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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1974.

Events

March events

• March 17 - A freight train on Canadian Pacific Railway is derailed when it hits a rock slide near Spences Bridge, British Columbia; the accident leads to the installation of ditch lights on all Canadian diesel locomotives, a practice later copied by American railroads.^[1]

May events

• May 6 - Inauguration of full electric service on British Rail West Coast Main Line through to Glasgow.^[2]
• May 8–May 27 - Railway strike in India. The strike by 17 million workers of Indian Railways is the largest known.^[3][4][5]

June events

• June 16 - The Milwaukee Road ends operation of its electric locomotives in Montana and Idaho. Trains over the Rocky Mountains are now solely powered by diesels.

August events

• August - The Seoul subway opens.

September events

• September 14 - Commercial operation begins on São Paulo Metro, Brazil.
• September 16 - Passenger traffic begins through the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) 3.6 mi (6 km) Transbay Tube between Oakland and San Francisco beneath San Francisco Bay, the world's longest and deepest immersed tube tunnel.^[6]

Unknown date events

• The original Norfolk Southern Railway is merged into the Southern Railway (US).
• John W. Barriger III steps down from the presidency of the Boston and Maine Railroad.^[7]
• The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway operates the last train ever on its subsidiary Grand Canyon Railway; it is a maintenance of way train.^[8]

Births

Deaths

References

• Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History - June. Retrieved June 13, 2005.

1. ^ Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (March 4, 2006), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved March 17, 2006.
2. ^ Gillham, J. C. (1988). The Age of the Electric Train: Electric Trains in Britain since 1883. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1392-6.  
3. ^ http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1819/18190750.htm
4. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944832,00.html
5. ^ http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/lr/2002/01/06/stories/2002010600140200.htm
6. ^ Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-359-7.  
7. ^ "John W. Barriger; Rail historian and railfan". http://www.rosshorwood.com/RailSiteLinksFiles/JohnBarriger.html. Retrieved 2005-02-22.  
8. ^ Bianchi, Curt (May 1995). "By steam to the Grand Canyon". Trains Magazine: p. 38–45.