Technology · 1830
The first inter-city railway
Liverpool, England (western terminus)
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, built by George Stephenson and opened on 15 September 1830, was the world's first inter-city railway and the first to rely entirely on steam locomotives, with double track, signalling and timetabled services. Its engines were chosen at the 1829 Rainhill trials, where the Stephensons' Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the course, and its opening day was marred when the MP William Huskisson was killed on the line.
Why it mattered
Its financial success set off railway building across Britain in the 1830s, and from the 1840s railways largely replaced canals, carrying people and goods faster and cheaper than ever before.
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