| 2006, 2007, 2008 |
| Years in rail transport |
| 2006 in rail transport 2007 in rail transport 2008 in rail transport |
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2007.
Contents |
January 5
- The first public trains of Taiwan High Speed Rail operate
between Taipei and Kaohsiung, a 216 miles
(348 km) journey, in 90 minutes.[1]
January 7
- A Washington
Metro train derails near downtown Washington, D.C., sending 16 people to
the hospital and prompting the rescue of 60 people from a
tunnel.[2]
January 9
- Government of Estonia buys
back majority share in Eesti Raudtee, the national rail
operator, from private investors.[3] January
12 - Railway Age
Magazine selects Bill Wimmer, Vice President Engineering for Union
Pacific Railroad to receive the 2007 award for Railroader of the Year.[4]
January
30 - The suburban rail network of Melbourne, Australia is thrown into chaos
as much of the fleet of new Siemens Electric Multiple Unit trains is withdrawn
from service after a number of incidents of brake failure.[5]
February
7 - At a meeting in Tbilisi,
Georgian
President Mikheil
Saakashvili, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sign an
agreement authorizing construction of the new Kars-Tiblisi-Baku railway linking the three
nations.[6][7]
February
9 - About 2,800 train crew employees of Canadian National Railway
(CN) wage a strike
action against the railway; the striking workers are members of
UTU Canada, the Canadian affiliate of the United Transportation
Union.[8][9][10]
February
13 - During a test run a TGV train
reaches 553 km/h (343.75 mph) under
test conditions with a shortened train on the LGV Est near
Passavant-en-Argonne (Marne),
190 km east of Paris.[11][12]
February
23 - Grayrigg derailment: A Virgin Trains
services travelling from London Euston to Glasgow
Central derails in Cumbria in North-West England. One elderly
woman dies in hospital as a result of her injuries. February
26 - The United States Federal Railroad
Administration delivers its decision to deny a $2.3 billion loan request
made by Dakota, Minnesota
and Eastern Railroad (DME).[13][14][15] April 3 –
The French TGV sets a new train
speed record. The train reached 574.8 km/h
(357.2 mph). April 7 –
Weekday service begins on T Third Street light-rail line in San Francisco,
leading to massive delays in the city's Muni Railway system.[16]
April 23
- Trial runs on 250 km long Eskişehir-Ankara part of 533 km long High-speed train line from Istanbul (Turkey's largest
metropolis) to Ankara (capital
of Turkey) began. April 23
– Construction resumes on the Second Avenue Subway in New York
City, between 92nd and 95th streets. April 28
– The Orange Line of Montreal Metro is
extended 5.2 km to Montmorency in Laval.
June 8 -
Last Orient
Express through overnight service from Paris to Vienna runs.[17] June 10 –
The first section of LGV
Est, a high-speed rail line, opens in France. This coincides
with improvements to the German rail network to cut travel times
from Paris to Eastern France and Germany.
June 15 -
Revenue freight traffic starts to use the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps.[18] June –
$20m allocated for planning and land acquisition for the proposed
Australian Inland
Railway.
July 1 –
Kampac Oil of Dubai, as
consortium leader, is awarded a construction and operation contract
for a new railway line in Ghana
connecting Takoradi 800 kilometers (497 mi)
to Hamile. The contract,
valued at $1.6 billion, also includes
the rehabilitation of a line between Takoradi and Kumasi as part of the Ghanaian government's
plans to connect to northern Ghana.[19]
July 15 –
In Shanghai, platform-edge doors caused a fatal accident. A man
tried to force his way onto a crowded train at the station for the
Shanghai Indoor Stadium, but failed. When the doors closed, he was
trapped between the platform doors and the train, leading to his
death.[20]
July 18 –
Metronet, holder of the
maintenance contract for a majority of the London
Underground lines, seeks authority of the Mayor of London
to go into Administration following a dispute about
responsibility for cost overruns on its contract.[21]
August 30
– Trubnaya station opened
on Moscow
Metro.
October 1
– Ferrovías Guatemala
(subsidiary of Railroad Development
Corporation) suspends all operations. October
31 – MBTA
Commuter Rail Greenbush Line opens in Massachusetts. – Last
publication of the monthly OAG Rail Guide, successor to
the ABC Railway Guide timetable of 1853.[22]
November
7 – Minsk Metro Moskovskaya
Line gets extended to Uruchye. November
11 – West Midlands train operating company
franchise is taken over from Silverlink and Central Trains by London Midland (a
Govia company) and the East
Midlands franchise from Midland Mainline and Central Trains by
East
Midlands Trains. National Express Group is the
principal loser in these changes. Arriva Trains Cross
Country Limited (Arriva
Group) takes over a revised Cross-Country franchise from Virgin
CrossCountry, branding services as CrossCountry.[23][24] The
London
Overground rail franchise commences operation, effectively
returning the lines involved to state control.[25]
November
13 – Strikes in France begin
to disrupt SNCF and Paris
Metro service. November
14 – High Speed 1
is opened with public passenger services into rebuilt St Pancras
International.
