December 2009 in rail transport

2008, 2009, 2010

2008 in rail transport 2009 in rail transport 2010 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in December 2009.

Events

<<	December					>>
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31
2009

December 1–5

December 1

• – The Norwegian National Rail Administration announces the sale of its electrical grid along the Bergen Line from Nesbyen to Voss, to Energiselskapet Buskerud.^[1]

December 3

• – Construction work on the Daxi Passenger Line connecting Datong and Xi'an begins in China. When completed, trains are expected to run at 250 km/h (160 mph) on the 859 km (534 mi) long railway line. It will cut the rail travel time between the two cities from 16 hours 25 minutes to roughly 3 hours. There will be 29 stations along the line, of which 11 are existing and 18 are new. The investment of the railway is 96.33 billion yuan; and the project is expected to be completed in 2014.^[2]
• – After the Canadian federal government enacted back-to-work legislation on November 30, about 1,700 Canada-based railroad engineers return to work following a short strike action against Canadian National Railway (CN). The strike was called to protest CN's proposal to increase the engineers' working mileage limit from 3,800 miles (6,100 km) per month to 4,300 miles (6,900 km) in exchange for a 1.5% wage increase. The mileage limit increase would have brought the engineers' limit in line with that of current CN conductors. CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will resume negotiations on these issues.^[3][4][5]

December 6–12

December 12

• – SNCF launches Francilien electric multiple units for commuter rail services in the Paris and Île-de-France région.^[6]
• – Belgrade–Sarajevo through train reinstated after 17 years.^[7]

December 13–19

December 17

• – Norwegian Air Shuttle introduces check-in terminals at Oslo Central Station for their passengers using the Flytoget airport express train service to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen.^[8]

December 20–26

December 20

• – All Eurostar services between the United Kingdom and the European continent are suspended after heavy snowfalls in the UK cause a series of electrical disruptions. A number of trains carrying more than 2,000 passengers were stopped within the Channel Tunnel beginning on Friday, December 18, due to snow and cold-related problems; some passengers remained on the stopped trains for as long as 16 hours until crews could escort them out of the tunnel.^[9]

December 21

• – Official inauguration of Rio de Janeiro Metro extension to Ipanema together with a new connection between São Cristóvão and Central, alleviating the former bottleneck at Estácio.^[10]

December 22

• – Construction work on three railway lines begins in China. The 1,260-kilometre (780 mi) long Railway Corridor at Central South of Shanxi Province is a double-track electrified coal railway; The 806 km (501 mi) long high-speed Hefei–Fuzhou Passenger Railway and the 927 km (576 mi) long high-speed Hangzhou–Changsha Passenger Railway, both designed for 350 km/h (220 mph) running, will be opened in 2014. The investment for Hefei-Fuzhou is ¥110 billion and for Hangzhou-Changsha is ¥131 billion.^[11]
• – The Norwegian National Rail Administration cancels a contract with Asea Brown Boveri for development and installation of the Merkur signaling system for installation on parts of the Sørland Line and Nordland Line.^[12]

December 23

• – An upgraded Nydalen Station in Oslo opened.^[12]

December 26

• – Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway opens in China. The first trains leave Wuhan, Changsha and Guangzhou North stations at 9:00am. The main line of the railway is 968 kilometres (601 mi) long between Wuhan and Guangzhou South, however, since the construction of Guangzhou South Railway Station has not yet completed, trains terminate at Guangzhou North Station until January 30, 2010. Two daily non-stop trains, numbers G1001 and G1003, cover the 922 km (573 mi) long journey from Wuhan to Guangzhou North in 2 hours, 57 minutes, to make the world's new commercial train speed record at 312.5 km/h (194.2 mph).^[13][14]

December 27–31

December 27

• – Construction work on Yungui Railway begins in China. The 714.56-kilometre (444.01 mi) long railway connects Kunming and Nanning, with a total investment of 89.481 billion yuan; of the entire length, 99.18 km (61.63 mi) will be built on bridges and 400.95 km (249.14 mi) will be built in tunnels. 25 stations will be constructed along the line. The design speed of the railway is 250 km/h (160 mph). The railway is expected to be opened in 2015.^[15]

