May 2005 in rail transport

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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in May 2005.

Events

May 3

• – The Iranian president Mohammad Khatami leads the ceremony inaugurating passenger rail service between Mashhad and Bafq, Iran.
• – Union Pacific Railroad's transcontinental mainline is blocked when a train derails in Galt, Illinois (about 50 miles / 80 km east of the Quad Cities), and destroys the 140 ft (42.6 m) bridge across Elkhorn Creek.

May 6

• – A rail bridge collapsed on the Napier – Gisborne, (New Zealand) line as 2 x DC Class locomotives hauling a 60 ton crane crosses. The crane fell into the Nuhaka River. There were no injuries. The bridge supports had been weakened by the marine mollusc teredo navalis (commonly known as shipworm). The presence of this worm is considered sporadic rather than endemic (usually, not occurring this far south). Authorities are to investigate whether the presence of the worms is a result of climate change. It has also triggered a change of policy in bridge examinations.

May 9

• – In the Biaora level crossing accident an oxcart is hit by an express train at Biaora in Madhya Pradesh, India, killing 8 people.

May 12

• – A fire engulfs a railroad bridge in Kearney, New Jersey, on the heavily travelled Northeast Corridor.

May 13

• – Former CEO of BNSF Railway, Robert Krebs, and former United States Federal Railroad Administration Administrator, Jolene Molitoris, both join the Board of Directors for Railpower Technologies.

May 17

• – Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters reach an agreement just short of a deadline for a strike that would have shut down GO Transit.

May 18

• – BNSF Railway takes delivery of its first diesel locomotives with built-in video cameras and microphones to record grade crossing incidents; BNSF intends to mount cameras in all lead-qualified locomotives by December 2005.
• – JR West adviser Masataka Ide announces that he will resign at the company's annual shareholder meeting in June 2005 to take responsibility for the Amagasaki rail crash; the chairman and president will also resign later in August.
• – Fire causes an estimated US$30,000 in damages to a bridge on Union Pacific Railroad's Nogales Subdivision south of Tucson, Arizona. Investigators believe the cause to be arson.

May 19

• – A fully loaded passenger train collides with a stopped freight train in Lampung, Indonesia; initial reports indicate at least seven fatalities and hundreds more injured.
• – Bombardier is awarded a contract to build a new automated people mover system for Beijing Capital International Airport in China. On completion, the system will be Bombardier's first system in China. The contract is valued at nearly US$89 million.

May 20

• Sumitomo and Nippon Sharyo are awarded a contract to build eleven new bilevel passenger cars for Virginia Railway Express; the contract is valued at US$109 million, and the new cars are expected to be delivered in 2006 and 2007.

May 23

• – Twelve Chinese railroad workers are rescued after being trapped in a collapsed tunnel for six days. Rescuers were able to transfer milk and oxygen to the trapped workers through a ventilation tube until the collapse was penetrated.
• – Chicago's Metra unveils the first new bilevel electric coaches in a US$76.5 million order to completely re-equip the railroad's former Illinois Central electric lines. The new cars are the first on the electric division to include toilets.

May 24

• – Railpower Technologies announces that an as-yet unnamed United States Class I railroad has placed a firm order for ten Green Goat hybrid locomotives. The locomotives will be manufactured at plants in Calgary, Alberta, Boise, Idaho, and Longview, Texas.
• – SNCF announces that a new high speed train connection between Paris and Frankfurt will be built; it is expected to open in 2007, with ridership estimates as high as 1.5 million per year.
• – Norfolk Southern receives the TRANSCAER National Achievement Award for 2004. TRANSCAER is an acronym for Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response, an organization promoting emergency preparedness among first responders and communities about accidents involving hazardous materials releases.

May 25

• Amtrak announces that it will open a new passenger train stop on the California-funded Capitol Corridor trains in Oakland on June 6; the new station is at the Oakland Coliseum and adjacent to the local BART stop.
• – The Martello, Shakespeare and Abbotscliffe railway tunnels in Kent, England, close after 160 years of continuous service for renovation work estimated at £10 million; the work is expected to take four months to complete.

May 26

• – Genesee and Wyoming (G&W) announce that they have agreed to purchase the railroad operations of Rail Management Corporation (RMC). G&W will pay US$243 million in cash and assume $1.7 million in company debt to gain control of 14 short line railroads from RMC across the southeastern United States, as of June 1, 2005. G&W already controls 24 other railroads in North America, South America and Australia.

May 27

• – Canadian Pacific Railway commemorates the contributions of Chinese railroad workers who helped build the railroad by renaming an interchange in Kamloops, British Columbia, after one such worker, Cheng Ging Butt. The interchange, just east of the station in Kamloops is officially named Cheng Interchange.
• – Alaska Railroad is awarded a US$24.8 million federal grant to replace aging ties and bridges along the railroad's mainline, install new track at a new intermodal facility in Fairbanks and upgrade about 30 miles (48.2 km) of track from jointed to continuous welded rail. The railroad received a second grant of $14 million to fund preliminary engineering and environmental studies on an 80-mile (128.7 km) extension to Eielson Air Force Base near North Pole, Alaska.

