In ever so many ways.

But my on-the-other-hand side wants to know about when/how even vaguely comparable rail routes were installed in the rest of the spaces humans occupy.

It can't always be just about us.

The immigrant workers you mentioned were treated as less than human and many had been abducted and forced to work against their will by cruel overseers. The whole construction was a competition between two heartless corporations to see which would lay more track than the other, at any cost. Treaties were repeatedly broken with the indigenous peoples of this continent to facilitate land grabs for the route, burning and murdering entire villages and peoples. This endeavour was also responsible for initiating the great buffalo kill off,leaving tribes without their main source of food and raw materials for clothing, tools and other necessary articles for day to day life. The construction of this railroad lead to a population surge in areas long ceded to indigenous peoples. Towns, ranches, miles long fencing began even before the lines completion.

So, yes, let's celebrate this momentous occasion!