2008 in rail transport

Years in rail transport

2007 in rail transport 2008 in rail transport 2009 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2008.

Events

By month

January events

February events

• February 27
  • – Official opening of Santo Domingo Metro.
  • – National Express Group changes the name of the railway operating company one to National Express East Anglia as part of a company-wide rebranding exercise.^[1][2]

March events

• March 15 – The Osaka Higashi Line is scheduled to open in Osaka, Japan; the opening was originally scheduled for 2006, but delayed due to problems acquiring land.
• March 27 – Heathrow Terminal 5 station opens in London.
• March 30 – Yokohama Municipal Subway's Green Line is opened for regular operations.
• – Kolkata Metro is extended from Tollygunge station to Pranabnagar station.

April events

• April 1 – The Miki Railway Miki Line in Japan, which connected Yakujin Station in Kakogawa and Miki Station in Miki, is closed.
• April 26 – FrontRunner, a new commuter rail service, begins running in Utah.
• April 28 – Wrexham & Shropshire begin to run passenger services between London Marylebone station, the West Midlands, Shropshire and north-east Wales.^[3][4][5]

May events

CRH3 unit for Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway

June events

• June 2–June 6 AfricaRail 2008 Conference.^[6]

July events

• July 5 – Meeting between Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador regarding a proposed rail link for freight and passengers between the three countries, also connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic.

August events

• August 1
  • – China officially opens the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway line, the first in the world regularly to host trains traveling up to 350 km/h (220 mph).^[7][8][9]
  • – LNER-design Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado makes first official move under its own steam, the first main line steam locomotive built in Britain since 1960.^[10]

Tornado, August 2008

September events

October events

November events

December events

• December – The first section of the new Valley Metro Rail system, part of Valley Metro in Phoenix, Arizona, is scheduled to open.^[11][12][13]

By season

Summer events

• – The project to rebuild and upgrade Guiyang Southern Station to more than double its capacity is expected to be completed.^[14]

Unknown date events

• – Indian Railways expects to complete the conversion of its electrified section in Mumbai from a 1,500 volt DC system to 25,000 volts AC; this will make the Mumbai section's electrification consistent with the rest of Indian Railways' network.
• – Vietnam expects to complete construction on the Hanoi–Lào Cai railway line upgrade.^[15]
• – The first line of Jerusalem's light rail system is scheduled to begin operations.^[16]
• – The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, will begin construction of a new intercity light railway beginning with a 26.5 km (16.5 mi) section between Baltiyskaya Zhemchuzhina and the Obukhovo metro station.^[17]
• – Pakistan will begin construction of a major railway line in Afghanistan. An initial 10.5 km stretch of track will be laid from Pakistan border town of Chaman to Spin Boldak in Afghanistan at cost of USD 11.5m. A second phase envisages extending line to Kandahar for eventual connection via the western city of Herat to Khushka in Turkmenistan. The final phase would link 1676mm gauge with Central Asian 1524mm gauge. It is not clear where the break of gauge station(s) will be.^[18]
• – Canadian Pacific Railway expects to close on the purchase of Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad.^[19][20][21]

Accidents

• April 28 – 2008 Shandong train collision: Sixty-six people are killed and almost 250 injured when a passenger train from Beijing careers off the rails and slams into another train in eastern China. The rail accident, the worst in China in more than a decade, happens near the city of Zibo in Shandong province.
• September 12 – 2008 Chatsworth train collision. Twenty-six people died when a Metrolink train hits a Union Pacific Railroad freight train head-on.

Deaths

March deaths

• March 16 – John Shedd Reed, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1967-1986 (born 1917).^[22][23]

Industry awards

Japan

Awards presented by the Japan Railfan Club

• 2008 Blue Ribbon Award: JR Central & JR West N700 Series Shinkansen
• 2008 Laurel Prize: JR East/Sendai Airport Transit E721 series/SAT721 EMU and JR East KiHa E200 DMU

References

1. "'one' Railway to vanish as National Express begins major rebranding exercise" (PDF). Railway Herald. 2007-11-17. p. Page 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-11-27. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
2. Clinnick, Richard (March 12–25, 2008). "NX ditches 'one' brand with East Anglian overhaul promise". Rail 587: 12–13.
3. "Setback for new Wrexham service". Railway Magazine 153 (1273): 12. May 2007.
4. "New direct rail service launches this April". Wrexham & Shropshire. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
5. Clinnick, Richard (May 7–20, 2008). "40 years on – Wrexham and Shropshire takes to the rails". Rail 591: 6–7.
6. Africa Rail 2008 - programme
7. "China launches high-speed train". BBC News. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 2 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
8. "China opens Beijing-Tianjin railway one week ahead of Olympics". Xinhua. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 6 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
9. Fletcher, Hannah (2008-08-01). "China inaugurates 220mph fastest rail service in world in time for Olympics". Times Online (London). Retrieved 2008-08-01.
10. "A1 Steam Locomotive Trust". Retrieved 2008-08-27.
11. Associated Press (reprinted by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, February 16, 2005), Phoenix begins work on light rail. Retrieved February 16, 2005.
12. Valley Metro. "Construction schedule". Archived from the original on 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
13. Holstege, Sean (2006-06-30). "Plan has light rail on track". Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
14. CRI Online (December 28, 2005), Building of Railway Hub in SW China Started. Retrieved December 29, 2005. Archived January 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
15. Xinhua (September 25, 2005), France to fund Vietnam in upgrading busiest railway route. Retrieved September 27, 2005.
16. Lefkovits, Etgar; Jerusalem Post (February 8, 2006), Jerusalem-TA high-speed railway to be online in 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2006.
17. "Construction of intercity light railway to begin in St Pete in 2008". ITAR-TASS. 2007-03-06. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
18. "Govt considers railway links with central Asia". Retrieved 1 August 2007.
19. Goldfarb, Jeffrey; Reuters (2007-09-05). "CP Rail to Buy DM&E For At Least $1.5 Billion". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
20. "Investor Fact Sheet" (PDF). CP Rail. 2007-09-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
21. "Canadian Pacific announces agreement to acquire DM&E Railroad" (Press release). CP Rail. 2007-09-04. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
22. "John Shedd Reed, rail executive". San Jose Mercury News. Associated Press. 2008-03-17. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
23. Shah, Tina (2008-03-17). "John Shedd Reed, 1917 - 2008". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-03-17.