June 2005 in rail transport

Events

June 1

– Genesee and Wyoming takes ownership and begins operations of 14 railroads from Rail Management Corporation. [3]

– Joseph H. Boardman, former Commissioner of New York State Department of Transportation, begins his duties as Administrator for the United States Federal Railroad Administration (a division of the USDOT). [4]

June 2

– Railroad workers across France go on strike to demand better wages and jobs. The strike, which began at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, is expected to last through 6:00 GMT Friday. Nearly 40% of all TGV schedules are dropped for the duration of the strike. [5]

– Chris Green, CEO of Virgin Trains since 1992, announces that he will join the Board of Directors for Network Rail; his resignation from Virgin is scheduled for September 2005. Green began his railroad career with British Rail in 1965. [6]

June 4

– Lalu Prasad, India's Railway Minister, presents his Rs.532 billion (US$12 billion) budget for Indian Railways for 2005–06. The network of more than 9,000 passenger trains will not increase passenger fares, will add 46 new trains, increase frequencies on 10 others and plans to inaugurate new high speed train service between New Delhi and Kolkata and another between New Delhi and Chennai. [7]

June 6

– Siemens AG is awarded a contract to replace aging equipment in the signalling system and install new telecommunications and electrical supply systems on Great Britain's Network Rail system as part of the railroad's Portsmouth Area Infrastructure Project. The contract is valued at £50 million. [8]

– Amtrak's new Oakland Coliseum station in Oakland, California, opens. [9]

June 8

– Union Pacific Railroad (UP) begins a three-day celebration in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to commemorate the return to excursion service of Union Pacific 844 after a major overhaul. The locomotive was purchased by UP in 1944 and has never been retired from service.

June 9

– Service is restored on the Alaska Railroad after the Moody Tunnel was closed for three days due to damage when a large forklift loaded on a southbound train struck one of the tunnel's timber supports, causing a partial collapse of the tunnel. The forklift's size made it an oversize load, which meant that the railroad was required to measure it before departure. Although the forklift was successfully hauled north by the railroad earlier in the year; the measurements made for its return south were incorrect. [10]

– Amtrak's senior vice president of operations, William Crosbie, tells a Transportation subcommittee in the United States House of Representatives that some Acela Express service may be restored as early as July 2005. Spokespeople for Amtrak and Bombardier, the Acela's lead manufacturer, said that up to 20 trains could return to limited operation in July, but full service restoration isn't expected until Autumn. [11]

– FreightCar America's (formerly Johnstown America Corporation) first new railroad car built at the company's Roanoke, Virginia, plant is delivered to Norfolk Southern. The car delivered was a coal hopper car, which is typical of the majority of cars that will be built there; the Norfolk plant was once owned by Norfolk Southern. [12]

June 10

– During a meeting with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan expressed concern over the amount of money being spent on a rail connection between Kars, Tbilisi (Georgia) and Baku (Azerbaijan). He noted that while a large amount of money is spent on the new connection, the existing Kars-Gumri (Armenia) connection is "rusting".

June 11

– Officials with the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks file a proposal with the Army Corps of Engineers to leave the fallen pieces of the Erie Railroad's Kinzua Bridge, across Pennsylvania's Kinzua Creek, in the creekbed rather than removing them. Parks officials believe that the remnants should be preserved as pieces of history since the bridge, which was removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 after its collapse on July 21, 2003, due to a tornado, was once the tallest and longest railroad bridge in the world. [13]

June 12

– At 7:10 AM local time, a bomb explodes between Uzunovo and Bogatishchevo, Russia (about 95 miles / 153 km from Moscow), derailing the locomotive and first four passenger cars of the Grozny-Moscow train. Investigators found wires leading from the explosion site to a control panel and hideout about 164 ft (50 m) from the site. [14]

- The Vale of Glamorgan Line reopens to passengers from Barry and Bridgend via Rhoose and Llantwit Major after 41 years of being closed as a result of the Beeching Cuts. A British Rail Class 143 operated the first train on the Vale Line. 143624 and 143606 were working the 0840 Cardiff-Bridgend then the 0945 return Bridgend-Cardiff. Arriva Trains Wales operated loco-hauled journeys as part of the reopening of the line. Also the Maesteg Line, Part of the Merthyr Line between Abercynon and Aberdare was reopened and the Ebbw Vale Line was reopened on the same day

June 13

– Citing the inadequacy of current rail connections in Xinjiang, China, deputy chairman Zhang Zhou explains that a second railway is needed to connect to Kazakhstan. The new connection is proposed between Jinhe station in China, Khorgos on the border between China and Kazakhstan, and a point on the Kazakhstan railway system between Almaty and Urumqi. [15]

