History Of Rail Transport In Latvia
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The history of rail transport in Latvia began with the construction in 1860 of a railway from
Pytalovo Pytalovo (russian: Пыта́лово; lv, Pitalova) is a town and the administrative center of Pytalovsky District in Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on the Utroya River (a tributary of the Velikaya), southwest of Pskov, the administrative ce ...
to Dinaburg (now
Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...
), 160 km in length, as part of the
Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway (() (transliteration: Sankt-Peterburgo–Varshavskaya zheleznaya doroga)) is a long railway, built in the 19th century by the Russian Empire to connect Russia with Central Europe. At the time the entire railwa ...
. More intensive development of railways in Latvia commenced the following year, 1861, when the 232 km long Riga - Dinaburg railway was opened. It connected with the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway, and thus joined the Latvian railways with the Russian rail network. For the rest of the second half of the nineteenth century, the intensive construction of railways continued. Lines constructed during that period included Dinaburg–
Radviliškis Radviliškis () (german: Radwilischken; pl, Radziwiliszki; yi, ראדווילישאָק, ''Radvilishok'') is a town in the Radviliškis district municipality, Šiauliai County, Lithuania. Radviliškis has been the administrative center of the ...
, Mitau (now
Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duch ...
)–Muravyovo (
Mažeikiai Mažeikiai (; Samogitian: ''Mažeikē''; lv, Mažeiķi) is a city in northwestern Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 43,547, making it the eighth largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of Ma ...
), and others. From the 1890s, narrow gauge lines () were built to complement the broad gauge lines (). Most of the narrow-gauge railways were later converted to broad gauge, but then dismantled in the second half of the twentieth century.


See also

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History of rail transport The history of rail transport began in the BCE times. It can be divided into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of track material and motive power used. Ancient systems The Post Track, a prehistoric causeway in the v ...
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History of Latvia The history of Latvia began around 9000 BC with the end of the last glacial period#Weichsel glaciation, in Scandinavia and northern Europe, last glacial period in northern Europe. Ancient Balts, Baltic peoples arrived in the area during the sec ...
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Latvian Railways JSC Latvian Railway ( lv, Latvijas dzelzceļš or LDz) was established on 2 September 1991 and is seen as the successor of the Latvian Railway Board (Latvian Railways) which was established on 5 August 1919. Latvijas dzelzceļš is a state-owned ...
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Rail transport in Latvia Rail transport in Latvia is done on Russian gauge. The main railway company is the state-owned Latvijas dzelzceļš (LDz), with its subsidiary Pasažieru vilciens (PV) providing passenger services. Historically Latvia had lot of different ra ...


References


External links

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Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
Rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...
Rail transport in Latvia {{Europe-rail-transport-stub