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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1979.

Events

January events

• January - An electrical fire erupts aboard a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train traveling in the transbay tube; the fire kills one firefighter and closes the system for more than two months.

February events

• February 1 - The Southern Railway's Southern Crescent becomes Amtrak's Crescent as Southern discontinues independent passenger train service.

March events

• March - Rio de Janeiro Metro in Brazil begins operation.
• March 17 - Penmanshiel Tunnel on British Rail collapses during reconstruction, killing two workers.

May events

• May 1 - The Jubilee line on the London Underground opens between Stanmore and Charing Cross.

June events

• June 23 - New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway in Sydney. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.

August events

• August 20 - San Diego's Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) purchases the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company in restored condition for $18.1 million.
• August 20 - The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.
• August 29 - Bangor and Aroostook Railroad discontinues hauling potatoes; it was for this business that the railroad painted many of their boxcars in a distinctive red, white and blue "State of Maine" livery.

September events

• September 8 - Restored Nickel Plate 765 is unveiled.

October events

• October 1 - Hong Kong's first MTR line, from Shek Kip Mei to Kwun Tong, is opened.
• October 22 - The Invergowrie rail crash, in Invergowrie, Scotland, occurs when a track signal fails to switch to a stop indication that would have protected a stalled passenger train; a second passenger train collides with the stalled train, resulting in 5 fatalities.
• October 23 - Amtrak's Dearborn, Michigan, station opens.^[1]
• October 30 - Amtrak introduces double decker Superliner coaches on the Empire Builder passenger train.

November events

• November 10 - A CP Rail train develops a hot box and derails 24 cars carrying hazardous materials near Mississauga, Ontario; almost 250,000 people are evacuated for up to five days at a time while cleanup commences. See 1979 Mississauga train derailment.
• November 17 - The first stage of Brisbane Suburban Electrification between Ferny Grove and Darra is commissioned by the Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It is the first section of electrification in Australia to use 25,000 volts 50 Hz overhead power supply.

December events

• December - Amtrak discontinues the Floridian, Lone Star and North Coast Hiawatha passenger trains.
• December - Union Pacific 3985, a 4-6-6-4 steam locomotive, is moved from static display in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for inspection and eventual restoration for operations.
• December - Nickel Plate 765, a 2-8-4 steam locomotive, operates under its own power after 21 years of static display.

Unknown date events

• Alan Furth succeeds Denman McNear as president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
• Amtrak's first AEM-7 locomotives enter service.
• The Federal Government of the United States relinquishes control of the Panama Railway, transferring the railway to the government of Panama.

Births

Deaths

May deaths

• May 9 - Cyrus S. Eaton, president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the 1950s (b. 1883).
• May 16 - A. Philip Randolph, who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925 (b. 1889).

References

• Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved November 8, 2005.
• Rivanna Chapter National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: August. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
• Rivanna Chapter National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: October. Retrieved October 28, 2005.

1. ^ "Railroad History Timeline: 1970-1979". http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1970s/TimeLine1970sBackUp.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-23.