Earliest Trains

Railed trucks were being used in 1500 at Leberthal Alsace, near the French-German border, and at the Broseley Colliery, Salop (Shropshire), England, in Oct 1605.

The first self propelled locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick (1771-1883) for the 3 foot gauge plateway at Coalbrookdale, Salop, in 1803. Middleton Colliery Railway was the earliest established railway to have a steam powered locomotive. This was introduced between Middleton Colliery and leeds Bridge, Yorkshire, England. This line was converted to the use of steam locomotive (gauge 4 feet 1 inch), built by Mathew Murry (1765-1826) in 1812.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway, Cleveland, England, which ran from Shildon through Darlington to Stockton, opened on 27 Sep 1825. The 7.8 ton Locomotion could pull 54 tons at speed of 15 mph. It was designed by George Stephenson (1781-1848).

The first regular steam passenger run was inaugurated over a one mile section on the 6.25 mile track from Canterbury to Whistable, Kent, England on 03 May 1830, hayled by the engine invicta.

The First Electric Railway

Warner von Siemen’s 600 yard long Berlin electric track opened for the Berlin Trades Exhibition on 31 May 1879.

Busiest Rail Road

The world’s most crowded rail system is the Japanese National Railways.

Largest Straight Length

Commonwealth Railways Trans-Australian line over the Nullarbor plain from mile 496 between Nurina and Loongana, Western Australia, to mile 793 between Ooldea, and Watson, South Australia, 297 miles dead straight although not level.

Largest Railways Station

Grand Central Terminal, New York, built in 1903-13. It covers 19.4 has on two levels with 67 tracks. Over 550 trains and 1,80,000 people use it every day.

Highest Railway Station

The highest railway station in the world on standard gauge railways is Condor, Bolivia, at 15,705 ft on the Rio Mulato-to-Potosi line.

Largest Waiting Room

At Beijing Station, Chang’an Boulevard, Beijing, China with a capacity of 14,000. It was opened in Sep 1959.

Fastest Rail Speed

Highest speed recorded on any national rail system is 515 kmph by the French SNCF high speed train TGV Train-a Grande Vitesse, on 18th May 1990.

Subway Railway System

World’s oldest and most extensive subway Raiway system is that of London Transport Executive. The first section was opened on 16 Jan 1963.

The world’s Longest Railway Line

The Trans-Siberian Line of Russia is the World’s Longest Railway Line. The line starts from Moscow and runs eastwards through the Ural Mountains and across all of Asia to Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan. It covers a distance of 9,288 kms. The journey from Moscow to Vladivostok takes about 8 days 4 hrs and 25 minutes. There are 97 stops on the rail route. It crosses seven time zones. The construction of the line began in 1891. By 1903 around 70,000 workers had moved 77 million cubic feet of earth, felled 1,08,000 acres of forest, and bridged half a dozen major rivers.