inhabitants, malarial yellow fever and wild animals had all
taken a toll. The railway was to export rubber, but the Brazilian rubber
plantations were soon superseded by plantations in Africa and eastern Asia.
30 April 1854, The first railway in Brazil opened. It ran 10 km from Maua, Rio
Bay, to the foot of Petropolis Sierra.
Chile
1948,
The Northern TransAndine Railway from Antofagasta, Chile, to Salta, 904 km,
opened.
1863,
The Santiago to Valparaiso railway opened.
25� December 1851,
The first railway in Chile opened. It ran from the port of Caldera
to Copiapo, 80.5 km..
Colombia
1961,
The railway from Bogota to the Atlantic port of Santa Marta opened.
1855, The
first railway in Colomnia opened.
Guyana
30 June 1972, The
Georgetown to Plaisance railway closed.
1900, The railway reached Rosignol.
3 November 1848, The first railway in South
America opened.
It ran from Georgetown to Plaisance.
Ecuador
25 June 1908, The
railway from Guayaquil, on the Pacific,�
to Quito fully opened. Construction had begun in 1871.
Peru,
17 May 1851, The first railway in Peru opened. It ran 15 km from the port of
Callao to Lima.
Suriname
28 March 1905, The Lawa railway from Paramaribo to Dam opened in Suriname
Venezuela
1883,
Railway from Caracas to the port of La Guaira, 38 km, opened.
Antarctican and extra-terrestrial railways
OK we don�t have any railways on the Moon, and we
haven�t seen any evidence of any on Mars, or beyond, as yet. But there are a
few in the Antarctic Region, see this site ((may be a problem occasionally with
the wrong sort of snow on the lines)
https://www.sinfin.net/railways/world/antarctica.html
