When English inventor Richard Trevithick introduced the steam locomotive on February 21, 1804 in Wales, it achieved a speed of 5 mph (8 km/h), about as fast as a person can run.
In 1815, Englishman George Stephenson built the world's first workable steam locomotive. In 1825, he introduced the first passenger train, which steamed along at 16 mph (25 km/h).