2005 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2005.

Events

January events

• January 3 – Kansas City Southern names Arthur Shoener, formerly a vice president at Union Pacific Railroad, as the new CEO of the holding company's Kansas City Southern Railway and Texas-Mexican Railway divisions. [1]
• January 4 – Bombardier receives a contract from SNCF for 350 million Euros to build 100 new regional trainsets.
• January 5 – A Norfolk Southern train carrying a few carloads of hazardous materials (including chlorine gas) collides with a parked train in Graniteville, South Carolina, causing the Graniteville train disaster. [2]
• January 7 – A passenger train and freight train collide head-on in Crevalcore, in northern Italy (near Bologna), on the single-track mainline between Bologna and Verona. [3]
• January 12 – General Motors announces that it has agreed to sell its Electro-Motive Division to a partnership led by Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners. [4]
• January 12 – Five cars of a CN freight train derail in Fort St. John, Manitoba (a suburb of Winnipeg), Canada; as one of the cars was carrying propane, the area is evacuated. The tank car remains upright and intact, so local residents are allowed to return fairly quickly. [5]
• January 17 – Two Bangkok Metro trains collide, injuring nearly 200 people. [6], [7]
• January 18 – A station at the Milwaukee Airport opens on Amtrak's Hiawatha service. [8], [9], [10]
• January 24 – Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway introduces a new corporate logo that replaces the railroad's verbose name with BNSF Railway. [11]
• January 26 – In what police call a suicide attempt, a Metrolink train in Glendale, California, (a suburb of Los Angeles) hits a car parked on a grade crossing and then derails into another Metrolink train and a parked Union Pacific Railroad locomotive; the Glendale train crash results in 11 fatalities and 200 injuries. [12], [13], [14]
• January 31 – Regular Metrolink passenger service is restored through Glendale, California, the scene of the previous week's Glendale train crash. [15]

February events

• February 9 – BNSF Railway announces that it has begun planning for the construction of a new intermodal container transload facility near the port of Los Angeles, California. [16]
• February 15
  • Construction begins on the first light rail commuter line in Phoenix, Arizona; it is scheduled to open in December 2008. [17]
  • Juan Manuel Alvarez enters a plea of not guilty at his arraignment hearing for his involvement in the Glendale train crash. [18]
  • The city of Washington, DC, enacts legislation that bans railroads from transporting hazardous materials through the city. [19]
• February 25 – Bombardier is awarded a contract to build 361 passenger cars for a new Chinese rail line to Lhasa, Tibet; due to the destination's altitude the cars will include special UV-filtering glass and a unique oxygen enriching system. [20]
• February 26 – Ground is broken for a new light rail commuter service in Charlotte, North Carolina. [21]

March events

• March 2 – Citing disputes in paid leave policies, around 200 BNSF Railway dispatchers walk off the job for nearly three hours, causing traffic delays over the entire system from Chicago to the Pacific coast. [22]
• March 7 – Amtrak's Three Rivers line is discontinued west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• March 11 – A rail grinder working westbound on the Union Pacific mainline sideswipes an eastbound BNSF Railway intermodal train at Rochelle, Illinois; the trains don't derail but a few containers are destroyed. The entire event is recorded on the Trains Magazine Rochelle webcam. [23]
• March 14
  • Paul Côté becomes president and CEO of VIA Rail Canada. [24]
  • Canadian Pacific Railway purchases 35 new Green Goat hybrid locomotives, becoming the first railroad to order this type of locomotive. [25]
• March 18 – Joseph H. Boardman, head of the New York State Department of Transportation, is nominated to lead the United States Federal Railroad Administration. [26]
• March 23 – Spokespeople for JR-Tokai in Japan announce that Series 300 Shinkansen trains have been operating with faulty speed control equipment; the problem is detected after an engineer reports that he needed to manually reduce a train's speed after the Automatic Train Control (ATC) device installed on the train failed to operate. The trains are pulled from service until repairs can be made. [27]
• March 29 – BNSF Railway announces that it will add a fuel surcharge based on mileage to all shipments made as of January 1 2006, making BNSF the first railway to do so. [28]

