Date Of First Passenger Railway Line In Each European Country

Map created by FDVThe map above shows the date each European country got it’s first railway line, starting with Great Britain in 1830 to the Vatican over a century later.

Here they are in chorological order:

1830s

United Kingdom (1830): The Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened. It marked the beginning of the first steam passenger service which was locomotive-hauled and did not use animal power. The line had the first timetables for passengers and proper stations (with ticketing offices and platforms) and went on to prove the viability of rail transport.
Ireland (1834): The world’s first commuter railway, the Dublin & Kingstown Railway (D&KR) opened between Dublin and Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), covering a distance of six miles.
Belgium (1835): The first railway in Belgium opened on 5 May between Brussels and Mechelen.
Germany (1835): Opening of the steam-powered Bavarian Ludwig Railway between Nuremberg and Fürth.
Austria (1837): The first Austrian railway line connected Vienna with Wagram.
France (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 was the first railway in Paris and the first in France designed solely for the carriage of passengers and operated using steam locomotives.
Russia (1837): The first rail line in Russia connected Tsarskoye Selo and Saint Petersburg.
Czechia (1839): The first steam-hauled railway in what is now the country was established in 1839, from Vienna to Břeclav.
Italy (1839): The first railway in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Italy, opened from Naples to Portici.
Netherlands (1839): The first rail line in the Netherlands connected Amsterdam and Haarlem.

1840s

Poland (1842): The Upper Silesian Railway Company opened its first section of the line: Breslau (Polish: Wrocław) to Ohlau (Polish: Oława).
Slovenia (1844): Maribor was connected by railway to Graz.
Hungary (1846): The first railway line in Hungary connects Pest and Vác.
Denmark (1847): The Kingdom of Denmark’s first railway opened between Copenhagen and Roskilde.
Switzerland (1847): First train in Switzerland, the Limmat, on the Spanisch-Brotli-Bahn Railway line.
Slovakia (1848): The first steam-powered line, from Bratislava to Vienna, opened on August 20, 1848.
Spain (1848): First railway line in Spain, built between Barcelona and Mataró.

1850s

Norway (1854): The first railway in Norway is built between Oslo and Eidsvoll.
Romania & Serbia (1854): The first railway in today’s Romania and Serbia (then Austrian Empire), on 20 August 1854, between Lisava-Oravica-Bazijaš.
Portugal (1856): First railway completed in Portugal, linking Lisbon to Carregado.
Sweden (1856): The first railway in Sweden to use steam locomotives from the outset was Nora–Ervalla–Örebro railway in Närke, part of Köping–Hult railway.
Croatia (1857): The oldest railway in Croatia, built in 1857, passes through villages Dunjkovec and Macinec.
Luxembourg (1859): First line opens between Luxembourg and Bettembourg, France. Note 1845 is included on the map, but that was simply the founding date of the Great Luxembourg Company / Grande Compagnie Luxembourgoise.

1860s

Latvia & Lithuania (1860): The first train arrived from Daugavpils (in Latvia) to Vilnius on 17 September 1860. Part of the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway.
Turkey (1860): The first railway to be constructed in Turkey was the İzmir (the Turkish name of Smyrna)–Aydın line. Note the date of 1856 is included on the map since this was the year the Ottoman Railway Company was founded, but did not run any trains until 1858 or more likely 1860.
Ukraine (1861): The first railway connected Lviv to Peremyshl (Poland).
Belarus (1862): The first line crossing Belarus was the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway, which started operating in late 1862. This included section and railway station in Grodno. Think the map refers to the opening of the The Warsaw–Brest Railway, opened in 1866.
Finland (1862): The first railway in Finland went from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna.
Bulgaria (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.
Monaco (1867): Only has a single station (Monaco – Monte Carlo) on the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway line.
Greece (1869): The first line links Piraeus and Athens.

1870s

Estonia (1870): The Paldiski-Tallinn-St Petersburg line is opened as the first railway line in Estonia (then part of the Russian Empire).
Moldova (1871): The railway linking Tiraspol with Chișinău was officially opened.
Georgia (1872): The first passenger train ran on October 10, 1872, from Poti to Tbilisi central station.
Liechtenstein (1872): Feldkirch–Buchs railway runs between Austria and Switzerland via Liechtenstein.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (1873): The first railway in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a normal-gauge line between Dobrljin and Banja Luka.
North Macedonia (1873): The first standard gauge line in the country, from Skopje to Thessaloniki was built during Ottoman rule.
Kosovo (1874): First line is between Hani i Elezit, Fushë Kosovë and Mitrovicë.

1880s

Azerbaijan (1880): The first railway line in Azerbaijan then belonging to the Russian Empire was laid in 1878 and was opened in 1880 within the suburban range of Baku, which led from Sabunçu to Suraxanı.
Malta (1883): The Malta Railway (Italian: Ferrovia di Malta) was the only railway line ever on the island of Malta, and it consisted of a single railway line from Valletta to Mdina. It closed in 1931.

1890s

Kazakhstan (1894): The Russian Empire opened a metre gauge railway between Pokrovskaya Sloboda (present day Engels, Russia) and Uralsk (present day Oral), about 130km of which lay within the borders of present day Kazakhstan.
Armenia (1899): Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway opens. (Not sure why map says 1906)

1900s

Montenegro (1901): The first railway line within the territory that today belongs to Montenegro was a narrow-gauge railway line Gabela – Zelenika.
Cyprus (1905): The Cyprus Government Railway was a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railway network that operated in Cyprus from October 1905 to December 1951.

After 1910:

Albania (1917): (only source I could find was this)
San Marino (1932): Between 1932 and 1944, a 31.5-kilometre (19.6-mile) electrified narrow gauge railway operated between Rimini, Italy and the City of San Marino.
Vatican City (1934): The one station in the country was opened officially on 2 October 1934.