Do not understand the topic, influence of railway developements on people's live

Hi, I am having a big problem with understading of my topic which is:

"Present a brief overview of the factors that have shaped the historical development of railways, and analyse how people's way of life has been influenced as a result of these developments."

Limit of the words is 2000 words.

I have been writing it twice but it is still wrong becasue I do not know how to do it. The first time I had been told it is wrong because I have divided my raport due to historical developments eg. steam engine describe how it changed people's live and than move to elctricity of railway...

Now I know I have to choose 3-4 areas in which people's live had been developed by rail eg. transport of people, developement of industry, developement of big cities etc.

The problem is I still do not know how to write it for example should I write about traveling of people by rail do I have to write that traveling by steam rail was quicker than by coach in that time and than move to electricity which improve the speed and comfort of travel?

Can sombody explain me very celarly what I have been asked to do? Maybe it is not very complicated topic but it is my first accademic writing and I have no idea how to write it.

I think the prompt is asking you to describe the cause(s) that led to the creation of the railways.

i.e. a demand for a faster transportation than horses and wagons, human ingenuity.
Maybe a brief description behind the history of railways can help.

As for the second part, I think its asking you to elaborate on the impact the railway has had on human society. The change it had on the human lifestyle.

i.e. Opened up opportunity and expansion to the West in America

hope this helps, good luck!