Timeline of railway history

600 BC

c. 600 BC - 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.

16th-18th century

Mid-16th century (1550) - Hand propelled tubs known as "hunds" used in the provinces surrounding/forming modern day Germany by the mid-16th century having been in proven use since the mid-15th century. This technology was brought to England by German miners working in the Mines Royal at various sites in the English Lake District near Keswick (Now in Cumbria).

1603/04 - Huntingdon Beaumont, partner of landowner Sir Percival Willoughby, built the first recorded above ground early railway/wagonway. It was approximately two miles in length, running from mines at Strelley to Wollaton in Nottinghamshire, England. It is known as the Wollaton Wagonway. Beaumont built three further wagonways shortly after, near Blyth in Northumberland related to the coal and salt trade. Shortly after the Wollaton Wagonway was built other wagonways are recorded at Broseley near Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. Further wagonways emerged in the English North East.

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.

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 waggonway using horse-drawn waggons. Around 1799, Middleton began to replace wooden tracks with iron edge rails at a gauge of 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm). In 1812 the Middleton Railway became the first commercial railway to successfully use steam locomotives: the Salamanca of John Blenkinsop.

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 (1785), 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 iron into bars, but it was eventually adapted to making other shapes including rails. Rolling was 15 times faster than hammering.

1783 Henry Cort patented 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.

1784 William Murdock demonstrated a steam carriage powered by a high pressure engine. He would later show it to his neighbor Richard Trevithick who would go on to build locomotives.

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 waggons was hauled by one horse. The track used edge rails to a gauge of 3 ft 4 3⁄4 in (1,035 mm.). 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, later the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway, 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 first public railway, 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 London 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 railway opens; first commercial railway, connected to the Surrey Iron Railway

1807 - First fare-paying, 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" (Welsh: Tren Bach I'r Mwmbwls). The railway was laid in the form of a plateway, with the rails being approximately 4 ft (1,219 mm) and used a horse-drawn vehicles. At the beginning the railway survived using various forms of traction until 1960.

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 use a steam locomotive. It was the Blücher from George Stephenson used at Killingworth Colliery. This locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph (6.4 km/h). 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" (a circular steam railway with locomotive Catch Me Who Can) 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 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 (6.4 km/h) but was too heavy to run on wooden rails or iron rails which existed in that time.

1825 - Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first publicly subscribed, adhesion worked railway using steam locomotives, carrying freight from a Colliery to a river port (Passengers were conveyed by horse-drawn carriages).

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 (cable) 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 (horse-drawn carriage). Some tests had been run since May 1, 1827. The official opening ceremony on October 1, 1828 never really took place, this date being in fact the first fiscal year of the railway company.

1828 Railway (horse-drawn carriage) České Budějovice - Linz, first public railway in continental Europe, with length 120 km and rail gauge 1,106 mm (3 ft 7 1⁄2 in), section České Budějovice - Kerschbaum put into operation on September 30, 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 (fuel).

1828 July 4 - the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) 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 (29 mph) 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 (B&O), opened with 23 miles of track, with mostly hardwood rail topped with iron. The steam locomotive, Tom Thumb (locomotive), 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, began. The line 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 use iron rails on dice stones. The line was 58 km long and had an 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.

1831 - First railway in Australia, for the Australian Agricultural Company, a cast iron fishbelly gravitational railway servicing the A Pit coal mine.

1831 - First passenger season tickets issued on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.

1832 - The Leicester and Swannington Railway opened in Leicestershire - the first steam railway in the English Midlands.

1832 - Railway switch patented by Charles Fox.

1833 - The Great Western Railway Works, near Swindon, England are founded by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

1834 - The first section of the Boston and Albany Railroad opens, subsequently becoming part of the New York Central Railroad.

1834 - Ireland's first railway, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) opened between Dublin and Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), a distance of six miles.

1835 - In Belgium, a railway opened on May 5 between Brussels and Mechelen : The line 25. In 1836 a second section between Mechelen and Antwerp opened. The line still exists and is used by a high speed train between Paris and Amsterdam.

1835, December 7 - Bavarian Ludwigsbahn, the first steam-powered German railway line, opened for public service between Nuremberg and Fürth.

1836, July 21 - First public railway in Canada, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, opened in Quebec with a 16-mile run between La Prairie and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

1837 - Partial opening of the London and Birmingham Railway Line (L&BR) running from Euston to Birmingham, 112-miles (180 km), 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 - Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company opened the first long-distance German railway line, connecting Leipzig with Althen near Wurzen. In 1839 the line reached Dresden.

1837 - The first Austrian railway line connected Vienna with Wagram. In 1839 the line reached Brno.

1837 - The first rail line in Russia connected Tsarskoye Selo and Saint Petersburg.

