Railways began in the Netherlands in September 20, 1839, when the first train, broad gauge, drawn by De Arend, successfully made the 16 km trip from Amsterdam to Haarlem.
There are roughly six eras, namely the period up to 1839, when the first plans were made for a railroad and early development included two Broad Gauge lines, under the influence of I.K.Brunel; the period 1840-1860, when the railroads experienced their early expansion; the period 1860-1890, when the government started to order the construction of new standard gauge State lines and the Broad Gauge lines were converted to standard gauge; the period 1890-1938, when the railroads were consolidated into two large railroads; the period 1938-1992, when the Nederlandse Spoorwegen was granted a monopoly on rail transport; and finally the period from 1992 to the present, when the Nederlandse Spoorwegen lost its monopoly.
