c. 700 BCE - A basic form of the railway, the rutway, - existed in ancient Greek and Roman times, the most important being the ship trackway Diolkos across the Isthmus of Corinth. Measuring between 6 and 8.5 km, remaining in regular and frequent service for at least 650 years, and being open to all on payment, it constituted even a public railway, a concept that, according to Lewis, did not recur until around 1800. The Diolkos was reportedly used until at least the middle of the 1st century AD, after which no more written references appear. the railroad was built in 1936.
16th-18th century
Mid 16th century – Hand propelled mining tubs known as "hands" were used in the provinces surrounding/forming modern day Germany by the mid-16th century having been improved use since the mid-15th century. This technology was brought to England by German miners working in the Minerals Royal at various sites in the English Lake District near Keswick.
c.1594 – The first overground railway line in England may have been a wooden-railed, horse-drawn tramroad which was built at Prescot, near Liverpool, around 1600 and possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away.
c.1600 – A funicular railway was made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1605 to carry coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the river Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns.
1722 – The Tranent – Cockenzie Waggonway was built by the York Buildings Company of London, to transport coal from the Tranent pits to the salt pans at Cockenzie and the Harbour at Port Seton, in Haddingtonshire, now East Lothian. This wooden waggonway was replaced in 1815 with an iron fish bellied edgeway to Cockenzie Harbour by the new owners, the Cadell family. This was Scotland's first railway of any kind, with one section of it remaining in constant use until 1962. Some in situ stone sleeper blocks survive at the Robert Stevenson designed Cockenzie Harbour, and the entirety of the route is a way marked footpath.
1725 – The Tanfield Wagonway was constructed to lead coal from pits around Tanfield to the Tyne at Redheugh. It was the first railway built on a large scale - 5 miles of double wooden track with massive civil engineering works including deep cuttings, huge embankments and the world's first large masonry railway bridge, the Causey Arch. Each 2.5 ton capacity waggon was hauled by a horse, up to 60 waggons per hour at peak times. Two miles of the wagonway route are still in use by the Tanfield Railway, making this the oldest operational railway in the world.
1758 – The Middleton Railway, the first railway granted powers by Act of Parliament, carried coal cheaply from the Middleton pits to Leeds. The line was privately financed and operated, initially as a wagonway using horse-drawn wagons. Around 1799, Middleton began to replace wooden tracks with iron edge rails at a gauge of 4 ft 1 in. In 1812 the Middleton Railway became the first commercial railway to successfully use steam locomotives: the Salamanca of John Blenkinsop.
1760s - Iron production in Britain begin to rise dramatically, followed by a similar rise on the European continent. Causes were the use of coke for smelting and refining pig iron and cast iron and the application of the steam engine and cast iron blowing cylinder to providing pressurized air for blast furnaces.
1768 – The Wagon Way was constructed by the Erskines of Mar in Alloa, to carry coal from the Clackmannanshire coalfields of central Scotland to the Port of Alloa. Initially using wooden rails, these were later clad in Swedish iron, and carried horse-drawn wagons. Some of the Wagon Way route still exists, although the tracks are long gone.
1783 – Henry Cort patented the grooved rolling mill for rolling hot iron to expel molten slag. Rolling was 15 times faster than hammering.
1783 – Henry Cort patented the puddling process for making wrought iron. This was the first large scale process for making a structural grade of iron and was also much less expensive than previous methods. Puddled iron production came into widespread production after 1800.
1789 – The Charnwood Forest Canal, sometimes known as the "Forest Line of the Leicester Navigation" has a railways to supplement the canal between Nanpantan and Loughborough, Leicestershire. William Jessop had realised a horse-drawn railway for coal wagons. He used successfully an iron edge-rail, in contrast to his partner Benjamin Outram, who, for other such lines, preferred the traditional iron "L" shaped flange-rail plateway.
1793 – the Butterley Gangroad or the "Crich Rail-way" was built by Benjamin Outram, to connect the Warner limestone Quarry to the Cromford Canal a mile away at Bullbridge. Contains the oldest known Railway tunnel at Fritchley
1798 – the Lake Lock Rail Road, arguably the world's first public railway, opened in 1798 to carry coal from the Outwood area to the Aire and Calder navigation at Lake Lock near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on a distance of approximately 3 miles. The load of three wagons was hauled by one horse. The track used edge rails to a gauge of 3 ft 4 3/4 in. The line gradually declined and was closed in 1836.
1800 to 1850
1800 The Boulton and Watt steam engine patent expired, allowing others to build high pressure engines with high power to weight ratios, suitable for locomotives.
1802 - The Carmarthenshire Tramroad, horse-drawn goods line, located in south west Wales, was established by the Act of Parliament. This line was used for coal transportation. It was a plateway of about 4 foot gauge, and powered with a pair of horses.
1802 - Unable to construct a canal like the nearby Cyfarthfa Ironworks, three of the four principal ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales : Dowlais, Plymouth and Penydarren collaborated in building the 9.5 mile Merthyr Tramroad between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon. It was a single track plateway with a gauge of 4 ft 4 in over the flanges of the L shaped cast iron plate rails. The plates were 3 ft long. One horse pulled about five trams.
1803 - The Surrey Iron Railway, London. It linked the towns of Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham on the south of the Thames. It was double track plateway throughout with a spacing of about 5 feet. The rails were of the Outram pattern are L-shaped in cross-section and 3 feet 2 inches long. The line was closed in 1846. A part of the route is now used by Tramlink between Wimbledon and West Croydon.
1804 - First steam locomotive railway known as Penydarren or "Pen-y-Darren" locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick, used to haul iron from Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon, Wales. The first train carried a load of 10 tons of iron. On one occasion it successfully tried hauling 25 tons. However, the weight of the locomotive was about 5 tons and broke many of the cast iron plate rails.
1805 - The Croydon Merstham & Godstone goods railway opens; first commercial railway, connected to the Surrey Iron Railway
1807 - First fare-paying, horse-drawn passenger railway service in the world was established on the Oystermouth Railway in Swansea, Wales. Later this became known as the Swansea and Mumbles Railway although the railway was more affectionately known as "The Mumbles Train". The railway was laid in the form of a plateway, with the rails being approximately 4 ft.
1808 - The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was the first railway in Scotland authorised by Act of Parliament. It was a plateway, using L-shaped iron plates as rails. In 1817 It was also the first in Scotland to trial a steam locomotive. It was the Blücher from George Stephenson used at KillingworthColliery. This locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph. It was used to tow coal wagons along the wagonway from Killingworth to Wallsend. It was withdrawn from service because of damage to the cast iron rails.
1808 - Richard Trevithick sets up a "steam circus" in London for some months, for the public to experience for 1 shilling each.
1812 - First commercial use of a steam locomotive on the Middleton Railway, Leeds. Matthew Murray of Fenton, Murray and Wood, in Holbeck, designed a locomotive with a pinion that meshed with a rack. Murray's design was based on Richard Trevithick's locomotive, Catch me who can, adapted to use Blenkinsop's rack and pinion system, and probably was called Salamanca. It was the first two-cylinder locomotive.
1813 - Wylam Waggonway for goods, to haul coal chaldron wagons from the mine at Wylam to the docks at Lemington-on-Tyne in Northumberland : steam locomotive Puffing Billy started commercial operation. Designer William Hedley, blacksmith Timothy Hackworth. Ran for 50 years hauling coal. Wylam is the birthplace of George Stephenson.
1814 - George Stephenson constructs his first locomotive, Blücher for the Killingworth wagonway. The locomotive was modelled on Matthew Murray's. It could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph but was too heavy to run on wooden rails or iron rails which existed in that time.
1822 - Stephenson's Hetton colliery railway for goods, is the first purpose built railway not to use animal power, instead using stationery engines, inclines and purpose built steam locomotives.
1825 - Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway, for goods, the first publicly subscribed, adhesion worked railway using steam locomotives, carrying freight from a Colliery to a river port. The line opened on 26 September 1825. The following day, 550 passengers were hauled, making this the world's first steam-powered passenger railway, contrary to the claims of Liverpool five years later.
1826 January - the first section of the Springwell Colliery Railway, latter to become known as the Bowes Railway opened, this was the first six miles of what would become a 15-mile railway, using a mix of locomotive and rope haulage. Part of the original line is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
1827 June 30 - The first railway opened in France between Saint-Etienne and Andrézieux. Some tests had been run since 1 May 1827. The official opening ceremony on 1 October 1828 never really took place, this date being in fact the first fiscal year of the railway company.
1828 - 1 August, opening of the Bolton and Leigh Railway with locomotive “Lancashire Witch” pulling wagons loaded with approximately 150 passengers.. Though regular passenger services did not start until 1831.
1828 Railway České Budějovice - Linz, first public railway in continental Europe, with length 120 km and rail gauge 1,106 mm, section České Budějovice - Kerschbaum put into operation on 30 September 1828.
1828 Hot blast was patented by James Beaumont Neilson. It was the most important development of the 19th century for saving energy in making pig iron. Hot blast also dramatically increased the capacity of blast furnaces and improved the quality of iron made with coke.
1828 July 4 - the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began constructing a track. The South Carolina Railroad Company commenced construction a few months later.
1829 - George and Robert Stephenson's locomotive, Rocket, sets a speed record of 47 km/h at the Rainhill Trials held near Liverpool.
