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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1996.
Events
January events
- January 6 – A computer-controlled Washington Metro train overruns the platform at the Shady Grove station, colliding with a parked train and fatally injuring the operator.
February events
- February 4 – The first two British passenger train operating companies begin operation of their service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: South West Trains (part of the Stagecoach Group) and Great Western Trains (Great Western Holdings).[1]
- February 9 - 1996 Secaucus train collision: A southbound New Jersey Transit train (Train #1254) bound for Hoboken Terminal collides nearly head-on with a northbound NJ Transit train (Train #1107) heading to Suffern. 3 People are killed.
- February 10 – Woodlands Extension of the MRT North South line in Singapore opened, adding six new stations to the current network.
- February 16 – 1996 Maryland train collision: A Chicago bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, killing 11 people.
- February 19 – Approximately 1,000 passengers are trapped in the Channel Tunnel when two Eurostar trains break down due to electronic failures caused by snow and ice.[2]
- February 24 – The three British trainload freight companies, Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail, are acquired by North & South Railways, a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central, as part of the privatisation of British Rail.[3]
March events
- March 4 – Weyauwega, Wisconsin derailment: A Wisconsin Central freight train derails on a broken switch in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. The derailment forces the evacuation of the entire town until March 20 while fire crews work to control the resulting blaze.
- March 15 – Amtrak selects the "American Flyer" design developed by Bombardier and Alstom, based on the TGV trains of France, as the design model for its Acela rolling stock.
- March 18 – SNCF begins a construction project to renew the track ballast on the Paris-Lyon TGV line; the project is expected to last through 2006.
- March 28
- Muzha Line of Taipei Mass Rapid Transit, the first rapid transit line of Taiwan, opens.
- Freight services between Higashi-Yokoze freight terminal and Shin-Akitsu on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line in Japan are discontinued.
- March – Government of Guatemala suspends operation on the entire 885 km (550 mi) Ferrocarriles de Guatemala network.[4]
April events
- April 14 – The British trainload freight company North & South Railways Ltd becomes EWS.
- April 21 – The Jokela rail accident, a derailment in thick fog, kills 4 in Tuusula, Finland.
- April 27 – The Tōyō Rapid Railway Line, connecting Nishi-Funabashi and Katsutadai opens in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.[5]
- April 28 – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline (both National Express) and Great North Eastern Railway (Sea Containers).[1]
May events
- May 4 – Purchase by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad of the former Chicago & North Western branch lines from Rapid City, South Dakota to Colony, Wyoming and Crawford, Nebraska becomes effective.
- May 12 – The Green Line of the Chicago Transit Authority elevated and subway rail system, returns to service after a 2 year reconstruction period. Many stations were still incomplete, while six other stations (including, Halsted, Homan, 58th, 61st, Racine, and University) were closed permanently.
- May 17 – Canadian National's Beachburg Subdivision between Pembroke and Nipissing, 126 miles (203 km) of track which traversed Algonquin Provincial Park, is officially abandoned.[6]
- May 20 – The British railway infrastructure management company, Railtrack, is privatised, being floated on the London Stock Exchange with shares worth 360p.[7]
- May 26 – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises in England as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Connex South Central and LTS Rail (a subsidiary of Prism Rail).[1]
June events
July events
- July 21 – British train operating company Chiltern Railways begins operation of its passenger service franchise in England as part of the privatisation of British Rail, following a management buyout.[1]
- July 24 – The Dehiwala train bombing carried out by the LTTE kills 64 people.
- July 26 – Conventional rail world speed record of 443.0 km/h (275.3 mph) attained by the JR Central "300X" six-car train between Kyoto and Maibara on the Tokaido Shinkansen.[8]
- July 27 – Ron Burns becomes president of Union Pacific.
- July 28 – The Talleyr and Terminal Railroad (a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming) begins operations in Jacksonville, Florida.
