2002 in rail transport
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| 2001, 2002, 2003 |
| Years in rail transport |
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2002.
Contents |
[edit] Events
[edit] January events
- January - The Muskingum Electric Railroad, one of only six heavy freight electric railroads in the United States, closes.
- January 2 - The Iowa Interstate Railroad operates its first unit coal train over the former Milwaukee Road mainline through Amana, Iowa.
[edit] April events
- April - United States President George W. Bush appoints David L. Gunn to head Amtrak.
- April - David Laney joins the Board of Directors for Amtrak.
- April 4 - General Motors Electro-Motive Division and Porterbrook are awarded a contract to build new diesel locomotives for the first open access rail freight carrier in Belgium.
- April 29 - The first Pendolino train, operated by Virgin Trains, arrives at Euston Station in London, England.
[edit] May events
- May - The Metrolink 91 Line opens for service between Los Angeles and Riverside, California.
- May 2 - An eastbound Canadian National train collides with a trailer near Firmdale, Manitoba, Canada; about 20 cars carrying plastic pellets, benzene, glycol and hexane catch fire, forcing the evacuation of nearly 200 local residents.
- May 10 - The Potters Bar rail crash occurs at Potters Bar, north of London, England, when a northbound passenger train derails at high speed, killing seven and seriously injuring another eleven.
- May 13 - The Shramjivi Express, travelling from New Delhi to Patna, India, strikes a sabotaged section of rail and derails at Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, killing 12 people. See: Jaunpur train crash.
[edit] June events
- June 12 - The Talgo XXI trainset sets the land speed record for railed vehicles with diesel power at 256.38 km/h (159.3 mph).
- June 24 - In the Igandu train disaster, a large passenger train in Tanzania with over 1,200 people on board rolls backwards down a hill into a stationary goods train, killing 281 people.
[edit] July events
- July 1 - Norges Statsbaner is privatised under the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications.
- July 1 - The railroad dining car catering services of Mitropa, which was founded in 1916, are handed over to DB Reise & Touristik AG, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn.
- July 4 - General Motors Electro-Motive Division announces that it will build new locomotives for HSBC Rail; the locomotives will be leased by CargoNet for use in Norway north of the Arctic Circle and are expected to enter service after February 2003.
- July 26 - The German manufacturer of rail equipment, Vossloh, announces the acquisition of the French company Cogifer.
- July 30 - The Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad takes over operations from the defunct I&M Rail Link in the north central United States. [1]
[edit] August events
- August 1 - Deutsche Bahn opens the high-speed line between Frankfurt and Cologne, Germany.
[edit] September events
- September 10 - At least 130 people are killed in the Rafiganj rail disaster in India, where a passenger train derails on a bridge and falls into a river. Naxalite sabotage is suspected.
[edit] October events
- October 31 - BC Rail operates the last run of the Cariboo Prospector passenger train between Prince George and North Vancouver, British Columbia.
[edit] December events
- December - National Express Group hands back it's M>Train, M>Tram and V/Line public transport franchises in Victoria, Australia to the state government due to financial instability.
- December - The Tōhoku Shinkansen in Japan is extended from Morioka to Hachinohe.
- December 15 - All first-class cars on the TGV become non-smoking cars.
- December 27 - The first X'Trapolis train enters service with Connex in Melbourne, Australia.
[edit] Unknown date events
- Robert Krebs resigns as chairman of the board of directors for the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.
- The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad are combined under the holding company Cedar American Rail Holdings.
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
- Some of the events listed here were translated from 2003 dans les chemins de fer, the equivalent French-language Wikipedia article.
- Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16 2005), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved October 31 2005.
- Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (July 29 2002), IMRL Sale Final; IC&E Begins Operations Tomorrow. Retrieved April 2 2005.
- General Motors Electro-Motive Division (April 4 2002), EMD and Porterbrook Win Contract For First Belgian Private Railway. Retrieved April 13 2005.
- General Motors Electro-Motive Division (July 4 2002), EMD to provide locomotives to Norway. Retrieved April 13 2005.
- (May 2002), Iowa Interstate operates first coal train to Cedar Rapids, Trains Magazine, p. 22.
- Reh, Vincent (February 2002), Muskingum Electric Railroad just about done, Trains Magazine, p. 22-23.

