1996 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1996.

Events

March events

• March 4 – A Wisconsin Central freight train derails on a broken switch in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. The Weyauwega derailment forced the evacuation of the entire town until March 20 while fire crews worked to control the resulting blaze.
• March 28 – Mucha line of Taipei Mass Rapid Transit, The first subway line of Taiwan opens.

June events

• June 26 – The Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad and the A&G Railroad merge to form the Bay Line Railroad.

July events

• July 28 – The Talleyrand Terminal Railroad (a subsidiary of Genesee and Wyoming, Inc.) begins operations in Jacksonville, Florida.

October events

• October – The first stage of Cairo Metro's Line Two (the Yellow line) opens.

November events

• November 18 – Fire erupts in the Channel Tunnel seriously damaging 200 m of the tunnel's lining.
• November 21 – Limited freight service in the Channel Tunnel resumes while construction crews make repairs at the location of the fire three days earlier.

December events

• December 4 – Passenger service resumes through the Channel Tunnel.

Unknown date events

• The Union Pacific Railroad finishes the acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before with the purchase of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The merged company retains the name "Union Pacific" for all railroad operations.
• The Hell Gate Bridge, built in 1916, is overhauled, including its first paint job in 80 years.
• A coal train in Beresfield, New South Wales, Australia passes a red signal (SPAD) and collides with the rear of a second coal train on the same track in the Beresfield rail disaster; due to the accident, a somewhat random factor has been added to the vigilance control signals' intervals.
• Construction begins on San Juan, Puerto Rico's Tren Urbano mass transit system.

Deaths

References

• (May 2002), Setbacks for Puerto Rico's system, Trains Magazine, p. 31.