At the end of the eighteenth century, the Frolov brothers created for the industrial needs of one of the large enterprises a new type of transport, which was the cars that moved on a rail track. Railway transport in its modern sense appeared a little later - in 1825 in England. As for our country, the first railway in Russia was built under the supervision of an Austrian engineer von Gerstner. This idea was personally supported by Nicholas I, who signed a decree on April 15, 1836. According to this document, the construction of the so-called Tsarskoye Selo Railway was started in the country.
Funds for the construction were provided by Count Bobrinsky, von Gerstner himself, as well as other persons who represented Russian, American and German capital. The first railway in Russia was to connect St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo. It should be noted that later the branch was extended by 700 meters to Pavlovsk. Construction work began on May 1, 1836. For the gauge, a width of 1829 mm was chosen, despite the fact that in European countries this indicator was 1435 mm. To organize the passage of
horse-drawn carts, a series of crossings were constructed on the line. The first
Russian railway received Belgian rails, each unit of which had a minimum length of 3.7 m and a maximum length of 6.9 m. Traffic on it was opened on October 30, 1837. This date has gone down in history as the beginning of regular railway transport in our country.
Rolling stock was acquired in Belgium and England. By the day of its opening, the first railway in Russia could boast of six steam locomotives with structural changes dictated by a different gauge, 44 passenger cars and 19 freight cars. The first domestic trains were equipped with wagons divided into four classes. The most convenient of them were carriages that had covered bodies. On their soft seats, eight people could simultaneously fit. All the rest could carry ten passengers. Regardless of class, there was no lighting or heating in the cars.
On March 15, 1838, the train schedule was first put into effect, according to which their departure started at 9-00, and ended at 22-00. Moreover, the interval between them averaged four hours. The first railway in Russia was single-track, so a junction was equipped in its central part, which allowed crossing trains that departed from terminal stations at the same time. The average travel time is 42 minutes. In the summer of 1876, the second main route appeared on the site. Thanks to this, traffic safety was significantly increased, and the ride time from start to finish was reduced to 32 minutes. On January 2, 1900, the Tsarskoye Selo line became part of the Moscow-Vindava-Rybinsk railway, and as a result ceased to be independent. Then the width of her track was changed to standard, which amounted to 1524 mm.
The construction of railways in Russia, which began to develop rapidly after the appearance of the Tsarskoye Selo branch, required qualified specialists. The first domestic educational institution of the corresponding profile was the Corps of Railway Engineers. Its graduates took an active part in the construction of the railway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg.