- 2004 in rail transport
Events
January events
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January 1 -METRORail light rail service inHouston, Texas , opens.February events
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February 3 - The first freight train travels the entire north-southtranscontinental railroad inAustralia betweenAdelaide, South Australia , andDarwin, Northern Territory .
*February 18 -Nishapur train disaster : A train carrying a convoy ofpetrol ,fertiliser , andsulfur derails and explodes inIran , killing 320 people.March events
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March 13 – First services operate onM250 Series Super Rail Cargo , special high speed freight train with locomotive power cars byJR Freight , for first time of the world.
*March 28 – First services operate onBinhai Mass Transit (or Jinbinlight rail ) inTianjin , China, including No. 1 bridge (25.8 kilometres (16 mi) in length). [zh icon [http://www.ctbmt.cn Official site] ]
*March 30 -High speed train service is inaugurated inKorea betweenSeoul andDaegu .April events
* April - The
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit inPierre, South Dakota , rules that theDakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad may useeminent domain to purchase land inSouth Dakota in order to build the railroad's extension intoWyoming 'sPowder River Basin .
* April -Great North Eastern Railway s, operators of services on theEast Coast Main Line inEngland andScotland , introduce802.11b wireless LAN access to theInternet on their MallardIntercity 225 trains.
*April 1 -High speed train service is inaugurated inKorea betweenSeoul andPusan ; the trains make the trip in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
* April 1 - Tokyo subway system,Tokyo Metro replaced and private company fromTeito Rapid Transit Authority .
*April 6 -Amtrak passenger train "City of New Orleans " enroute to Chicago from New Orleans derails nearFlora, Mississippi , resulting in one fatality.
*April 18 - Connex takes over the half of the Melbourne suburban rail network formerly operated by M>Train.
*April 22 - In theRyongchon disaster , a flammable cargo explodes at therailway station in the town of Ryongchŏn,North Korea , near the border withChina ; the explosion occurs only a few hours after North Korean leaderKim Jong-il passed through the station en route back to the capital from a secret meeting in China.
*April 29 - TheEuropean Railway Agency [http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/rail/era/index_en.htm] , headquartered inLille ,France , is formed.May events
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May 9 - Construction begins on a railway tunnel under theBosphorus strait inTurkey ; the tunnel is expected to open for service in2008 .
*May 10 -Canadian National Railway acquiresBessemer and Lake Erie Railroad andDuluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway
*May 15 - With repairs to tunnels 8 and 16 complete and destroyed bridges rebuilt, including theGoat Canyon Trestle , theCarrizo Gorge Railway officially reopens freight service to Plaster City and theUnion Pacific Railroad interchange.
*May 31 - A fire erupts in one of theSeattle Center Monorail trains; of the 150 passengers aboard at the time, only 5 required treatment for minor injuries and no deaths occurred.June events
* June - the 150th anniversary of the
Grand Excursion is commemorated with special runs byMilwaukee Road 261 andCanadian Pacific 2816 along the northernMississippi River .
* June - Caltrain finishes their two year-long CTX project, which included strengthing the tracks between San Francisco and San Jose and introducing an all new CTC system. This project allowed for the start of Baby Bullet express service and the resume of weekend service on the route.
*June 7 - The high speed "Gautrain " betweenJohannesburg andPretoria ,South Africa is announced; it is expected to open in2009 .
*June 23 -Madrid Metro orders 698 new subway cars valued at €1 billion; the order is shared byBombardier and Siemens.
*June 26 - TheHiawatha Line light rail service inMinneapolis, Minnesota opens to the public.
*June 30 - InIreland the first stage ofDublin 'sLUAS light rail system opens, the "Green Line" fromSandyford toSt. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The route follows the oldHarcourt Street railway line for the most part.July events
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July 14 -Canadian National Railway completes its purchase of BC Rail.
*July 15 -Dennis H. Miller is promoted to president of theIowa Interstate Railroad .
*July 25 - Thieves steal twobrass handles and fourcopper pipes from the "Fairy Queen"steam locomotive inNew Delhi ,India .August events
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August 1 -Iowa Interstate Railroad takes over operations of a daily freight train fromIowa City, Iowa , toCedar Rapids, Iowa , from theCedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway .
*August 15 - Fourth rail was finished in 13 km section betweenHelsinki , the capital ofFinland andKerava , its suburb.
*August 31 - TheUnited States Surface Transportation Board renews the authority ofTTX Corporation to continue pooling and leasing railroad rolling stock for ten more years, over the protests of other rolling stock leasing companies.eptember events
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September 3 - TheCanadian Museum of Rail Travel , inCranbrook, British Columbia , holds grand opening ceremonies for its new museum facilities.
*September 8 -Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway opens the second railroad "flyover" bypass inKansas City, Missouri .
*September 13 - TheCape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway files its second application to abandon most of its trackage onCape Breton Island .
*September 28
** The secondLUAS line opens, the "Red Line" linkingTallaght in westDublin to the city centre and Heuston and Connolly stations on the main Irish railway network.
**Charles Wickliffe Moorman IV is promoted to president ofNorfolk Southern .
**Railpower Technologies signs a memorandum of understanding withSwedish Train Technology to perform hybrid locomotive conversions inEurope .October events
* October - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the
EMD SD70M-2 .
* October -Amtrak opens a new maintenance facility inOakland, California .
*October 3 - The Southwestern Railroad leases the Carlsbad Subdivision (183 miles of track between Clovis and Carlsbad,New Mexico ) from theBurlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway .
*October 14 - The CanadianTransportation Safety Board issues its final report on the CN accident ofMay 2 2002 ; the report blames the truck driver's fatigue as the cause of the accident and admonishes fire crews for less-than-optimal training in hazardous materials.
*October 15 -Canadian National Railway announces that it is selling its locomotive remote control business unit (which produced theBeltpack control system) to Cattron Group, Inc., so the railroad can focus on operations.
*October 18 -Rocky Mountain Railtours officially changes its name toRocky Mountaineer Vacations .
*October 21 - The first railroad conductors graduate fromBritish Columbia Institute of Technology 's 32-week course.
*October 22 -Canadian National Railway (CN) announces that it will open shipping offices inShanghai andBeijing ; the office will advertise CN's shipping abilities toNorth America n destinations, especially on thePacific coast.*
October 23 - The Chūetsu earthquake, 6.8 magnitude, inJapan causes the first derailment of aShinkansen train; the train was traveling 200 km/h (125 mph) on theTokyo -Niigata line, but no fatalities were reported.
*October 27 - TheNorth America n rail labor unionBrotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees votes to merge with theTeamsters .November events
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November 1 –Amtrak discontinues the "Palmetto" south ofSavannah, Georgia , replacing rail service to several towns in westernCentral Florida withThruway Motorcoach bus service. The "Pennsylvanian" west ofHarrisburg, Pennsylvania is also discontinued, with the rest merged into the "Keystone Service" and "Three Rivers" lines.
*November 3 –Progressive Rail leases formerWisconsin Central Railway track in northernWisconsin and begins operations on the line under its subsidiary railroad,Wisconsin Northern Railroad .
*November 6 – Seven people die in theUfton Nervet rail crash inBerkshire ,England .
*November 8 –Canadian National ,Canadian Pacific andNorfolk Southern announce an operating agreement to speed shipments between easternCanada and the easternUnited States .
*November 16 – The northbound high speed tilt train "Spirit of Townsville" fromBrisbane , bound for Cairns, failed to slow down for a sharp 60 km/h curve atBerajondo, Queensland ,Australia , derailing the train; although seven of the train's passenger cars and the leading power car left the tracks, remarkably there were no fatalities. "SeeCairns Tilt Train derailment , ."
*November 23 – The newWisconsin Northern Railroad begins operations on leasedUnion Pacific Railroad (formerlyChicago and North Western Railway ) andCanadian National Railway (formerlyWisconsin Central ) tracks.December events
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December 4 - Second phase of theHiawatha Line opens, connectingMinneapolis, Minnesota to MSP Airport and theMall of America in Bloomington
*December 12
**SNCF disallows smoking on all FrenchTGV trains.
** Swiss Federal Railways begins the first phase of implementing its Rail2000 plan to improve service.
*December 13 -Bombardier presidentPaul Tellier announces his retirement.
*December 17 - The last X'Trapolis train enters service with Connex inMelbourne ,Australia .
*December 21
** Siemens receives an order to build 60 new ICE trainsets for service betweenMoscow andSaint Petersburg ,Russia ; the new equipment is expected to enter service in2007 .
**KCR Ma On Shan Rail opens inHong Kong .
*December 26 - Approximately 1700 are killed in theQueen of the Sea train disaster , the world's worst rail disaster to date as theSri Lanka n train is overwhelmed by atsunami created by the Indian Ocean earthquake.