1837 - The first line in Paris (Paris-Saint Germain Line) opened between Le Pecq near the former royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Embarcadère des Bâtignoles (later to become Gare Saint-Lazare). 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. It is still open to this day.

1837 - Robert Davidson built the first electric locomotive

1838 - Edmondson railway ticket introduced.

1839 - The first railway in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Italy, opened from Naples to Portici.

1839 - The first rail line in the Netherlands connected Amsterdam and Haarlem.

1840 - The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in North Carolina becomes the longest railroad in the world with 161.5 miles (259.9 km) of track.

1841 - The Great Western Railway was completed from London, to Bridgewater, via Bristol, a total of 152 miles (245 km).

1842, November 6 - First border crossing by rail between Mouscron (Belgium) and Tourcoing (France)

1843 - The first international rail line, connecting Brussels (Belgium) with Cologne (then Prussia) via Liège and Aachen (see Rhenish Railway Company)

1844 - The first rail line in Congress Poland was built between Warsaw and Pruszków.

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 November 21. 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.

1845 - Royal Commission on Railway Gauges to choose between Stephenson's gauge and Brunel's gauge.

1846 - James McConnell met with George Stephenson and Archibald Slate at Bromsgrove. It was at this meeting that the idea of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers came about.

1846 - The first railway line in Hungary, connects Pest and Vác

1846 - First international railway connection between two capitals, Paris and Brussels.

1847 - First train in Switzerland, the Limmat, on the Spanisch-Brotli-Bahn Railway line.

1848 - First railway line in Spain, built between Barcelona and Mataró.

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.

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 (80 km)

1851 - Initiative taken for a railway system in British India, for setting up military routes and growing trade.

1851 - Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway

1852 - The first railway in Africa, in Alexandria, Egypt.

1853 - Railways introduced to India, train ran from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Thane.

1853 - Indianapolis' Union Station, the first "union station", opened by the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and Bellefontaine Railroad in the United States.

1854 - The first railway in Brazil, inaugurated by Pedro II of Brazil on April 30 in Rio de Janeiro, built by the Viscount of Maua.

1854 - The first railway in Norway. Between Oslo and Eidsvoll.

1854 - The first railway in today's Serbia (then Austrian Empire), on 20 August 1854, between Lisava-Oravica-Bazijaš, operated on horse-drawn traffic, replaced in 1856 by steam locomotives.

1854 - First steam drawn railway in Australia. Melbourne to Hobson's Bay, Victoria.

1855 - The Panama Railway with over 50 miles (80 km) 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'.

1856 - The first railway in Papal State, Italy, from Rome to Frascati.

1856 - First railway completed in Portugal, linking Lisbon to Carregado.

1856 - Paris–Marseille railway opened, which together with other railways north of Paris created the first transcontinental railroad (from the English Channel to the Mediterranean Sea)

1857 - Steel rails first used in Britain.

1857 - The first railway in Argentina, built by Ferrocarril del Oeste between Buenos Aires and Flores, a distance of 10 km, opened to the public on August 30.

1858 - Henri Giffard invented the injector for steam locomotives.

1861 - First railway in Paraguay, from the station to the Port of Asuncion on June 14.

1862 - The first railway in Finland, from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna.

1862 - The Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway is opened.

1863 - First underground railway, the 4-mile (6.4 km) 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 (Later named Princess) for the Ffestiniog Railway

1864 - First railway line opened in Mauritius The North line covered 50 km (31 mi) and started operation on 23 May.

1865 - Pullman sleeping car introduced in the USA.

1866 - Ruse-Varna is the first railway line completed in Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire), connecting the Danube port of Ruse with the Black Sea port of Varna.

1869 - The First Transcontinental Railroad (North America) completed across the United States from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. Built by Central Pacific and Union Pacific.

1869 - George Westinghouse established the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in the United States.

1870 - The Paldiski-Tallinn-St Petersburg line is opened as the first railway line in Estonia (then part of the Russian Empire).

1872 - The Midland Railway put in a third-class coach on its trains.

1875 - Midland Railway introduced eight and twelve wheeled bogie coaches.

1877 - Vacuum brakes are invented in the United States.

1879 - First electric railway demonstrated at the Berlin Trades Fair.

1881 - First public electric tram line, the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, opened in Berlin, Germany.

1881 - One of the first railway lines in the Middle East was built between Tehran and Rayy in Iran.

1882 - Lavatories were introduced on the Great Northern Railway coaches in Britain

1882 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway connected Atchison, Kansas with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Deming, New Mexico, thus completing a second transcontinental railroad in the U.S..

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" (official name in English, most stock holders were British), 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.

1883 - Southern Pacific Railroad linked New Orleans, Louisiana with Los Angeles, California thus completing the third U.S. transcontinental railroad.

1883 - The Northern Pacific Railway,links Chicago, Illinois with Seattle, Washington—the fourth U.S. transcontinental railroad.

