The history of rail transport in the Netherlands is generally considered to have begun on September 20, 1839, when the first train, drawn by De Arend successfully made the 16 km (9.9 mi) trip from Amsterdam to Haarlem. However, the first plan for a railroad in the Netherlands was launched only shortly after the first railroad opened in Great Britain. When discussing the history of rail transport in the Netherlands, we can roughly distinguish 6 eras, namely: the period up to 1839, when the first plans were made for a railroad, 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 lines, 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 monoply.
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