Getting into this rail stuff now. The world's first "operational" electric underground railway was the City and South London Line, opened in 1890. It was originally to be cable hauled by steam engines. The cable contractor went bust, so they looked at electric traction and adopted it. They used an electric locomotive to pull the cars.
The Liverpool Overhead Railway, opened 1893, from its initial design it was to be all electric traction. The world's first designed fully electric urban railway. The London railway ended up electric because of a liquidation, not by design. The first electric tramway was in a small part of Berlin in 1881. I am not sure if this counts as a streetcar (tram) is not an urban railway, they are electric buses on rails on streets. The Volk's Electric narrow gauge railway ran along Brighton's front in 1883. This was a tourist amusement attraction and very light in construction. The initial 1883 line was intended as a temporary summer attraction only, but stayed and is still in operation today. This was no rapid-transit urban railway.
The Overhead's trains did not need a locomotive unit to pull the train, as in London, as each car had its own electric motor under the floor - the precursor of the modern underground train. It was also the first railway with an automatic signalling system and electric signalling lights.
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I have been looking in some wiki's and some are so inaccurate is beyond belief.
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