*December 28 -Shenzhen Metro begins operation inShenzhen ,China .Unknown date events
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Chicago Transit Authority installs a new electric third rail along the Yellow Line to replace the aging overhead trolley wire dating from the pre-1963 Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad ; this eliminates CTA's last stretch of trolley wire operation.
*Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company retires the last of the electricmultiple unit passenger cars built byPullman-Standard for theNew York Central in1962 –1965 . The cars are replaced with new cars built byBombardier Deaths
August deaths
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August 19 -John Francis Nash , Vice President of Operations for theNew York Central and president ofPittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad andLehigh Valley Railroad (b.1908 ).eptember deaths
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September 2 -Robert R. Dowty , construction foreman for the replica "Jupiter" and "119"steam locomotives at theGolden Spike National Historic Site atPromontory, Utah (b.1923 ).
*September 5 -Nelson W. Bowers , president of theNational Railway Historical Society (1983 –1987 ); (b.1931 ).
*September 6 -W. H. Krome George , director ofNorfolk Southern 1979 –1990 (b,1918 ).November deaths
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November 22 -Edward Blossom , trolley andinterurban streetcar restorationist, founder ofDushore Car Company (b.1930 ).December deaths
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December 1 - Jack Anderson,Chief mechanical engineer for and co-owner of theMount Rainier Scenic Railroad , and chief mechanical engineer for theNevada Northern Railway Museum (b.1953 ).Industry awards
North America
;2004
E. H. Harriman Award s:;Awards presented by
Railway Age magazine:
* 2004Railroader of the Year :Robert J. Ritchie (CP)
* 2004Regional Railroad of the Year :Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad
* 2004Short Line Railroad of the Year :Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad United Kingdom
;
Train Operator of the Year :
* 2004:Eurostar [cite press release| url=http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/about_eurostar/press_release/press_archive_2005/05_04_05_2.jsp| title=Eurostar unveils new rail alliance with European high-speed train operators, Thalys and Deutsche Bahn’s ICE| publisher=Eurostar| date=2005-05-04 | accessdate=2006-11-06| ]References
* Many of the events on this page were translated from [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_dans_les_chemins_de_fer 2004 dans les chemins de fer] , the equivalent French-language Wikipedia.
* Abandonments and Acquisitions (March2005 ). "Trains Magazine", p. 15.
* [http://www.bullsheet.com/news/200410.html Bull Sheet Monthly News]
* Canadian National (July 14 2004 ), [http://www.cn.ca/about/media/news_releases/2004/3rd_quarter/en_News20040714.shtml CN closes BC Rail transaction] . RetrievedFebruary 23 2005 .
* Canadian National (May 10 2004 ), [http://www.cn.ca/about/media/news_releases/2004/2nd_quarter/en_News20040510.shtml CN closes transaction to acquire rail and marine holdings of Great Lakes Transportation LLC] . RetrievedFebruary 23 2005 .
* Indian Railways Fan Club, " [http://irfca.org/faq/faq-history6.html IR History: Part - VI (1995-present)] ". RetrievedJuly 22 2005 .
* Iowa Interstate Railroad (July 15 ,2004 ), " [http://www.rrdc.com/news_iais_dhm_07_15_2004.pdf Iowa Interstate Announces Executive Appointment] " (PDF). RetrievedMay 23 ,2005 .
* Norfolk Southern (November 8 2004 ), [http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/releases04/cn_cpr_ns.html CN, CPR and Norfolk Southern Announce Agreement To Improve Freight Service Between Eastern Canada and the Eastern U.S.] . RetrievedFebruary 23 2005 .
* Norfolk Southern (September 8 2004 ), [http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/releases04/krome.html Former NS Director Krome George Dies] . RetrievedFebruary 23 2005 .
* Norfolk Southern (September 28 2004 ), [http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/releases04/mgt_change.html Norfolk Southern Names Moorman President, Promotes Six Senior Officers] . RetrievedFebruary 23 2005 .
* Obituaries (March2005 ). "Trains Magazine", p. 17.
* Train Scan (October2004 ), [http://www.trainscan.com/news/scan/s0410/index.html Train Scan October 2004] . RetrievedJanuary 19 2005 .
* Train Scan (November2004 ), [http://www.trainscan.com/news/scan/s0411/index.html Train Scan November 2004] . RetrievedJanuary 19 2005 .
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