1830 - The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway opened in Kent, England on 3 May, three months before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Engineered by George Stephenson, a 5¾ mile line running from Canterbury to the small port and fishing town of Whitstable, approximately 55 miles east of London. Traction was provided by three Stationary Winding Engines, and "Invicta"; Invicta was an 0-4-0 Loco, built by the Stephenson company, but only operated on a level section of track because she produced a meagre 9 hp.
1830 - The first public railway in the United States, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, opened with 23 miles of track, with mostly hardwood rail topped with iron. The steam locomotive, Tom Thumb, was designed and built by Peter Cooper for the B&O — the first American-built steam locomotive. Trials of the locomotive began on the B&O that year.
1830 - The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened, and the first steam passenger service, primarily locomotive-hauled and entirely exclusive of animal power, began. The line had the first timetables for passengers and proper stations and proved the viability of rail transport. Large scale railway construction started in Britain, then spread throughout the world, beginning the Railway Age.
1830 - The first portion of the Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway opened between Givors and Rive-de-Gier on 1 July 1830. The rest of the line opened on 1 October 1832 for passenger use only, accepting freight a few months later. It used iron rails on dice stones. The line was 58 km long and had a 375 meters elevation with 112 bridges and three tunnels. The locomotives were based on George Stephenson Locomotion, but with a tubular boiler that produced six times more power.
1837 - Partial opening of the London and Birmingham Railway Line running from Euston to Birmingham, 112-miles, open throughout in 1838, becoming the capital's first inter-city line. Euston was London's first railway terminus.
1837 - The first Cuban railway line connected Havana with Bejucal. In 1838 the line reached Güines. This was also the first railway in Latin America and the Iberian world in general.
1837 - The first line in Paris opened between Le Pecq near the former royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Embarcadère des Bâtignoles. It is the first railway from Paris, but also the first of France designed solely for the carriage of passengers and operated with steam locomotives. Still open today, the western section from Saint-Germain to Nanterre is now part of the RER A, the busiest railway line in Europe.
1844 - The first Atmospheric Railway, the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway opened for passenger service between Kingstown & Dalkey in Ireland. The line was 3 km in length & operated for 10 years.
1845 - The first railway line built in Jamaica opened on 21 November. The line ran 15 miles from Kingston to Spanish Town. It was also the first rail line built in any of Britain's West Indies colonies. The Earl of Elgin, Jamaica's Governor presided over the opening ceremonies, by the late 1860s the line extended 105 miles to Montego Bay.
1848 - First railway in South America, British Guyana. The railway was designed, surveyed and built by the British-American architect and artist Frederick Catherwood. John Bradshaw Sharples built all the railway stations, bridges, stores, and other facilities. Financing was provided by the Demerera Sugar Company, who wished to transport their product to the dock of Georgetown. Construction was in sections with the first, from Georgetown to Plaisance, opening on 3 November 1848. The opening day's festivities were marred when the locomotive ran over and killed one of the railway's directors. After this, multiple more railways were created, however, this is just the beginning timeline
1850 to 1899
1850: Kilometers of railway line in operation In Europe: Great Britain: 9797 Plus Ireland: 865; Germany: 5856; France: 2915; Austria: 1357; Belgium: 854; Russia: 501; Netherlands: 176.
1851 - First train in Chile from Caldera to Copiapó
1851 - Initiative taken for a railway system in British India, for setting up military routes and growing trade.
1854 - The first railway in today's Serbia, on 20 August 1854, between Lisava-Oravica-Bazijaš, operated on horse-drawn traffic, replaced in 1856 by steam locomotives.
1855 - The Panama Railway with over of track is completed after five years of work across the Isthmus of Panama at a cost of about $8,000,000 dollars and over 6,000 lives—the first 'transcontinental railway'.
1863 - First underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway opened in London. The adapted steam engines held condensed steam and let it out only at particular tunnel locations that had air vents. This gave rise to a new mode of subterranean urban transit: the Subway/U-Bahn/Metro.
1863 - Scotsman Robert Francis Fairlie invented the Fairlie locomotive with pivoted driving bogies, so trains could negotiate tighter track curves. This innovation was rare for steam locomotives, but was the model for most future diesel and electric locomotives.
1863 - First steam railway in New Zealand opened from Christchurch to Ferrymead.
1863 - World's first narrow - gauge steam locomotive built, The Princess for the Ffestiniog Railway
1864 - First railway line opened in Mauritius The North line covered 50 km and started operation on 23 May.
1882 - First line in Kingdom of Serbia: 12 km long 600 mm wide gauge track from Majdanpek copper processing plant to Velike Livade, constructed by the "Serbian Copper & Iron Co", first run in June 1882.
1883 - First electric tram line using electricity served from an overhead line, the Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened in Austria.
1888 - Frank Sprague installs the "trolleypole" trolley system in Richmond, Virginia, making it the first large scale electric street railway in the US, though the first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company.
1889 - The first interurbantram-train to emerge in the United States was the Newark and Granville Street Railway in Ohio, which opened in 1889.
