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2008 in rail transport

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2008 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2008.

Contents

February events

  • February 27
  • – Official opening of Santo Domingo Metro.
  • – National Express Group changes the name of the railway operating company one to National Express East Anglia as part of a company-wide rebranding exercise.

    • March events

  • March 15 – The Osaka Higashi Line is scheduled to open in Osaka, Japan; the opening was originally scheduled for 2006, but delayed due to problems acquiring land.
  • March 27 – Heathrow Terminal 5 station opens in London.
  • March 30 – Yokohama Municipal Subway's Green Line is opened for regular operations.
  • – Kolkata Metro is extended from Tollygunge station to Pranabnagar station.

    • April events

  • April 1 – The Miki Railway Miki Line in Japan, which connected Yakujin Station in Kakogawa and Miki Station in Miki, is closed.
  • April 26 – FrontRunner, a new commuter rail service, begins running in Utah.
  • April 28 – Wrexham & Shropshire begin to run passenger services between London Marylebone station, the West Midlands, Shropshire and north-east Wales.

    • June events

  • June 2–June 6 AfricaRail 2008 Conference.

    • July events

  • July 5 – Meeting between Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador regarding a proposed rail link for freight and passengers between the three countries, also connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic.

    • August events

  • August 1
  • – China officially opens the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway line, the first in the world regularly to host trains traveling up to 350 km/h (220 mph).
  • – LNER-design Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado makes first official move under its own steam, the first main line steam locomotive built in Britain since 1960.

    • December events

  • December – The first section of the new Valley Metro Rail system, part of Valley Metro in Phoenix, Arizona, is scheduled to open.

    • Summer events

  • – The project to rebuild and upgrade Guiyang Southern Station to more than double its capacity is expected to be completed.

    • Unknown date events

  • – Indian Railways expects to complete the conversion of its electrified section in Mumbai from a 1,500 volt DC system to 25,000 volts AC; this will make the Mumbai section's electrification consistent with the rest of Indian Railways' network.
  • – Vietnam expects to complete construction on the Hanoi–Lào Cai railway line upgrade.
  • – The first line of Jerusalem's light rail system is scheduled to begin operations.
  • – The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, will begin construction of a new intercity light railway beginning with a 26.5 km (16.5 mi) section between Baltiyskaya Zhemchuzhina and the Obukhovo metro station.
  • – Pakistan will begin construction of a major railway line in Afghanistan. An initial 10.5 km stretch of track will be laid from Pakistan border town of Chaman to Spin Boldak in Afghanistan at cost of USD 11.5m. A second phase envisages extending line to Kandahar for eventual connection via the western city of Herat to Khushka in Turkmenistan. The final phase would link 1676mm gauge with Central Asian 1524mm gauge. It is not clear where the break of gauge station(s) will be.
  • – Canadian Pacific Railway expects to close on the purchase of Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad.

    • Accidents

  • April 28 – 2008 Shandong train collision: Sixty-six people are killed and almost 250 injured when a passenger train from Beijing careers off the rails and slams into another train in eastern China. The rail accident, the worst in China in more than a decade, happens near the city of Zibo in Shandong province.
  • September 12 – 2008 Chatsworth train collision. Twenty-six people died when a Metrolink train hits a Union Pacific Railroad freight train head-on.

    • March deaths

  • March 16 – John Shedd Reed, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1967-1986 (born 1917).

    • Japan

    Awards presented by the Japan Railfan Club
  • 2008 Blue Ribbon Award: JR Central & JR West N700 Series Shinkansen
  • 2008 Laurel Prize: JR East/Sendai Airport Transit E721 series/SAT721 EMU and JR East KiHa E200 DMU

    • References

    2008 in rail transport Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA