The Malta Railway consisted of a single railway line from Valletta to Mdina and was the only railway line ever on the island of Malta. It was a single track line in metre-gauge, operating from 1883 to 1931.
From 1870 proposals were launched to connect the capital of Malta, Valletta, with its ancient capital Mdina by rail. Travelling time could be reduced this way from over 3 hours to 20 minutes.
More concrete was the planning of the engineering firm of Wells-Owen & Elwes of London. Due to problems with the expropriation of land in favour for the line its building could not be finished until early 1883.
On 28 February 1883 the line between Valletta and Notabile (Mdina) was inaugurated. Finances of the railway always proved critical. On 1 April 1890 the first proprietor, the Malta Railway Company Ltd., went bankrupt and seized operations. As a result and according to legislation the government took over the railway and invested in its infrastructure operations between the two cities Valletta and Mdina recommenced on 25 January 1892.
In 1895 works on an extension of the line was taken in hand with the aim to provide service for the barracks at Mtarfa. This extension was opened for traffic in 1900. In 1903 a company by the name Malta Tramways was founded. It ran tram service on Malta from 1905. Some or its routes ran parallel to the railway line.
In 1929 the Malta Tramways seized operations as it was not financially viable. On 31 March 1931 the Malta Railway came to a close down due to economic insufficiency. The buses had arrived on the island and served all destinations all over the island.
It was time to change again the means of transport by a more effective means of transport at the time, the Malta Buses.
