History of rail transport in the Netherlands
The first modern railway was built in England in 1830. It ran between the English towns of Liverpool and Manchester. A Dutch artillery officer, William A. Bake, was there when it opened. When Bake came back to the Netherlands, he made plans to connect the city of Amsterdam to Amersfoort and Amersfoort to Arnhem. King William supported Bake's plan. Unfortunately, his timing was bad. His plan to find money to build the railroad did not succeed. Dutch businessmen did not want to invest their money in a Dutch railroad at that time. They were worried about their investments in Spain. With no money, his plan did not work.