The Stockton and Darlington Railway in NE England is often given as the first. It opened in 1825.
Actually, that's incorrect, the first passenger railway was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, which first operated on 25th March 1807. This website has further information: http://www.welshwales.co.uk/mumbles_railway_swansea.htm
i would suggest both answersare correct but to different questions
swansea railway was horse drawn
darlington railway was the first steam driven locomotive
In 1803 the first public railway, The Southern Iron Railway opened in South London. In1807 the first fare paying passenger service was established as the Oystermouth Railway in Swansea, Wales. In 1825 the Stockton to Darlington Railway, the first publicly subscribed railway, opened for freight, passengers were transported by horse drawn carriages
In 1825 on the Stockton to Darlington Railway, George Stephenson's Locomotion number 1 pulled the first fare paying passenger (and good) train. There where previous experiments tried before that, but usually this is regarded as the first. About 5 years later the Liverpool to Manchester Railway opened (George Stephenson again) and this began the first regular steam powered railway with stations etc, setting the foundation for the modern rail system.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in the UK, which opened in 1825, was the world's first permanent steam locomotive hauled public railway.
The first proper railway in the UK, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, was opened on 27 September 1825
London. London's Metropolitan Railway opened to the public on 10th January, 1863.
The first underground railway was opened on 10 January 1863 in London
Shitai Passenger Railway was created in 2009.
The first public railway in Ireland ran from Dublin to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire).and was opened on 17t December 1834.
the B&O (Baltimore & Ohio) in about 1831.
The Grand Canyon Railway was constructed in 1898 and made it's first complete trip in 1901.
New York City Subway
Here are a number of firsts for underground railways: The very first underground railway in the world opened in London in 1863. It ran between Farringdon Street and Paddington. This was a steam railway that really was *mostly* underground; there were gaps in the tunnel roof along the route to permit smoke from the locomotive to escape the tunnel. The first electrified underground railway was the City and South London Railway, which opened in 1890. The first underground railway on the Continent was the "földalatti" in Budapest, which opened in 1896. The first underground railway in the U.S. was the trolley tunnel that opened in Boston in 1897 (the Tremont Street Subway). Rapid transit (subway) trains began using the Tremont Street Subway in 1901.