1890 - The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction
1891 - Construction began on the long Trans-Siberian railway in Russia. Construction completed in 1904. Webb C. Ball established the first railway watch official guidelines for railroad chronometers.
1892 - The first horse-drawn tram line in Belgrade, Serbia.
1893 - The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened on 6 March 1893 with 2-car electric multiple units, the first to operate in the world.
1913 - First diesel powered railcar enters service in Sweden. In Austria-Hungary, the first electrified metric railway was opened between Arad and the neighboring vineyards, facilitating transportation of goods and people and reducing travel time from half a day to just one hour.
1915 - First major stretch of electrified railway in Sweden; Kiruna-Riksgränsen.
1917 - GE produced an experimental Diesel-electric locomotive using Lemp's control design—the first in the United States.
1920 - U.S. employment is 2,076,000.
1924 - First diesel-electric locomotive built in Soviet Union.
1925 - The first electric train ran between Bombay and Kurla, a distance of 16 km. The first electric train of India.
1925 - Ingersoll-Rand with traction motors supplied by GE built a prototype Diesel switching locomotive, the AGEIR boxcabs. Mumbai to Pune route electrified in India, WCG 1 electric locomotives were introduced on the route.
1926 - First diesel locomotive service introduced in Canada.
1930 - GE began producing diesel-electric switching engines. WCP1, electric locomotives were introduced on the Mumbai - Pune Route.
1939 - Diesel-electric railroad locomotion entered the mainstream in the U.S. when the Burlington Railroad and Union Pacific start using diesel-electric "streamliners" to haul passengers.
1940 - U.S. employment is 1,046,000.
1942-45 - The U.S. gives over 117 steam locomotives worth over $2,624,182 to the Soviet Union under U.S. Lend Lease.
1946 - U.S. railroads begin rapidly replacing their rolling stock with diesel-electric units—not completing the process until the mid 1960s.
1948, 1 January - British Railways formed by nationalising the assets of the 'Big Four' railway companies.
1948, 1 March - Foreign-owned railway companies nationalised in Argentina during the first term of office of President Peron.
1951 - World's first preserved railway, the Talyllyn Railway, operates its first train under the preservation movement on 14 May 1951.
1963, 27 March - Publication of The Reshaping of Britain's Railways. Generally known as the "Beeching axe", it led to the mass closure of 25% of route miles and 50% of stations during the decade following.
1964 - Bullet Train service introduced in Japan, between Tokyo and Osaka. Trains average speeds of 160 km/h due to congested shared urban tracks, with top speeds of 210 km/h.
1968 - British Rail ran its last final steam-driven mainline train, named the Fifteen Guinea Special, after of a programmed withdrawal of steam during 1962-68. It marked the end of 143 years of its public railway use. Thailand's tram line was stop serviced.
1970, 21 June - Penn Central, the dominant railroad in the northeastern United States, became bankrupt. Created only two years earlier in 1968 from a merger of several other railroads, it marked the end of long-haul private-sector US passenger train services, and forced the creation of the government-owned Amtrak on 1 May 1971.
1975, 10 August - British Rail's experimental tilting train, the Advanced Passenger Train achieved a new British speed record, the APT-E reaching 245 km/h. The prototype APT-P pushed the speed record further to 261 km/h in December 1979, but when put into service on 7 December 1981, it failed and was withdrawn days later, resuming only from 1980 to 1986 on the West Coast Main Line.
1979 - High speed TGV trains introduced in France, TGV trains travelling at an average speed of. and with a top speed of.
1984 - The Kolkata Metro is a metro railway transport system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in the Indian state of West Bengal. The Kolkata Metro was the first Metro Railway in India, opening for commercial services from 24 October 1984. The metro system has most of its stations underground. Being the first of its kind in India and in the entire South Asia, the metro system is proudly called "India's First, Kolkata's Pride.
1987 - World speed record for a diesel locomotive set by British Rail's High Speed Train, which reached a speed of.
1989 - Cairo Underground Metro Line 1 is the first line of underground in Africa and Middle East Line length with 34 stations Daily ridership 1 million passenger Operating speed.
1990 - World speed record for an electric train is set in France by a TGV, reaching a speed of.
1994-1997 - Privatisation of British Rail. The British government passes ownership of track and infrastructure to Railtrack on 1 April 1994, with passenger operations later franchised to 25 individual private-sector operators, and freight services sold outright.
2015 - In March, China South Rail Corporation demonstrated the world's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao. The chief engineer of the CSR subsidiary CSR Sifang Co Ltd..
2017 - Ground-level power supply technology, TramWave, developed by Italian company Ansaldo, successfully entered commercial application via the opening of Zhuhai tram Line 1 first phase in China, and it is said to be the first 100% low-floor tram system adopting ground level power supply technology instead of overhead lines.
