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September 2006 in rail transport

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September 2006 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in September 2006.

Events

September 1
  • – The new high-speed route between Kerava and Lahti opens. There is 63 km of new double track railway and it shortens travel times to Eastern Finland and to Russia. The signalling system on the new line was supplied by Alcatel, allowing tilting trains to travel at 220 km/h (137 mph) and conventional trains to travel at 160 km/h (100 mph), reducing travel times between the two cities from 82 to 44 minutes. For the opening ceremonies, 4,500 free tickets to ride the inaugural trains were made available to the public, and all of them were disbursed and used.
  • – James J. Dermody steps down from the position of President of Long Island Rail Road in New York. He is succeeded by interim President Raymond P. Kenny.
    • September 2
  • – Traveling at 357 km/h (221.8 mph), the Austrian locomotive 1216 050-5, called Taurus, sets a new world speed record for electric locomotives. The attempt took place on the newly built high speed railroad line between Nuremberg and Ingolstadt.
    • September 5
  • - United States President George W. Bush nominates Mary Peters, the former Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, to become the next Secretary of Transportation, to succeed Norman Mineta. Edward R. Hamberger, the current president of the Association of American Railroads, expressed approval of the nomination mentioning Peters's work as Secretary of Transportation for Arizona stating "[Peters] has shown great capacity to master transportation policy across all modes."
    • September 11
  • - London Underground's newly refurbished Waterloo & City line officially opens for revenue service. The refurbishment included complete replacement of the track between Waterloo and Bank over a period of five months. The first test trains after construction was completed were run on August 23. The work cost the system an estimated £40 million and helps to remove speed restrictions as low as 16 km/h (10 mph). Although the line is only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, its ridership is as high as 9.6 million passengers annually.
    • September 12
  • - A report issued by the China National Audit Office concludes that the Beijing Municipal Railway Bureau has misappropriated as much as 164 million Yuan (US$20 million) when the Bureau paid to construct a hotel, which opened in February 2003, rather than to renovate a sanatorium in Beijing. The report claims that the expenditure was not approved by the Ministry of Railways. The report also alleges previously earmarked funds were not distributed to rail infrastructure, research and redundancy projects.
  • - Chris Moyes, Chief Executive Officer for Go-Ahead Group 2005-2006, dies as a result of a brain tumor. Moyes had stepped down from Go-Ahead Group on July 10 to seek treatment for his illness; Go-Ahead Group operates the Thames Trains, Thameslink and Southern Railway franchises.
    • September 18
  • - A group of 30 Korean engineers begins a 12-day session in Ghana to perform a feasibility study in rebuilding the Ghana Eastern Railway. The delegation's visit opened by meeting with Ghanaian transport officials who are optimistic of a successful outcome; the meetings were followed by initial surveys of the existing narrow gauge route between Accra, Nsawam and Tema.
    • September 19
  • - The 135th anniversary of the opening of Prague's Vinohrady tunnel is commemorated as a special train pulled by a steam locomotive re-enacts the passage of the first train through the tunnel. The tunnel, which opened on September 19, 1871, was built to connect Prague's central station with the rest of the European railway network.
    • September 20
  • - Acciona Infrastructure is awarded a contract to build the first experimental segment of the new Murcia tram in southeastern Spain. The project is expected to be completed within six months of the construction start in October 2006. Once this test segment is completed and operational, which is estimated for April 2007, the city government is expected to review and make recommendations for extending the system to areas outside the city center.
  • - Union Pacific Railroad opens a new intermodal terminal near Salt Lake City, Utah, effectively tripling the railroad's capacity for intermodal containers through the city. The Salt Lake City Intermodal Terminal cost US$83 million to build and spans an area of 260 acres (1.1 km2); the facility was designed to process more than 250,000 trailers and containers annually. Union Pacific began construction on the facility on February 1, 2005, and the railroad has already acquired additional neighboring land for projected future capacity increases.
    • September 22
  • - 2006 Lathen maglev train accident - At least nineteen passengers die and many more are injured when a German Transrapid train collides with a maintenance of way vehicle on the system's test track near the Netherlands border. When the accident occurred around 9:30 AM local time, the driverless train, carrying 29 passengers, was estimated as traveling above 200 km/h (120 mph); debris from the collision was scattered over a 300 metre (984 ft) stretch of track. Early reports of the accident state a higher number of fatalities; German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee suspended his own travel in China, where the first commercial use of Transrapid technology is in operation, on hearing of the accident and made plans to return to Germany to view the accident scene.
    • September 25
  • - Officials in Italy formally announce a €100 million project, already in progress, to refurbish Milan's central railway station. Of the total cost, €20 million has been allocated to restore "certain areas of high artistic value" while the remaining €80 million will be used for more general improvements to the station to make it more functional with the current railway services. The project includes moving the ticket office and installing new elevators and escalators for increased accessibility.
  • - Virgin Trains sets a new speed record for passenger rail service between London and Glasgow when Russell Southworth drives the train over the 401 miles (645 km) route in 3 hours and 55 minutes, the first time the route has been traversed in under four hours. The record attempt was staged as part of a fundraiser to help purchase specially modified motorbikes that will be used to deliver medical care and supplies in Africa; Network Rail made special provisions to allow the record setting train a clear run over the entire route. The last regular non-stop operations between the two cities was discontinued in 1949.
    • September 26
  • - Andrus Ansip, Prime Minister of Estonia, announces that the government will renationalize Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railways), the country's freight railway operator, through a stock buyback and revocation of the privatization charter. The financial transactions are expected to take place between Suprema investment bank and Estonia's Ministry of Economy and communications. Initial reports do not mention if passenger services will continue to be offered or operated by Edelaraudtee.
    • September 28
  • - Wu Guochang is sentenced to life in prison for removing a 142 cm (56 in) long section of rail in China on March 24. The act of sabotage was found responsible for nearly derailing one passenger train and delaying 18 other trains, resulting in an estimated 70,924 yuan (US$8,865) loss.
  • - Toll NZ announces that its Overlander passenger train service will not be discontinued as originally planned for September 30. Instead, due to overwhelming public pressure, service will be reduced initially to three days per week and the company and New Zealand governments will work to find a way to keep the service running. For the summer season from December through April, service will run daily returning to 3 days per week after Easter. During the reduced schedule in the interim, Toll hopes to refurbish the equipment that is currently used for the service.
  • - Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway of Kazakhstan, signs a purchase agreement with GE Transportation Systems ordering 310 GE Evolution Series locomotives. The order represents the first export of the locomotive to a railroad company outside of North America. The first ten of these locomotives will be built in GE's Erie, Pennsylvania, plant while the remaining 300 will be built at a new plant in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. Delivery is expected between 2008 and 2012. The locomotives will be built with dual cabs and will become the first A/C traction motor locomotives to operate in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

    • References

    September 2006 in rail transport Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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