The history of railways development in Russia and in the world

One of the predecessors of the rail track was the ancient Greek diolcus. This is a stone portage road for transporting ships across the Isthmus of Corinth. It had deep grooves in which greased runners were placed.

The world's first public steam railroad was built in England by George Stephenson in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington. Its length was 40 kilometers (26 miles).

In 1829, George Stephenson built and tested his famous Raketa steam locomotive.

In 1837, the first railway in Russia was built. She connected St. Petersburg with Tsarskoye Selo. Its track width was 1,829 mm. The construction was supervised by the Austrian engineer Franz Gerstner.

In 1851, the first double-track railway St. Petersburg - Moscow was built in Russia.
From August 6 (18), 1851 to the present time, the day of the railway troops is celebrated in Russia.

On May 31, 1879, the first electric railway, 300 m long, built by Werner Siemens, was demonstrated at an industrial exhibition in Berlin. This day is considered to be the birthday of electric traction.

In Russia, there were projects for the electrification of railways even before the First World War. The electrification of the line has already begun. St. Petersburg - Oranienbaum, but the First World War prevented its completion. By 1935, 1907 km of tracks had been electrified in the USSR and 84 electric locomotives were in operation.

The first regular high-speed train service began in 1964 in Japan. In 1981, VSNT trains began to run in France, and then in Great Britain.

In Russia, the regular operation of high-speed trains "Sapsan", on common tracks with conventional trains, began at the end of 2009.

On December 12, 2010, a high-speed service was opened on the Allegro train on the route St. Petersburg - Helsinki.