200 years of iron tracks

This year is the centenary of railways, and it is a revolutionary and deep transformative invention that approached societies and regions, helped to create countries, enhance economies, and inspire innovation in the world.

Written by André Pierce *

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Since the first trip of the Stockon and Zezlton railway (S&R), in September 1825, the railways grew and became a global network and a symbol of technological innovation and the main element in industrial and social growth. The opening journey lasted slightly more than 40 km from S&R less than three hours and is much more than just a historical moment: the birth of modern railways and the beginning of a new era was marked. Five years later, the famous Manchester Liverpool line was opened, as the most famous steam-missile locomotive, which was built by George Stevenson.

This fence changed the way the goods and people began, which paves the way for British industrial rule and all countries that are betting at a later time and graduation on the train. The starting snapshot was given and saw an explosion in building the railway infrastructure, with new lines linking various cities, ports and economies, and become vital for trade and great global economic social relations.

The world has witnessed a period of great actions, records, reforms and changes in the railway sector, which lasts in time and is to clarify the continuous ability to overcome, transform and update. There are many examples. There was a large European railway appearance and many international ties during the day and night, as well as the creation of tourism as an industry. Railway services have evolved not only with a better infrastructure, but also with the development of comfort, speed and safety from the trains produced by the advanced rail industry. The sector has become a front lamp for technological and catalyst for social change.

In the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century, the diesel diesel was already dominant in many countries, real electricity, and in 1964, Japan became a leader at high speed with the opening of the exploitation of Xinkansen, between Tokyo and Osaka. After 17 years, in France, the first line of TGV (the train to the Great) was opened between Paris and Lyon. Gradually and gradually the spread of this technology has been strengthened by various points of the world. These countries, along with others such as Spain, Germany, Italy or China, have become great references in this sector, the latter, which, since 2020, is the most comprehensive country in the world’s high -speed network.

In 1994, Eurotunnel was opened, which allowed the United Kingdom to be connected to Europe, and recently, in 2016, 57 km from the SãO Gotardo-largest railway tunnel in the world, which broke the rock mass of the Alps in order to bring southern and northern Europe. Climate change, carbon neutral goals that reach 2050, digitization and the sustainability of the private sector have strengthened technological development more through the multiplication of diesel bays, as well as electricity, after it appeared in recent years of the cylinder and hydrogen. The global show in 2016 is highlighted from the first global hydrogen passenger train: the regional CORADIA ILINT unit at Alstom Multipesal.

Due to its influence as a discrimination in history and the world, in 1998, UNESCO realizes the importance of railways by declaring 41 km from the Austrian Semmering line as a heritage of humanity – the first railway in the world to obtain this classification through the remarkable engineering work that has been hacked since 1854.

But the history of iron tracks also lived in turbulent periods and decline, not only stimulates through doubtful public policies, and getting rid of strong bets on other transportation conditions, but also to implement repairs that can be highly dangerous to the presence of railways. Throughout the world, the two countries acted, taking into account the existence of a railway, or preferring them as a tool for public policies or depriving them in favor of other values.

In this regard, and it is not surprising, the United Kingdom has proven a good example, as it represents almost a school and a doctrine, spread to other countries. Richard Bishng’s arrival brought to the British Railways Administration in the 1960s, the famous “Bachting Report”, a document aimed at closing 8,000 km of lines and 2363 stations that were part of the regional and rural regional network. While the goal was to improve the accounting of the British General Company, at the expense of reducing network and railway services, on the other hand, it brought a period of the competition out of the intentions and goals of ending the railway service in various locations and regions. A large part of this plan, a fact that deeply affected the development of regions, and the documents that left the “Beeching Report” until the 1980s, have maintained the same common denominator. However, by institutional and social pressure, some lines and sections, from which the Scottish regional Waveley line, emerged, which witnessed, after 47 years of closure and abandonment, that its regional trains in 2015, which are under discussion and currently studying it to England. The rebuilding of the Wiferley line, known as the boundaries of the railway and one of the Beinging report is, to this day, is one of the main railway work over the past hundred years in the United Kingdom.

Nearly six decades, to recover the losses caused by the closure season in 2020, the British government presented your railway recovery fund, a program evaluated by about 600 million euros and launched to finance projects to reopen the lines and departments. It is still in the United Kingdom, in the nineties, at the end of the British railway and the privatization of railway services. However, after three decades, they return to the field of public administration through the great -created British railway (GBR), an entity that will be responsible for the railway infrastructure and railway services.

When we celebrate the centenary of the railway, we must think about these two centuries of innovative achievements that transformed the movement and the way we live and work and connect, as well as learning from the errors that committed the progress of the railway and the level of the present and the future of the areas that the train serves once. From its humble start, in 1825, to its primary role in the current transport panorama, especially in achieving the goals of industry, the railway was a driving force for progress, innovation and regional cohesion, which is able to adapt to the development of strong times and competition from the road and air transport.

Today, the global railway industry is unified and enhanced as an important economic asset by providing a market value of about 201.8 billion euros driven mainly with the investments made by Western Europe and whose tendency to growth (UNIFE, 2024). In Europe, the impact of the railway sector on the social and economic level is significant, and is represented by an economic dimension of about 182 billion euros and contributing to the creation of job opportunities: a million direct jobs and 1.3 million indirect jobs (CER, 2025).

The appearance of the transport of railways has made the world smaller, through artistic innovation unparalleled in history, which continues today to destroy time and shorten distances. The civilizational model, as we know, was born with the industrial revolution and transportation. In history, the great fence and innovation that represents the railway and its spread on a global scale will be recorded.

* Mr. An article originally published on transportation and business.

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