November
14 – Gewerkschaft
Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL, or German Train Drivers' Union)
engages in a national three-day
strike against Deutsche Bahn. November
26 – LYNX light-rail service
begins in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
December
2 – Two railway companies, the Mass
Transit Railway Corporation and the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation are
merged.[26] December
8 – Sretensky
Bulvar station opened on the Lyublinskaya Line of Moscow Metro. December
9 – National Express East Coast
(NXEC Trains Ltd) takes over the British East
Coast Main Line train operating franchise from GNER.[27]
December
11 – freight service to resume between South Korea and North Korea. December
18 – Grand Central Railway, a new rail
operator in England, inaugurates passenger services from Sunderland to London King's
Cross.[28] December
24 – Moscow Metro
Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line
gets extended from Park
Pobedy to Strogino. December
28 – SPRINTER light-rail service
begins in San Diego County, California. – Regular
passenger-train service begins in the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps.[29]
– High-speed train service is expected to be
extended from the current Madrid-Tarragona route to Barcelona. - The Dakota, Minnesota
and Eastern Railroad expects to complete construction on the
railroad's expansion into Wyoming's Powder River Basin. - High speed train service, using newly built
ICE trainsets from Siemens, is expected to
open between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia. - SNCF is expected to open new high speed train service between Paris and
Frankfurt; annual ridership estimates at
the time of the service announcement in 2005 are as high as 1.5
million per year.[30] - SNCF is expected to launch a new TGV Est service from Paris
through Luxembourg,
southwest Germany and Switzerland using new TGV Duplex (double-decker)
equipment built by Alstom.[31][32] - The Vossloh locomotive plant in Valencia, Spain, is expected to begin
assembly of the new EMD Euro 4000 model locomotive designed by Electro-Motive Diesels for sales to
European railroads.[33]
-
Construction is expected to begin on a new rail link between India and
Bhutan.[34] - The Lok Ma Chau Spur Line
of the KCRC East Rail Line in Hong Kong to connect
the existing KCRC East Rail to the Lok Ma Chau border crossing
between Hong Kong and China is expected to be completed and opened
in 2007.[35]
-
Optimistic opinions on the Donetsk Metro construction estimate the
first line of the system will open. - The Eskişehir-Ankara part of 533 km long
High-speed train line from Istanbul (Turkey's largest
metropolis) via Eskişehir to Ankara (capital of Turkey), is expected to be
opened in 2007 reducing the traveling time from 6–7 hours to 3
hours 10 minutes. 
- The
construction of a railway linking Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan will start in the second half of
2007.[36]| Group | Gold medal | Silver medal | Bronze medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Norfolk Southern Railway | CSX Transportation | BNSF Railway |
| B | Kansas City Southern Railway | Canadian Pacific Railway's United States subsidiary | Long Island Rail Road |
| C | Florida East Coast Railway | Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad[39] | BNSF Suburban Operation in Chicago |
| S&T | Birmingham Southern Railroad | Conrail | Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis |
  | Green Line Metro Train Derails; at Least 18 Hurt - Federal Investigators Question Metro's Safety - washingtonpost.com |
| | Soapy suds too much for trains in make-or-brake tests - Soapy suds too much for trains in make-or-brake tests - National - theage.com.au |
| | FRA Administrator Denies DM&E Powder River Basin Loan Application Citing Unacceptable Risk to Federal Taxpayers - FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION :PRESS ROOM |
| | Saakashvili Speaks of Regional Railway, as Deal Signed - Civil.Ge | Saakashvili Speaks of Regional Railway, as Deal Signed |
| | DM&E loan denial's effect is uncertain - Postbulletin.com: Rochester, MN |
| | French high-speed TGV breaks world conventional rail-speed record - French high-speed TGV breaks world conventional rail-speed record - Monsters and Critics |
| | FRA Rejects Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's Loan Application - L.B. Foster Company :: FRA Rejects Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's Loan Application |
| | Passengers left in lurch by T-Third's rough start - Passengers left in lurch by T-Third's rough start / Muni metro mess: New streetcar line brings commuters delays, confusion and stress |
| | Kampac wins Ghana railway contract - Khaleej Times Online - Kampac wins Ghana railway contract |
| | 'Hidden Europe' magazine e-news Issue 2007/15 - hidden europe magazine - articles - Paris and the Orient Express |
| | Virgin loses Cross Country rail - BBC NEWS | Business | Virgin loses Cross Country rail |
| | Metronet calls in administrators - BBC NEWS | Business | Metronet calls in administrators |
|
|
Top topics
Wikis
Map
Search
