2004 in rail transport

Events

February events

• February 3 - The first freight train travels the entire north-south transcontinental railroad in Australia between Adelaide, South Australia, and Darwin, Northern Territory.
• February 18 - A train carrying a convoy of petrol, fertiliser, and sulfur derails and explodes in Iran, killing 320 people.

March events

• March 30 - High-speed train service is inaugurated in Korea between Seoul and Daegu.

April events

• April - The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pierre, South Dakota, rules that the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad may use eminent domain to purchase land in South Dakota in order to build the railroad's extension into Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
• April 1 - High-speed train service is inaugurated in Korea between Seoul and Pusan; the trains make the trip in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
• April 18 - Connex takes over the half of the Melbourne suburban rail network formerly operated by M>Train.
• April 22 - In the Ryongchon disaster, a flammable cargo explodes at the railway station in the town of Ryongchŏn, North Korea, near the border with China; the explosion occurs only a few hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through the station en route back to the capital from a secret meeting in China.
• April 29 - The European Railway Agency [1], headquartered in Lille, France, is formed.

May events

• May 9 - Construction begins on a railway tunnel under the Bosphorus strait in Turkey; the tunnel is expected to open for service in 2008.
• May 10 - Canadian National Railway acquires Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad and Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway

June events

• June - the 150th anniversary of the Grand Excursion is commemorated with special runs by Milwaukee Road 261 and Canadian Pacific 2816 along the northern Mississippi River.
• June 7 - The high speed Gautrain between Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa is announced; it is expected to open in 2009.
• June 23 - Madrid Metro orders 698 new subway cars valued at 1 billion Euros; the order is shared by Bombardier and Siemens.
• June 26 - The Hiawatha Line light rail service in Minneapolis, Minnesota opens to the public.
• June 30 - In Ireland the first stage of Dublin's LUAS light rail system opens, the "Green Line" from Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The route follows the old Harcourt Street railway line for the most part.

July events

• July 1 - The Luas light rail system in Dublin, Ireland, opens.
• July 14 - Canadian National Railway completes its purchase of BC Rail.

August events

• August 1 - Iowa Interstate Railroad takes over operations of a daily freight train from Iowa City, Iowa, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railroad .
• August 31 - The United States Surface Transportation Board renews the authority of TTX Corporation to continue pooling and leasing railroad rolling stock for ten more years, over the protests of other rolling stock leasing companies.

September events

• September 3 - The Canadian Museum of Rail Travel , in Cranbrook, British Columbia, holds grand opening ceremonies for its new museum facilities.
• September 8 - Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway opens the second railroad "flyover" bypass in Kansas City, Missouri.
• September 13 - The Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway files its second application to abandon most of its trackage on Cape Breton.
• September 28
  • The second LUAS line opens, the "Red Line" linking Tallaght in west Dublin to the city centre and Heuston and Connolly stations on the main Irish railway network.
  • Charles Wickliffe Moorman IV is promoted to president of Norfolk Southern.
  • RailPower Technologies signs a memorandum of understanding with Swedish Train Technology to perform hybrid locomotive conversions in Europe.

October events

• October - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD SD70M-2.
• October - Amtrak opens a new maintenance facility in Oakland, California.
• October 3 - The Southwestern Railroad leases the Carlsbad Subdivision (183 miles of track between Clovis and Carlsbad, New Mexico) from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
• October 14 - The Canadian Transportation Safety Board issues its final report on the CN accident of May 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 the Beltpack control system) to Cattron Group, Inc., so the railroad can focus on operations.
• October 18 - Rocky Mountain Railtours officially changes its name to Rocky Mountaineer Vacations .
• October 21 - The first railroad conductors graduate from British Columbia Institute of Technology's 32-week course.
• October 22 - Canadian National Railway (CN) announces that it will open shipping offices in Shanghai and Beijing; the office will advertise CN's shipping abilities to North American destinations, especially on the Pacific coast.
• October 23 - A 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Japan derails a Shinkansen train traveling 200 km/h (125 mph) on the Tokyo-Niigata line, but no fatalities are reported.
• October 27 - The North American rail labor union Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees votes to merge with the Teamsters.

