January 2005 In Rail Transport

EVENTS

January 1

; January 1

- ÖBB , the national railway of Austria , is reorganized into ÖBB-Holding AG, a holding company to manage subsidiaries ÖBB-Dienstleistungs GmbH, ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG (for passenger train operations) and Rail Cargo Austria AG (for freight train operations).

January 2 – January 8

; January 3

– Kansas City Southern names Arthur Shoener , formerly a vice president at Union Pacific Railroad , as the new CEO of the holding company's Kansas City Southern Railway and Texas-Mexican Railway divisions. {Link without Title}

– Bombardier receives a contract from SNCF for 350 million Euros to build 100 new regional trainsets.

– A Norfolk Southern train carrying a few carloads of hazardous materials (including Chlorine gas) collides with a parked train in Graniteville, South Carolina , causing the Graniteville Train Disaster . {Link without Title}

– A Passenger Train and freight train collide head-on in Crevalcore , in northern Italy (near Bologna ), on the single-track mainline between Bologna and Verona . {Link without Title}

January 9 – January 15

; January 12

- Five cars of a CN freight train derail in Fort St. John, Manitoba (a Suburb of Winnipeg ), Canada ; as one of the cars was carrying Propane , the area is evacuated. The tank car remains upright and intact, so local residents are allowed to return fairly quickly. {Link without Title}

January 16 – January 22

; January 17

- A station at the Milwaukee Airport opens on Amtrak 's Hiawatha service. [http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jan05/292889.asp , [http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/News_Release_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1093553983301&ssid=180]

January 23 – January 29

; January 24

- Burlington Northern And Santa Fe Railway introduces a new corporate logo that replaces the railroad's verbose name with ''BNSF Railway''. {Link without Title}

- In what police initially call a suicide attempt, a Metrolink train in Glendale, California , (a suburb of Los Angeles ) hits a car parked on a Grade Crossing and then derails into another Metrolink train and a parked Union Pacific Railroad Locomotive ; the Glendale Train Crash results in 11 fatalities and 200 injuries. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/26/national/main669449.shtml , [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050126-1234-wst-trainderail.html]

January 30 – January 31

; January 31

- Regular Metrolink passenger service is restored through Glendale, California , the scene of the previous week's Glendale Train Crash . {Link without Title}

DEATHS

January 23 - John H. Kuehl , editor of ''Private Varnish'' magazine, Passenger Car historian and photographer (b. 1938).

REFERENCES

Liu, Caitlin, and Torrejon, Veronica; Los Angeles Times, '' Train service is fully restored ''. Retrieved February 1 2005 .

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