2002 In Rail Transport

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2002 In Rail Transport

EVENTS

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 .

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 Locomotive s 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 .

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.

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 ).

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 . {Link without Title}

August events

August 1 - Deutsche Bahn opens the high-speed line between Frankfurt and Cologne , Germany .

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.

October events

October 31 - BC Rail operates the last run of the '' Cariboo Prospector '' passenger train between Prince George and North Vancouver , British Columbia .

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, leaving Connex as the only privatised rail operator in the state.

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 .

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 .

DEATHS

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 ( 2005 .

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad ( 2005 .

General Motors Electro-Motive Division ( 2005 .

General Motors Electro-Motive Division ( 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.