May 30

• – Iraqi State Television reports that a new railroad connection between Iran and Iraq will be built. The railroad is planned to connect Khorramshahr, Iran, to Basra, Iraq, and another connection is planned for a route between Kermanshah, Iran, and the Iraqi province of Diala. Transportation officials hope eventually to connect to Turkey and Syria.

May 31

• – Bombardier announces that it was awarded contracts to build 78 new double decker coaches and nine electric locomotives for Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) in Germany as well as 20 new eight-car high speed train sets for China (in addition to the 20 already on order). The new equipment for both orders will be delivered between May 2006 and December 2007.

Deaths

• May 28 – Benjamin F. Biaggini, chairman and CEO of the Southern Pacific Company (parent company of Southern Pacific Railroad) 1964–1983 (born 1916) (Trains)

References

• American Chemistry Council (May 24, 2005), Norfolk Southern Corporation Receives 2004 TRANSCAER National Achievement Award. Retrieved May 26, 2005.
• BNSF Railway (May 18, 2005), BNSF Begins Taking Delivery of Camera-Equipped Locomotives. Retrieved May 19, 2005.
• Bombardier (May 31, 2005), Bombardier Awarded A $172 Million US Order From LNVG In Germany For 78 Double-Deck Coaches And Nine Locomotives. Retrieved June 1, 2005.
• Bombardier (May 19, 2005), Bombardier Awarded A Contract For An Automated People Mover System In China In Time For The 2008 Olympic Games In Beijing. Retrieved June 28, 2005.
• Bombardier (May 31, 2005), Bombardier To Deliver An Additional 20 High-Speed Trains To China. Retrieved June 1, 2005.
• Canadian Pacific Railway (May 27, 2005), Canadian Pacific Railway names Kamloops' interchange in honour of Chinese rail worker. Retrieved May 31, 2005.
• Canadian Press (May 18, 2005), CN deal averts commuter chaos. Retrieved May 18, 2005.
• China Daily (May 23, 2005), 12 workers survive six days underground. Retrieved May 23, 2005.
• Federal Railroad Administration (May 27, 2005), FRA Announces Infrastructure Improvement Grant for Alaska Railroad, Extension of Rail Line to be Studied. Retrieved June 6, 2005.
• Genesee and Wyoming, Inc. (May 26, 2005), Genesee & Wyoming Announces Agreement to Acquire Short Line and Port Railroads from Rail Management Corporation. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
• Gisborne Herald Online, (May 10, 2005) Marine worm attack weakened pier before rail bridge collapse. Retrieved June 18, 2005.
• Horsley, Nigel, RailPower Technologies (May 24, 2005), RailPower announces Class 1 railroad firm order for 10 hybrid locomotives (PDF). Retrieved May 24, 2005.
• IOL Asia (May 19, 2005), Hundreds injured in train accident. Retrieved May 20, 2005.
• Islamic Republic News Agency (May 30, 2005), Iran, Iraq to be linked by railroad. Retrieved May 31, 2005.
• KTRE (May 23, 2005), Workers rescued from collapsed railroad tunnel in China after six-day ordeal. Retrieved May 23, 2005.
• Payvand's Iran News (May 3, 2005), Iranian President inaugurates Mashhad-Bafq railroad. Retrieved May 3, 2005.
• RailPower Technologies (May 13, 2005), RailPower adds former BNSF CEO and US FRA Administrator to its board (PDF). Retrieved May 24, 2005.
• RailStaff (June 27, 2005), Chinese Wins for Bombardier. Retrieved June 28, 2005.
• RailStaff (May 25, 2005), Tunnel vision for Kent. Retrieved June 2, 2005.
• Scoop (May 6, 2005), Bridge Collapse Blamed on Neglect. Retrieved June 18, 2005.

Associated Press references

• (May 20, 2005), Arson damages railroad bridge. Retrieved May 22, 2005.
• (May 12, 2005), Bridge fire disrupts NE Corridor rail service. Retrieved May 16, 2005.
• (May 4, 2005), Investigators look for cause of Illinois derailment. Retrieved May 5, 2005.

Trains News Wire references

• (May 25, 2005), Amtrak to open new Oakland stop in California. Retrieved May 26, 2005.
• (May 26, 2005), G&W to acquire Rail Management Corp. rail operations. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
• (May 4, 2005), Illinois derailment closes UP Overland Route main line. Retrieved May 5, 2005.
• (May 18, 2005), Japanese executives to resign over commuter-train derailment. Retrieved May 19, 2005.
• (May 23, 2005), Metra unveils new electric passenger cars; agrees to on-board bicycles. Retrieved May 24, 2005.
• (May 24, 2005), New high-speed line to link France and Germany. Retrieved May 25, 2005.
• (May 20, 2005), Railroad trestle burns in Arizona. Retrieved May 22, 2005.
• (May 24, 2005), Sumitomo gets contract for VRE passenger cars. Retrieved May 25, 2005.