1885 - The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed 5 years ahead of schedule, the longest single railway of its time, which links the eastern and western provinces of Canada.

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.

1890 - First electric London Underground railway (subway) opened in London—all other subway systems soon followed suit.

1890 - U.S. employment is 749,000.

1891 - Construction began on the 9,313 km (5,787 mi) 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 first railway in Thailand between Bangkok to Samut Prakan opened (13.05 mi). The Great Northern Railway linked St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle—the fifth U. S. transcontinental railroad.

1894 - Thailand's tram line using electricity served in Bangkok.

1894 - Serbia's first electric tram line in Belgrade.

1895 - Japan's first electrified railway opened in Kyoto.

1895 - First mainline electrification on a four-mile stretch (Baltimore Belt Line) of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

1899 - The first Korean railway line connects Noryangjin (Seoul) with Jemulpo (Incheon).

1899 - Tokyo's first electric railway, the predecessor to Keihin Electric Express Railway opened.

1899 - First use of three-phase alternating current in a mainline. The 40 km Burgdorf-Thun line opened in Switzerland

20th century

1900 - U.S. employment is 1,018,000.

1913 - First diesel powered railcar enters service in Sweden.

1915 - First major stretch of electrified railway in Sweden; Kiruna-Riksgränsen (Malmbanan).

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 (USSR).

1925 - The first electric train ran between Bombay (Victoria Terminus) 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 (shunter), 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 (EA/1), electric locomotives were introduced on the Mumbai - Pune Route.

1934 - First diesel-powered streamlined passenger train in America (the Burlington Zephyr) introduced at the Chicago World's Fair.

1935 - First children's railway opens in Tbilisi, USSR.

1937-41 - Magnetic levitation (maglev) train patents awarded in Germany to Hermann Kemper, with design propelled by linear motors.

1938 - In England, the world speed record for steam traction was set by the Mallard, which reached a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).

1939 - In Persia the Trans-Iranian Railway opened, built entirely by local capital.

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 ($1945) 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, January 1 - British Railways formed by nationalising the assets of the 'Big Four' railway companies (GWR, LMS, LNER and SR).

1948, March 1 - Foreign-owned railway companies nationalised in Argentina during the first term of office of President Peron.

1951 - Worlds first preserved railway, the Talyllyn Railway, operates its first train under the preservation movement on the 14 May 1951.

1953 - Japan sets narrow gauge world speed record of 145 km/h (90 mph) with Odakyū 3000 series SE Romancecar.

1959, April - Construction of the first segment of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka commenced.

1940 - US employment is 793,000.

1960s-2000s (decade) - Many countries adopt high-speed rail in an attempt to make rail transport competitive with both road transport and air transport.

1963, March 27 - Publication of The Reshaping of Britain's Railways (the Beeching Report). 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 (100 mph) 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, June 21 - Penn Central, the dominant railroad in the northeastern United States, became bankrupt (the largest US corporate bankruptcy up to that time). 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 May 1, 1971.

1975, August 10 - British Rail's experimental tilting train, the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) achieved a new British speed record, the APT-E reaching 245 km/h (152.3 mph). The prototype APT-P pushed the speed record further to 261 km/h (162.2 mph) 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 213 km/h (132 mph). and with a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph).

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 (HST), which reached a speed of 238 km/h (148 mph).

1989 - Cairo Underground Metro Line 1 is the first line of underground in Africa and Middle East Line length 44 kilometres (27 mi) with 34 stations Daily ridership 1 million passenger Operating speed 100 km/h (62 mph).

1990 - World speed record for an electric train is set in France by a TGV, reaching a speed of 515 km/h (320 mph).

1994-1997 - Privatisation of British Rail. The British government passes ownership of track and infrastructure to Railtrack on 1 April 1994 (replaced by Network Rail in 2002), with passenger operations later franchised to 25 individual private-sector operators, and freight services sold outright.

21st century

2000 - Amtrak introduced the Acela Express on the Northeast Corridor in the United States.

2001 August - Northeast China first electrified railway opened between Shenyang and Harbin.

2001 - HS1, Britain's first high-speed rail line opens, allowing trains to run from London St Pancras to Paris on dedicated high-speed track.

2007 - High speed trains travelling at 350 km/h (217 mph) are introduced in Spain between Madrid and Barcelona.

2007 - Modified trainset of France's TGV had beaten its original world record when it travelled from Metz- Reims at a speed of 574.8 kilometres per hour (357.2 mph).

2007 - Ireland's first Intercity DMU, the IE 22000 Class, enters service running on the Dublin-Sligo line.

2010 - Shanghai Metro overtakes London Underground as the world's largest urban transit system (now serving: 420 km (260 mi) with 278 stations (235 not including stations served more than once)