2003 In Rail Transport

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2003 In Rail Transport

EVENTS

January events

January - The electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway , a project begun in 1929 , is completed.

January 1 - E. Hunter Harrison , former president of Illinois Central Railroad (now a subsidiary of CN), succeeds Paul Tellier as president of Canadian National Railway .

January 21 - The first segment of the high-speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link is completed.

January 27 - A head-on collision between an Italian and a French train in the Tende line's Biogna tunnel leaves two dead and four seriously injured.

February events

February 18 - An Arsonist causes the Daegu Subway Fire when he sets fire to a train stopped at the Joongang-ro (or Jungang-ro) station of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway in Daegu , South Korea .

March events

March 21 - Official launch of M>Train 's new Siemens Mo-Mo trains in Melbourne , Australia .

April events

April 3 - First revenue run of M>Train 's new Siemens Mo-Mo train.

April 11 - M>Train withdraws fleet of Siemens Mo-Mo trains due to braking and traction issues.

April 26 - DLW completes construction of the first WDP-4 Locomotive to be built entirely within India .¹

July events

July - David Laney is promoted to Chairman of the Board of Directors for Amtrak .

July 21 - A Tornado knocks down most of the former Erie Railroad 's Kinzua Viaduct .²

July 30 - Eurostar train number 3313/14 establishes a new speed record in England at 334.7 Km/h (208 Mph ) on the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link .

August events

August 9 - Indian Railways begins Passenger Train service between Hyderabad and Secunderabad with 13 trains between Lingampally and Hyderabad, and 11 between Lingampally and Secunderabad.³

August 10 - M>Train ( Melbourne , Australia ) returns fleet of Siemens trains to service.

August 22 - Sound Transit connects to Tacoma, Washington .⁴

September events

September 1 - Deutsche Bahn takes over operations of shipping company Stinnes Group in Germany .

October events

October 1 - M>Train ( Melbourne , Australia ) withdraws its fleet of Siemens trains for the second time.

October 7 - RENFE opens the Madrid - Lerida section of the railroad's new Madrid - Barcelona line in Spain .

October 27 - Fleet of Siemens trains returned to M>Train ( Melbourne , Australia ) service, some minus livery.

November events

November 4 - A new Intermodal service is inaugurated between Aiton , France , and Orbassano (near Turin ), Italy , to transport complete trucks (both the tractor and trailer) and their loads; the trains include coach seating for the truck drivers as well.

November 28 - SNCF ( France ) celebrates the one-billionth passenger on its TGV .

December events

December - The KCR West Rail in Hong Kong starts services.

December - Great North Eastern Railway s, operators of services on the East Coast Main Line in England and Scotland , begin trials of 802.11b Wireless LAN access to the Internet on their Mallard Intercity 225 trains.

DEATHS

June deaths

June 10 - Livio Dante Porta , Argentinian Steam Locomotive mechanical engineer (b. 1922 ).

REFERENCES

Many of the events listed here were translated from 2003 dans les chemins de fer , the equivalent French-language Wikipedia article.