2003 in rail transport

Updated on Sep 27, 2024

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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2003.

January events

January – Electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway, a project begun in 1929, is completed.

January 1 – E. Hunter Harrison, former president of Illinois Central Railroad (now a subsidiary of CN), succeeds Paul Tellier as president of Canadian National Railway.

January 18 – Singapore's second LRT Line, Sengkang LRT Line, is opened.

January 21 – The first segment of High Speed 1 in England is completed.

March events

March 21 – Official launch of M>Train's new Siemens Mo-Mo trains in Melbourne, Australia.

April events

April 3 – First revenue run of M>Train's new Siemens Mo-Mo train.

April 5 - The third rapid transit line of the Philippines which is the Manila LRT Line 2, began partial operations from Santolan Station to Araneta Center–Cubao Station.

April 11 – M>Train withdraws fleet of Siemens Mo-Mo trains due to braking and traction issues.

April 26 – DLW completes construction of the first WDP-4 locomotive to be built entirely within India.

June events

June 20 – North East MRT Line in Singapore opened. It is the world's first fully underground, automated and driverless rapid transit line.

July events

July – David Laney is promoted to Chairman of the Board of Directors for Amtrak.

July 15 – L. Stanley Crane, twice the Railroader of the Year, dies of pneumonia at a hospice in Boynton Beach, Fla.

July 21 – A tornado knocks down most of the former Erie Railroad's Kinzua Bridge.

July 30 – Eurostar train number 3313/14 establishes a new speed record in England at 334.7 km/h (208 mph) on High Speed 1.

August events

August 9 – Indian Railways begins passenger train service between Hyderabad and Secunderabad with 13 trains between Lingampally and Hyderabad, and 11 between Lingampally and Secunderabad.

August 10

M>Train (Melbourne, Australia) returns fleet of Siemens trains to service.

Okinawa Monorail (Yui Rail), Naha Kuko Station to Shuri Station route open in Okinawa Island, Japan.

August 22 – Sound Transit connects to Tacoma, Washington.

September events

September 1 – Deutsche Bahn takes over operations of shipping company Stinnes Group in Germany.

September 25 – James J. Dermody becomes President of Long Island Rail Road in New York.

October events

October 1 – M>Train (Melbourne, Australia) withdraws its fleet of Siemens trains for the second time.

October 7 – RENFE opens the Madrid–Lleida section of the system's new standard gauge AVE Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line via Zaragoza in Spain.

October 27 – Fleet of Siemens trains returned to M>Train (Melbourne, Australia) service, some minus livery.

November events

November 3 – NYC Subway's "Redbird" R36 trains make final run from 42nd Street Times Square to Willets Point Shea Stadium.

November 4 – A new intermodal service is inaugurated between Aiton, France, and Orbassano (near Turin), Italy, to transport complete trucks (both the tractor and trailer) and their loads; the trains include coach seating for the truck drivers as well.

November 28 – SNCF (France) celebrates the one-billionth passenger on its TGV.

December events

December 1 – JR West discontinues service on the Kabe Line between Kabe and Sandankyō stations.

December 5 – Opening of 15.34 km (9.53 mi) Severomuysky Tunnel on Baikal Amur Mainline after twenty-seven years’ construction.

December 9 – The European Commission approves the franchise of the Trans-Pennine Express JV between Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and other northern England locations as a joint operation of FirstGroup and Keolis.

December 20 – The KCR West Rail in Hong Kong starts services.

December – Great North Eastern Railways, operators of services on the East Coast Main Line in England and Scotland, begin trials of 802.11b wireless LAN access to the Internet on their Mallard Intercity 225 trains.

Accidents

January 3 – Ghatnandur train crash: A passenger train travelling from Secunderabad to Manmad, crashes into the rear end of a heavy goods train near Ghatnandur in Maharashtra, India, killing 18 people.

January 27 – A head-on collision between an Italian and a French train in the Tende line's Biogna tunnel leaves two dead and four seriously injured.

January 27 – Mumbai Bombing, a bomb exploded near Vile Parle railway station in Mumbai, India.

January 31 – The Waterfall rail accident occurred near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia. A train derailed, killing seven people on board.

February 1 – The Dete train crash killed 50 people in the Zimbabwean town of Dete in the Western part of the country about 90 miles (140 km) from Victoria Falls.

February 18 – An arsonist causes the Daegu subway fire when he sets fire to a train stopped at the Joongang-ro (or Jungang-ro) station of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway in Daegu, South Korea.

March 13 – Mumbai Bombing – A bomb exploded as a train pulled into Mulund station, killing 10 people.

May 15 – The Ladhowal rail disaster was a flash fire on the Frontier Mail train service in India, which engulfed three carriages. 39 people lost their lives.

June 23 – The Vaibhavwadi train crash killed 53 people near the village of Vaibhavwadi in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra in India.

July 2 – The Warangal train crash killed 22 people in the town of Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, in India.

October 7 – The Cahir viaduct on the Limerick-Rosslare railway line collapses under a cement train travelling to Waterford. No one hurt but the line remains closed until the following September for repairs to the structure.

December 5 – The 2003 Stavropol train bombing was a suicide bomber blast on a commuter train in Stavropol Krai, Russia going from Kislovodsk to Mineralnye Vody as it was leaving Yessentuki. The explosion killed at least 46 people and injured more than 170.