- July 31 – Canadian Pacific makes the last run of a grain load in a 40 ft (12 m) boxcar with the final deliveries of grain to Thunder Bay, Ontario.[9]
- July 31 – The first low-floor light rail car in North America is received (from its manufacturer, Siemens) by Portland, Oregon's TriMet.[10]
August events
- August 19 – Metra's North Central Service commuter rail line begins operations on the Milwaukee District/West Line and on the Wisconsin Central Railroad between Union Station in downtown Chicago and Antioch.
September events
- September 11 – Union Pacific finishes the acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before with the purchase of the Southern Pacific.[11] The merged company retains the name "Union Pacific" for all railroad operations.
- September 14 – The York–Durham Heritage Railway begins operations on Canadian National's former branch between Uxbridge and Stouffville, Ontario.[12]
October events
- October 1 – The Norwegian Railway Inspectorate is created.
- October 13 – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Cardiff Railway Company (operating as Valley Lines) and Wales & West (both subsidiaries of Prism Rail); Connex South Eastern; Island Line, Isle of Wight (Stagecoach Group); and Thames Trains (Go-Ahead Group).[1]
- October – The first stage of Cairo Metro's Line Two (the Yellow line) opens.
November events
- November 18 – Channel Tunnel fire 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 1 – Norwegian State Railways is split into the Norwegian National Rail Administration and Norges Statsbaner.
- December 4 – Passenger service resumes through the Channel Tunnel.
- December 5
- BNSF reopens Stampede Pass in Washington and resumes operating freight trains over the line.[13]
- Canadian National operates its last train of grain to be hauled in 40 ft (12 m) boxcars; CN SD40s numbered 5256 and 5051 depart Canora, Saskatchewan, with a train of 114 such boxcars bound for Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Thunder Bay, Ontario.[9]
- December 16 – Opening of Malaysia's first metro line, the LRT STAR Line (Chinese: 实达轻快铁) from Ampang to Sultan Ismail in the Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
- December 30
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit opens the first line of Trinity Railway Express between Dallas and Irving, Texas.[14][15]
- The Brahmaputra Mail train bombing: a bomb explodes a train travelling in Lower Assam in Eastern India, totally destroying three carriages of the train and derailing six more, killing at least 33 people.
- December 31 – Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway merge to form BNSF.
Accidents
Deaths
January deaths
- January 3 – Terence Cuneo, British railway artist (born 1907).
May deaths
- May 9 – Carl Fallberg, cartoonist who created Fiddletown & Copperopolis (born 1915).[16]
References
- "Significant dates in Canadian railway history". Colin Churcher's Railway Pages. Archived from the original on 5 September 2005. Retrieved 13 September 2005.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Passenger train operating companes: who bought what". The Railway Magazine: 20. April 1997.
- ↑ Wolmar, Christian (22 February 1996). "Wrong kind of snow in tunnel...". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
- ↑ WC group buys British freight services Railway Age March 1996 page 24
- ↑ Williams, Glyn (July 2006). "Railways in Guatemala". Retrieved 2010-01-12.
- ↑ Terada, Hirokazu (January 19, 2013). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 978-4-7770-1336-4.
- ↑ "Significant dates in Ottawa railway history". Colin Churcher's Railway Pages. 2006-04-28. Archived from the original on 27 April 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
- ↑ Left, Sarah (2002-01-15). "Key dates in Britain's railway history". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ↑ プロトタイプの世界 – Prototype World (in Japanese). Japan: Kotsu Shimbunsha. December 2005. p. 60. OCLC 170056962.
- 1 2 McDonnell, Greg (April 1997). "In Canada, finis for 40-footers". Trains Magazine. 57 (4): 17–18.
- ↑ Oliver, Gordon (August 1, 1996). "MAX takes keys to cool new model". The Oregonian, p. D1.
- ↑ "Union Pacific Railroad Chronological History". Union Pacific. Archived from the original on 10 August 2006. Retrieved 22 July 2005.
- ↑ "York-Durham Heritage Railway". Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
- ↑ "Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad reopens Stampede Pass line on December 5, 1996". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 5 December 2005.
- ↑ Trinity Railway Express, Significant dates in Trinity Railway Express history Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 27, 2005.
- ↑ DART, DART history. Retrieved December 27, 2005.
- ↑ "Obituary". Trains. 57 (2): 18A. February 1997.
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