The first railway that crossed the region of Latvia was the railway line Gatčina-Warszawa. Gatčina is a small town near St. Petersburg. The line was built in 1857-1862, but its part in the region of Latvia (206 kilometers) was ready in 1860. The line crossed Latgale from North to South and the main station was in Daugavpils [Dünaburg].

The next line Riga-Daugavpils was opened on September 12, 1861. As you understand, now Riga was connected by railway with the capital of the Empire St. Petersburg and with Warszawa as well. You can have a look on the schedule and prices of the tickets for this line next year in 1862.

In 1866 the train began to run from Daugavpils to Vitebska which was the province capital for all the Latgale part of the region of Latvia. Two years later two other province capitals - Riga and Jelgava [Mitau] were connected by the railway line (41 kilometer). The railway station in Riga was situated in Torņakalns that is on the left bank of Daugava river.

Liepāja [Libau] harbor was connected with inner parts of Empire in 1871 when the railway line Liepāja-Košedari began to work.

In the 1870s Riga became a railway node, because the following lines connected it with the nearest towns:
in 1872 a rather short railway line (10 km.) was built to Mīlgrāvis [Mühlgraben]
in 1873 another one (19 km.) to Bolderaja [Bolderaa].
Both these lines guaranteed connection of the ports with other railway lines.
The line Zasulauks - Tukums, that began to operate in 1877, connected Riga city with the resort places on the sea side.