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German engineer Werner von Siemens designed the first practical passenger train to use electricity. Electric trains did not rely on a coal supply and were cleaner and easier to run. However in the early days it was hard to arrange a reliable supply of electricity to power locomotives over long distances.
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1888 Frank Sprague installs the "trolleypole" trolley system in Richmond, Virginia, making it the first working electric street railway.
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1890 First electric London Underground railway (subway) opened in London—all other subway systems soon followed suit.
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1895 Japan's first electrified railway opens in Kyoto.
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1899 Tokyo's first electric railway, the predecessor to Keihin Electric Express Railway opens.
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1915 First major stretch of electrified railway in Sweden; Kiruna-Riksgränsen (Malmbanan).
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1964 Bullet Train service introduced in Japan, between Tokyo and Osaka. Trains average speeds of 160 km/h (100 mph) due to congested shared urban tracks, with top speeds of 210 km/h.
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1975 British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train achieves 245 km/h (152.3 mph) on 10th. August.
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1979 High speed TGV trains introduced in France, TGV trains travel at an average speed of 213 km/h (132 mph). and with a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph).
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2000 Amtrak introduces the Acela Express on the Northeast Corridor in the United States
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Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation),This method has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems.highest recorded speed of a Maglev train is 581 kilometres per hour
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2007 High speed trains travelling at 350 km/h (217 mph) is introduced in Spain.
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2007 Heavily modified trainset of France's TGV had beaten its original world record when it travelled from Metz- Reims at a speed of 574.8 kilometres per hour (357.2 mph).
