May 13 — construction began on the first railway in Russia along the route St. Petersburg — Tsarskoye Selo — Pavlovsk.
It became the country’s first public railway. Construction of the Tsarskoye Selo Railway was led by the Austrian engineer F. Gerstner. For several months in Russia, he studied local transportation routes and then presented Nicholas I with a report on the need to build railways in Russia. After a special committee reviewed all aspects, Gerstner was granted the privilege to build the railway and was permitted to establish a joint-stock company with capital of 3 million rubles.
As a result, within six months the funds for construction were raised, and in April 1836 Nicholas I’s decree on building the Tsarskoye Selo Railway was made public. The construction was planned to be completed in 5 months. Almost the entire route was divided into sections given to contractors, while technical supervision was carried out by 17 engineers, five of whom already had experience with similar work on railways in England. The construction site was guarded by about a hundred overseers and soldiers. In total, during the construction period more than 3,000 people worked along the route. The main tools were shovels and pickaxes; wheelbarrows and horse-drawn carts were used.
In August, work began on laying the track, and in a month 5 km were laid. For the Tsarskoye Selo line, Gerstner chose a gauge width of 1829 mm. In his view, the 1435 mm gauge adopted in Europe was too narrow to create a proper design for locomotives and carriages. Almost all components of the railway were purchased abroad. The 1836 construction season was coming to an end, but the work was not finished. To save the situation and his reputation, Gerstner decided to open traffic on the completed section between Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk (3.5 versts). The first train trip with horse traction on this route took place in late September and took 15 minutes. Soon, a steam locomotive was delivered from England, and on November 6 the first steam-hauled train run was made.
Trips were free of charge, so up to 50 people packed into each carriage. The 25-kilometer section between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo was opened (October 30) on November 11, 1837.
This became the official opening date of the Tsarskoye Selo Railway. The first train, driven by Gerstner himself, consisting of a locomotive and eight cars—one of which carried Emperor Nicholas I—covered the distance in 35 minutes.
The line was opened along its entire length from St. Petersburg to Pavlovsk by June 1838. Since the line was single-track with a passing loop in the middle, trains departed simultaneously from the terminal stations and passed each other at the Moskovskoye Shosse station, after which they continued their routes. The trip took 42 minutes, and the average speed was 32 km/h. Attitudes toward the Tsarskoye Selo line were mixed. Many called it an “amusement” railway. However, specialists understood the importance of the line for the development of railway construction in Russia.