April events

• April 1 – All former BC Rail systems and operations are fully integrated into those of the purchasing railroad, Canadian National Railway. [29]
• April 4
  • East Japan Railway Company and Tokyo Waterfront Railway introduce women-only passenger cars in trains on the Saikyo and Rinkai Lines to deter groping. [30]
  • The sale of General Motors Electro-Motive Division to Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners is completed; the new company is known as Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD). [31]
• April 13 – The transport ministry of Bulgaria issues the first freight transport license to a private company, Bulgarian Railroad Company, to operate on the nation's rail network. [32]
• April 14 – Nineteen cars of a southbound Union Pacific train operating on Canadian National Railway tracks south of Superior, Wisconsin, derail and cause a forest fire near Solon Springs, Wisconsin. [33]
• April 15 – Amtrak cancels all Acela Express trains between Washington, DC, New York City and Boston as cracks are found in the brakes on a majority of the trainsets' coaches. [34] [35]
• April 16 – Alaska Railroad opens its new headquarters building and operations center in Anchorage, Alaska. [36]
• April 21 – At least 17 people have been killed and 78 injured in a collision between a passenger train and stationary goods train in western India.
• April 23 – Los Angeles Metrolink opens a new station in Palmdale on the system's Antelope Valley line. [37]
• April 28
  • The English, Welsh and Scottish Railway acquires the assets of Probotec Limited, the leading manufacturer of railroad freight car suspension systems in Europe. [38]
  • Swiss engineers blast through the last section of rock on the first bore of the Loetschberg tunnel project under the Alps. [39]
• April 30 – The English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) was expected to close a deal that will allow the railway to operate freight trains through the Channel Tunnel; such operations would make EWS one of the first non-governmental companies to operate trains on France's national rail network.[40]

May events

• May 3
  • The Iranian president Mohammad Khatami leads the ceremony inaugurating passenger rail service between Mashhad and Bafq, Iran. [41]
  • Union Pacific Railroad's transcontinental mainline is blocked when a train derails in Galt, Illinois (about 50 miles / 80 km east of the Quad Cities), and destroys the 140 ft (42.6 m) bridge across Elkhorn Creek. [42] [43]

Future events

June

• June 24 – The United States Federal Railroad Administration will issue its final rule on the use of train horns at grade crossings. [44]

August

• The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Orange Line bus rapid transit busway[45] in the San Fernando Valley, extending from the end of the current Red Line in North Hollywood to Warner Center, is scheduled to be completed.

Unknown date

• The Docklands Light Railway extension to London City Airport is scheduled to open.
• Construction is scheduled to begin on the Docklands Light Railway extension to Woolwich Arsenal.
• UP 844 is expected to return to excursion service after an overhaul.
• Railways Act 2005 (UK) [46]

Deaths

January deaths

• January 23 – John H. Kuehl, editor of Private Varnish magazine, passenger car historian and photographer (b. 1938).

February deaths

• February 12 – Vernon L. Smith, mechanical engineer for Lima Locomotive Works in the 1930s, superintendent of motive power for the Belt Railway of Chicago in the 1970s, and noted railroad author (b. 1912).

March deaths

• March 28 – Paul H. Stringham, central Illinois railroad photographer and historian (b. 1913). [47]

April deaths

• April 22 – Margaret Landry Moore, "Miss Southern Belle" spokesmodel for Kansas City Southern's Southern Belle passenger trains (b. 1923). [48]
• April 28 – Frank Turpin, CEO of Alaska Railroad, 1985–1993 (b. 1923). [49]