– The United States Surface Transportation Board (STB) issues a Certificate of Interim Trail Use regarding the former New York Central railroad's "High Line" elevated right of way through New York City. City officials want to turn the unused elevated line into a 22 block long public park, CSX Transportation, the High Line's current owner, filed for abandonment of the line. Monday's decision by the STB effectively authorizes the transfer of the line from CSX to the city for use as a park. [16] [17]

– The Docklands Light Railway in East London begins construction of a new extension to Woolwich Arsenal. [18]

June 16

– Former Seibu Railway chairman Yoshiaki Tsutsumi pleads guilty at the opening of his trial in Japan on charges of insider trading and falsifying financial records. The prosecution contends that in 2003 he and other officials conspired to show his private company, Kokudo Corporation held a smaller stake in the railroad than it actually did so that he could sell his own shares in the railroad before it was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. [19]

– 26 of 60 tank cars carrying fuel oil derail near Rzhev, Russia (about 200 km / 125 miles northwest of Moscow), sending about 700 tons of oil into the ground contaminating the Volga River after flowing down the Vazuza River from the accident site. It was originally feared that Moscow's water supply would be contaminated as well, but cleanup crews averted that threat. The derailment damaged about 400 m (1,312 ft) of track, about half of the damaged track will require complete replacement. It is not yet known if this incident is related to the bomb that was exploded on June 12 that derailed a passenger train. [20] [21] [22] [23]

– Members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen begin a strike at 5:45 AM EDT at about 30 locations on the Norfolk Southern (NS) system; a temporary restraining order issued by a US Federal court in Roanoke, Virginia, ended the strike within an hour. The dispute was over a provision that allowed NS to use nonunion workers on some maintenance contracts. [24] [25]

June 18

– Members of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Disneyland Railroad's first public operation. The inauguration was attended by Art Linkletter and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway president Fred Gurley. Michael Broggie, who rode in the cab of the first train with Walt Disney at the controls, presents live chat sessions about the event and the railroad for the anniversary in the bookstore in Downtown Disney. [26]

June 19

– Heavy rain and flooding collapse a section of road at about 11:00 AM local time and send the debris in an avalanche blocking the Zixi section of the Yingtan-Xiamen Railway of China's railroad network. The tracks were cleared and trains were running again as of 6:45 PM local time. [27] [28]

June 21

– A southbound passenger train collides with a coal delivery truck near Revadim, about 25 miles south of Tel Aviv; the train was bound for Beersheba when the accident occurred. At least seven people die in the accident and more than 200 are injured. (CBS)

June 22

– The entire network of the Swiss Federal Railways shuts down due to a power failure in its overhead wire system. The power failure is also affecting international transit through Switzerland as such intercity trains use the same system. Initial reports indicate that the power failure started with a voltage drop in Ticino (in the St. Gotthard region) that then spread to the entire system. It is unknown when service will be restored. [29] [30]

– Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin meets with Saudi Arabian officials regarding the planned Trans-Saudi Railroad. The Saudi delegation has invited Russian Railways to build the Riyadh-Medina-Jeddah-Mecca section due to the company's experience in railroad building. Russian Railways is conducting a feasibility study, which is expected to be released in November 2005, on the route. [31]

June 23

– Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin announces plans between Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to transport intermodal containers by rail from China on a route through Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine to distribution points in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, eventually leading to destinations across Europe. Policymakers in Russian and the CIS are still negotiating tariffs. [32]

June 24

– East Japan Railway Company (JR East) unveils a new Shinkansen train called Fastech that will eventually be used in passenger service Hachinohe and Shin-Aomori in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, at 360 km/h (225 mph). Revenue service with the new equipment is expected to begin on the newly constructed mainline in 2011. [33] [34]

– The United States Federal Railroad Administration issues its final rule on the use of train horns at grade crossings. [35]

June 29

– The United States House of Representatives passes a US$1.17 billion funding bill for Amtrak in fiscal year 2006, an amount that is still short of the $2 billion Amtrak was originally seeking. The funding was approved in an amendment to a more general transportation and treasury appropriations bill. The House also removed the requirement in the bill that would mandate Amtrak to end passenger train service on currently unprofitable routes. The funding has yet to be approved by the Senate. [36]

– Bombardier officially opens a new railway equipment refurbishment center in Derby, England, following an investment of nearly £2 million to renovate the company's former manufacturing facility. (RailwayPeople.com)

June 30

– The United States Federal Railroad Administration issues a ruling requiring locomotive "black boxes" on trains operating in the US be more resistant to the loss of data from exposure to fire, impact, fluid immersion and other damage that could occur in the event of a train accident.