First railway in the Netherlands opens

On June 15, 1839, the Netherlands inaugurated its first railway with the opening of the 16-kilometer line between Amsterdam and Haarlem by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij. This event followed years of debate over steam versus horse power and represented a major step in Dutch industrialization. The initial service used imported British locomotives and wooden rails capped with iron, later upgraded to full iron track. The line quickly proved popular, carrying thousands of passengers and spurring economic growth between the two cities. It laid the foundation for the dense Dutch rail network that would expand rapidly in the following decades and connected to broader European systems.