References

• Amtrak (April 15 2005), Service Alert: Acela Express – Amtrak Cancels All Friday and Saturday Acela Express Service Due to Brake Problem. Retrieved April 15 2005.
• Associated Press (January 17 2005), 200 hurt in Bangkok subway crash. Retrieved January 19 2005.
• Associated Press (April 14 2005), Freight train derails, burns in northwestern Wisconsin. Retrieved April 14 2005.
• Associated Press (May 4 2005), Investigators look for cause of Illinois derailment. Retrieved May 5 2005.
• Associated Press, (February 15 2005), Man pleads innocent in Calif. train wreck. Retrieved February 16 2005.
• Associated Press (February 16 2005), Phoenix begins work on light rail. Retrieved February 16 2005.
• BBC News (January 17 2005), Thai subway shut for safety probe. Retrieved January 19 2005.
• BNSF Railway (January 24 2005), BNSF Adopts New Corporate and Subsidiary Logos and Changes Name of Railway Subsidiary as Part of Tenth Anniversary Celebration. Retrieved January 25 2005.
• BNSF Railway (March 29 2005), BNSF Announces First Mileage-Based Fuel Surcharge Program In the Rail Industry. Retrieved March 29 2005.
• BNSF (February 9 2005), Port of Los Angeles begins discussions with BNSF Railway Company on new intermodal facility. Retrieved February 10 2005.
• Bulgarian News Network (April 13 2005), Bulgaria Licenses Private Railroad Carrier. Retrieved April 13 2005.
• Bull Sheet Monthly News
• Canadian National Railway (March 21 2005), CN – BC Rail Systems Integration. Retrieved March 21 2005.
• Canadian Pacific Railway (March 14 2005), Canadian Pacific Railway to acquire first hybrid locomotives. Retrieved March 17 2005.
• CBS/AP (January 26 2005), Parked car caused train wreck. Retrieved January 26 2005.
• CSX Transportation (February 16 2005), CSXT Files Federal Suit on D.C. Hazmat Ordinance. Retrieved February 23 2005.
• Edgar, Amy Geier, Associated Press (January 6 2005), Four Die, 200 Injured in S.C. Train Crash. Retrieved January 7 2005.
• EWS Railway (April 28 2005), EWS acquires the assets of Probotec Limited. Retrieved April 30 2005.
• Federal Railroad Administration (March 18 2005), Federal Railroad Administration Changes Effective Date of Interim Final Rule on Use of Train Horns. Retrieved March 21 2005.
• General Motors (January 12 2005), GM Agrees To Sell Electro-Motive Division. Retrieved January 12 2005.
• General Motors Electro-Motive Division (April 4 2005), Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners Complete Acquisition of Electro-Motive from General Motors. Retrieved April 13 2005.
• Hauser, Kristine, New York Times (April 15 2005), Amtrak Suspends Acela Trains After Finding Brake Problems. Retrieved April 15 2005.
• Kansas City Southern Industries (January 3 2005), KCS Names Arthur Shoener EVP and COO of the Company, President & CEO of KCS's U.S. Rail Holdings, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company and Texas Mexican Railway Company; Owen Zidar Named Vice President Marketing. Retrieved January 25 2005.
• (January 2005), KCS says no to merger, for now. Retrieved January 25 2005.
• Kitching, Chris (January 13 2005), CN tankers derail, force evacuations. Retrieved January 25 2005.
• Liu, Caitlin, and Torrejon, Veronica; Los Angeles Times, Train service is fully restored. Retrieved February 1 2005.
• Loy, Wesley, Anchorage Daily News (April 30 2005), Frank Turpin, railroad, oil leader, dies. Retrieved May 4 2005.
• Mapaye, John, KTUU (April 16 2005), Railroad opens new operations center. Retrieved April 18 2005.
• Molloy, Tim; Associated Press (January 26 2005), Suicide try triggers California commuter rail tragedy, police say. Retrieved January 26 2005.
• National Railroad Passenger Corporation (January 18 2005), Governor Doyle, Senator Kohl & Amtrak dedicate new passenger rail station at Milwaukee airport. Retrieved February 4 2005.
• Nguyen, Daisy; Associated Press (January 26 2005), 9 killed as suburban L.A. trains derail. Retrieved January 26 2005.
• (May 2005), Obituaries, Trains Magazine, p. 21.
• Paolucci, Gianluca; Reuters (January 7 2005), Italy Train Crash Kills at Least 13, Many Injured. Retrieved January 25 2005.
• Payvand's Iran News (May 3 2005), Iranian President inaugurates Mashhad-Bafq railroad. Retrieved May 3 2005.
• Sandler, Larry, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online (January 13 2005), Amtrak on track to open at airport. Retrieved January 19 2005.
• VIA Rail Canada (March 14 2005), VIA statement on appointment of new president. Retrieved March 17 2005.
• Wald, Matthew L., and Bogdanich, Walt, (March 18 2005), New York official to head Federal Railroad Administration. Retrieved March 18 2005.

Trains News Wire references

• (February 28 2005), Bombardier awarded Chinese passenger car contract. Retrieved March 10 2005.
• (March 23 2005), Bullet trains may have been running with faulty speed controls. Retrieved March 24 2005.
• (March 2 2005), Charlotte, N.C., breaks ground for light-rail line. Retrieved March 10 2005.
• (March 14 2005), Collision ties up UP-BNSF diamonds at Rochelle, Ill.. Retrieved March 15 2005.
• (March 3 2005), Dispatcher walkout snarls BNSF. Retrieved March 10 2005.
• (April 8 2005), EWS close to Channel Tunnel deal. Retrieved April 12 2005.
• (May 4 2005), Illinois derailment closes UP Overland Route main line. Retrieved May 5 2005.
• (April 27 2005), Metrolink opens Palmdale commuter station. Retrieved May 4 2005.
• (April 27 2005), ‘Miss Southern Belle’ dies. Retrieved May 4 2005.
• (March 31 2005), Paul Stringham dies: Illinois rail photographer, historian, and author. Retrieved April 7 2005.
• (April 29 2005), Swiss complete digging Alpine tunnel. Retrieved May 4 2005.
• (April 5 2005), Tokyo introduces women-only trains to prevent groping. Retrieved April 7 2005.
• (March 9 2005), Vernon L. Smith, retired railroader and author, dies. Retrieved March 10 2005.