History of rail transport in France

The history of rail transport in France dates from the first French railway in 1823 to present-day enterprises such as the AGV.

During the 19th century, railway construction began in France with short lines for mines. The building of the main French railway system did not begin until after 1842, when a law legalised railways.

In 1814, the French engineer Pierre Michel Moisson-Desroches proposed to Emperor Napoleon to build seven national railways from Paris, in order to travel "short distances within the Empire".

In 1823, a royal decree authorized the first railway company (Saint-Étienne to Andrézieux Railway) and the line was first operated in 1827, for goods, and for passengers in 1835. From 1830 to 1832, the line from Saint-Étienne to Lyon was opened, for goods and passengers, becoming the first passengers line of continental Europe. In that time Saint-Étienne was an important coal and iron industry center and Lyon was the main town in the south of France.

French railways started later and developed more slowly than those in certain other countries. While the first railway built in France started operation in 1827, not long after the first line had opened in Britain, French progress failed to keep pace over the next decade. Thus France quickly fell behind Germany, Belgium and Switzerland in terms of trackage per person. The rapid growth in the United States and in the United Kingdom also seriously outdistanced that in France. Circumstances did not favour a start as early and as successful as Britain's, because Britain generally had a higher level of industrialisation. Other more comparable nations, such as Belgium, embarked on large railway-building projects soon after the technology appeared. France also suffered the handicap of the destruction and turbulence of the Napoleonic Wars and the subsequent process of rebuilding, which also hindered the development of railways. It took a full decade to begin railway construction on a national scale.

France's history and level of development almost certainly account for this delay. France's economy in 1832 had not developed sufficiently to support a national railway network. The limited iron industry for many years forced French railways to import many of their rails from England at great cost. French coal supplies also remained under-developed compared to those of England and Belgium. Until these complementary industries developed, French railways were at an economic disadvantage compared to those of other states.

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