The world’s first subway with self powered cars, using electricity, opened in Budapest, Hungary on May 2, 1896.
This technology subsequently became the world standard.
London’s subway was older, but it first operated with steam locomotives and then, in 1890, with electric locomotives on the City & South London line.
Following the Budapest subway, a cable-powered subway opened in Glasgow, Scotland in December 1896.
The Budapest subway influenced the design of America’s first subway – the Tremont Street subway in Boston which opened in 1897.