1994 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1994.

Events

January events

• January 1 - Rail Management Corporation takes over operations of the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad.
• January 1 - Railroad Services, Inc. takes over operations of the now 5 year old Abbeville-Grimes Railway, renaming it to A&G Railroad.
• January 1 - Deutsche Reichsbahn and Deutsche Bundesbahn are merged to form Deutsche Bahn AG.
• January 9 - The Chicago Transit Authority closes its Green Line rail service on the West and South Sides of Chicago for a massive $400 million, 2½ year rehabilitation and modernization program.

April events

• April 1 - Management of the British Rail infrastructure is taken over by Railtrack.^[1]

The Channel Tunnel is opened in Calais on 6 May 1994 by Elizabeth II, Queen of the UK, and François Mitterrand, President of France

May events

• May 6 - The Channel Tunnel linking England and France officially opens.

June events

• June 25 - Vandals place concrete blocks on a railway line at Greenock, Scotland, causing the Greenock rail crash. The train driver is killed along with one passenger.

July events

• July 3 - Gare de Satolas (designed by Santiago Calatrava) opens at Lyon on LGV Rhône-Alpes.
• July 15 - JR Kansai Airport Line and Nankai Airport Line open, for the access route of Kansai International Airport, before their formal opening on September 4.^{[citation needed]}

August events

• August 3 - Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited passenger train derails near Batavia, New York, while traveling at 75 mph (120.7 km/h), injuring 125 of the train's passengers and crew members.
• August 8 - Astram Line open between Hondori and Koiki-koen-mae in new transit system of Hiroshima, Japan.^{[citation needed]}
• August 22 - Indian Railways orders the first WDC-2 locomotives.
• August 26 - The Dominion Atlantic Railway operates its last train, just a month short of its centenary.

September events

• September 22 - New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority begins construction on the 63rd Street Connector which connects the 63rd Street Tunnel to the Queens Boulevard Line.

October events

• October 7 – The Regional Transportation District in Denver, Colorado opens the first line of its light rail system.^[2]
• October 13 – Inauguration of Eurostar service between Brussels and London by H.M. King Albert II and H.M. Queen Paola of Belgium.

November events

• November 14 - First commercial Eurostar services Brussels<>London and Paris<>London.
• November 30 - Alaska Railroad, which lacks a direct rail connection with the rest of the North American rail network, brings a 700 foot (213 m) long railgrinder to Alaska by ship at a cost of $1.2 million to service the company's tracks.

December events

• December 13 - The Interstate Commerce Commission grants Union Pacific Railroad authority to exercise management control over the Chicago and North Western Railway.
• December 16 - Last run of Via Rail Atlantic Limited passenger service through Maine between Montreal and the Maritimes.
• December 31 - Burlington Northern Railroad operates the last freight train on the former Oregon Electric Railway mainline in Portland, Oregon; the mainline is to become part of the new TriMet light rail system.

Nepalese diesel

Unknown date events

• Amtrak's new EMD F59PHI diesel locomotives enter service.
• Southern Pacific Railroad single-tracks the Donner Pass mainline.
• Norfolk Southern ends railroad-sponsored steam excursions.
• Towards the end of the year, regular use of steam locomotives on the Janakpur Railway, Nepal, is abandoned following the transfer of 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge diesel locomotives from Indian Railways.^[3][4]

Accidents

v d e Railway accidents in 1994 (1994) Location and date Greenock, Scotland (25 June) • Morpeth, England (27 June) • Lausanne, Switzerland (29 July) • Cowden, England (15 October) 1993 1995

Deaths

May deaths

• May 14 - W. Graham Claytor Jr., president of Amtrak 1982–1993 (b. 1912).

September deaths

• September 21 - O. S. Nock, English railway author and signalling engineer (b. 1905).^[5]

References

• Alaska Railroad, Alaska Railroad History. Retrieved July 20, 2006.
• Blaszak, Michael W. (June 1995), "Chicago & North Western: A survivor no more", Trains magazine, p. 17-20.
• (May 1995), "Freight out, light rail in", Trains magazine, p. 24.
• (March 29, 2005), History of railway companies in Nova Scotia. Retrieved August 26, 2005.
• Indian Railways Fan Club, IR History: Part - V (1970–1995). Retrieved August 22, 2005.
• New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City Transit – History and Chronology. Retrieved September 22, 2005.
• (May 1995), "Scanner - Rail at fault?", Trains magazine, p. 21.

1. ^ Left, Sarah (2002-01-15). "Key dates in Britain's railway history". The Guardian Unlimited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/transport/Story/0,2763,633951,00.html. 
2. ^ Pacific RailNews (ISSN 8750-8486), November 1994, p. 14. Pentrex.
3. ^ "Janakpur Railway". FarRail Tours. http://www.farrail.net/pages/trip-reports-engl/nepal-2005-12. Retrieved 2010-01-28. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Saxena, R. P. (2008). "Indian Railway History Time Line". http://irse.bravehost.com/IRHTML.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-28. 
5. ^ Vanns, M. A. (May 2006). "Nock, Oswald Stevens (1905–1994)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press Online Edition. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/55169. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55169?docPos=2. Retrieved 2010-01-28.