November events

• November 1 - Amtrak discontinues the Palmetto south of Savannah, Georgia, replacing rail service to several towns in western Central Florida with Thruway Motorcoach bus service. The Pennsylvanian west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is also discontinued, with the rest merged into the Keystone and Three Rivers lines.
• November 3 - Progressive Rail leases former Wisconsin Central track in northern Wisconsin and begins operations on the line under its subsidiary railroad, Wisconsin Northern .
• November 6 - Seven people die in the Ufton Nervet rail crash in Berkshire, England.
• November 8 - Canadian National, Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern announce an operating agreement to speed shipments between eastern Canada and the eastern United States.
• November 16 - The northbound high speed tilt train Spirit of Townsville from Brisbane, bound for Cairns, failed to slow down for a very sharp 60 km/h curve at Rosedale, Queensland , Australia, derailing the train; remarkably, although seven of the train's passenger cars left the tracks, no fatalities were reported from this accident. See Rosedale train crash.
• November 23 - The new Wisconsin Northern railroad begins operations on leased Union Pacific Railroad (formerly Chicago and Northwestern) and Canadian National (formerly Wisconsin Central) tracks.

December events

• December 12 - SNCF disallows smoking on all French TGV trains.
• December 17 - The last X'Trapolis train enters service with Connex in Melbourne, Australia.
• December 21 - Siemens receives an order to build 60 new ICE trainsets for service between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia; the new equipment is expected to enter service in 2007.

Unknown date events

• Chicago Transit Authority installs a new electric third rail along the Yellow Line to replace the aging Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad overhead wire.
• Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company retires the last of the electric multiple unit passenger cars built by Pullman-Standard for the New York Central in 1962–1965. The cars are replaced with new cars built by Bombardier

Deaths

August deaths

• August 19 - John Francis Nash , Vice President of Operations for the New York Central and president of Pittsburgh and Lake Erie and Lehigh Valley Railroad (b. 1908).

September deaths

• September 2 - Robert R. Dowty , construction foreman for the replica Jupiter and 119 steam locomotives at the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory, Utah (b. 1923).
• September 5 - Nelson W. Bowers , president of the National Railway Historical Society (1983–1987); (b. 1931).
• September 6 - W. H. Krome George , director of Norfolk Southern 1979–1990 (b, 1918).

November deaths

• November 22 - Edward Blossom , trolley and interurban car restorationist, founder of Dushore Car Company (b. 1930).

December deaths

• December 1 - Jack Anderson , Chief mechanical engineer for and co-owner of the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad , and chief mechanical engineer for the Nevada Northern Railway Museum (b. 1953).

References

• Many of the events on this page were translated from 2004 dans les chemins de fer, the equivalent French-language Wikipedia.
• Abandonments and Acquisitions (March 2005). Trains Magazine, p. 15.
• Bull Sheet Monthly News
• Canadian National (July 14 2004), CN closes BC Rail transaction. Retrieved February 23 2005.
• Canadian National (May 10 2004), CN closes transaction to acquire rail and marine holdings of Great Lakes Transportation LLC. Retrieved February 23 2005.
• Norfolk Southern (November 8 2004), CN, CPR and Norfolk Southern Announce Agreement To Improve Freight Service Between Eastern Canada and the Eastern U.S.. Retrieved February 23 2005.
• Norfolk Southern (September 8 2004), Former NS Director Krome George Dies. Retrieved February 23 2005.
• Norfolk Southern (September 28 2004), Norfolk Southern Names Moorman President, Promotes Six Senior Officers. Retrieved February 23 2005.
• Obituaries (March 2005). Trains Magazine, p. 17.
• Train Scan (October 2004), Train Scan October 2004. Retrieved January 19 2005.
• Train Scan (November 2004), Train Scan November 2004. Retrieved January 19 2005.