December 29

• – Construction work on three railway lines begins in China. The 77-kilometre (48 mi) long Zhengzhou-Jiaozuo Intercity Railway, with a total investment of 9.76 billion yuan; of the entire length, 68.5 km (42.6 mi) is newly built, and 8.5 km (5.3 mi) is shared with the existing Jingguang Railway. Three intermediate stations will be built. The maximum speed on the new line is designed to be at 200 km/h (120 mph). The 50.3 km (31.3 mi) long Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Intercity Railway, designed speed at 200 km/h which will cut the travel time to 19 minutes, is estimated to cost 5.87 billion yuan. The Zhengzhou-Xinzheng Airport Railway, 30.2 km (18.8 mi) long, top speed 200 km/h, travel time 14 minutes, total cost 5.59 billion yuan. These railways are expected to be opened in 2013.^[16]

References

1. ^ "Jernbaneverket selger strømnett til EB" (in Norwegian). Norwegian National Rail Administration. http://www.jernbaneverket.no/no/Nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/2009/Jernbaneverket-selger-stromnett-til-EB/. Retrieved December 27, 2009. 
2. ^ "大西铁路客运专线开工 中西东部打造"城际公交"" (in Chinese). December 3, 2009. http://ccnews.people.com.cn/GB/10503841.html. Retrieved December 4, 2009. 
3. ^ "Canadian National, TCRC reach accord to end strike". Bloomberg L.P. (reprinted by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen). December 3, 2009. http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=28530. Retrieved December 5, 2009. 
4. ^ Jang, Brent (December 5, 2009). "'Hangover' dogs recovery, CN's Mongeau says". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/hangover-dogs-recovery-cns-mongeau-says/article1386585/. Retrieved December 5, 2009. 
5. ^ "Railway Strike Is Ended". The New York Times. December 3, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/business/global/03rail.html?_r=1. Retrieved December 5, 2009. 
6. ^ "SNCF launches Francilien". Modern Railways 67 (737): 66–7. February 2010. 
7. ^ "Belgrade-Sarajevo railway reopens after 17 years". BBC News. December 12, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8410465.stm. Retrieved December 12, 2009. 
8. ^ "Innsjekking til flyet mulig på Oslo S" (in Norwegian). Norwegian National Rail Administration. http://www.jernbaneverket.no/no/Nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/2009/Innsjekking-til-flyet-mulig-pa-Oslo-S/. Retrieved December 27, 2009. 
9. ^ "Eurostar transports 500 vulnerable passengers to France". BBC News. December 20, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8422978.stm. Retrieved January 2, 2010. 
10. ^ "Rio de Janeiro metro reaches Ipanema". Railway Gazette International. January 7, 2010. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/rio-de-janeiro-metro-reaches-ipanema.html. Retrieved January 11, 2010. 
11. ^ "张德江宣布山西中南部铁路通道和合肥至福州、杭州至长沙铁路客运专线开工" (in Chinese). December 22, 2009. http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-12/22/content_12689702.htm. Retrieved December 22, 2009. 
12. ^ ^{a b} "Nydalen holdeplass tatt i bruk" (in Norwegian). Norwegian National Rail Administration. http://www.jernbaneverket.no/no/Nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/2009/Nydalen-holdeplass-tatt-i-bruk/. Retrieved December 27, 2009. 
13. ^ "武广线上午9时开通" (in Chinese). December 26, 2009. http://www.gd.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-12/26/content_18604968.htm. Retrieved December 26, 2009. 
14. ^ "China Unveils 'Fastest Train' in World". Fox News. December 27, 2009. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581221,00.html?test=latestnews. Retrieved December 29, 2009. 
15. ^ "云桂铁路开工建设 时速200公里以上" (in Chinese). December 27, 2009. http://society.people.com.cn/GB/41158/10658801.html. Retrieved December 29, 2009. 
16. ^ "郑州至焦作、郑州至开封、郑州至新郑机场城际铁路建设动员大会在郑举行" (in Chinese). December 29, 2009. http://www.henan.gov.cn/bsfw/system/2009/12/29/010172204.shtml. Retrieved December 29, 2009.