2007 in rail transport

Years in rail transport

2006 in rail transport 2007 in rail transport 2008 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2007.

Events

January events

• January 5 – The first public trains of Taiwan High Speed Rail operate between Taipei and Kaohsiung, a 216 miles (348 km) journey, in 90 minutes.^[1]
• January 9 – Government of Estonia buys back majority share in Eesti Raudtee, the national rail operator, from private investors.^[2]
• January 12 – Railway Age Magazine selects Bill Wimmer, Vice President Engineering for Union Pacific Railroad to receive the 2007 award for Railroader of the Year.^[3]
• January 30 – The suburban rail network of Melbourne, Australia is thrown into chaos as much of the fleet of new Siemens Electric Multiple Unit trains is withdrawn from service after a number of incidents of brake failure.^[4]

February events

• February 7 – At a meeting in Tbilisi, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sign an agreement authorizing construction of the new Kars-Tiblisi-Baku railway linking the three nations.^[5][6]
• February 9 – About 2,800 train crew employees of Canadian National Railway (CN) wage a strike action against the railway; the striking workers are members of UTU Canada, the Canadian affiliate of the United Transportation Union.^[7][8][9]
• February 13 – During a test run a TGV train reaches 553 km/h (343.75 mph) under test conditions with a shortened train on the LGV Est near Passavant-en-Argonne (Marne), 190 km east of Paris.^[10][11]
• February 26 – The United States Federal Railroad Administration delivers its decision to deny a US$2.3 billion loan request made by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DME).^[12][13][14]

March events

• March 25 – The rebuilt Takahatafudō Station, serving the Keiō Line and the Tama Toshi Monorail Line in Japan opens.

April events

• April 3 – The French TGV sets a new train speed record. The train reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).
• April 7 – Weekday service begins on T Third Street light-rail line in San Francisco, leading to massive delays in the city's Muni Railway system.^[15]
• April 23 – Trial runs on 250 km long Eskişehir-Ankara part of 533 km long High-speed train line from Istanbul (Turkey's largest metropolis) to Ankara (capital of Turkey) began.
• April 23 – Construction begins on the Second Avenue Subway in New York City between 63rd and 105th streets, a resumption of a decades-long project with existing segments elsewhere.
• April 28 – The Orange Line of Montreal Metro is extended 5.2 km to Montmorency in Laval.

May events

June events

• June 8 – Last Orient Express through overnight service from Paris to Vienna runs.^[16]
• June 10 – The first section of LGV Est, a high-speed rail line, opens in France. This coincides with improvements to the German rail network to cut travel times from Paris to Eastern France and Germany.
• June 15 – Revenue freight traffic starts to use the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps.^[17]
• June 28 – Guangzhou Metro's Line 4 extension connecting Huangge to Jinzhou opens.
• June – $20m allocated for planning and land acquisition for the proposed Australian Inland Railway.

July events

• July 1 – Kampac Oil of Dubai, as consortium leader, is awarded a construction and operation contract for a new railway line in Ghana connecting Takoradi 800 kilometres (500 mi) to Hamile. The contract, valued at US$1.6 billion, also includes the rehabilitation of a line between Takoradi and Kumasi as part of the Ghanaian government's plans to connect to northern Ghana.^[18]
• July 18 – Metronet, holder of the maintenance contract for a majority of the London Underground lines, seeks authority of the Mayor of London to go into Administration following a dispute about responsibility for cost overruns on its contract.^[19]

August events

• August 30 – Trubnaya station opened on Moscow Metro.

September events

October events

• October 1 – Ferrovías Guatemala (subsidiary of Railroad Development Corporation) suspends all operations.
• October 31 – MBTA Commuter Rail Greenbush Line opens in Massachusetts.
• – Last publication of the monthly OAG Rail Guide, successor to the ABC Railway Guide timetable of 1853.^[20]

November events

• November 7 – Minsk Metro Moskovskaya Line gets extended to Uruchye.
• November 11 – West Midlands train operating company franchise is taken over from Silverlink and Central Trains by London Midland (a Govia company) and the East Midlands franchise from Midland Mainline and Central Trains by East Midlands Trains. National Express Group is the principal loser in these changes. Arriva Trains Cross Country Limited (Arriva Group) takes over a revised Cross-Country franchise from Virgin CrossCountry, branding services as CrossCountry.^[21][22] The London Overground rail franchise commences operation, effectively returning the lines involved to state control.^[23]

Eurostar at St Pancras International following opening of High Speed 1

• November 13 – Strikes in France begin to disrupt SNCF and Paris Metro service.
• November 14 – High Speed 1 is opened with public passenger services into rebuilt St Pancras International.
• November 14 – Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL, or German Train Drivers' Union) engages in a national three-day strike against Deutsche Bahn.
• November 26 – LYNX light-rail service begins in Charlotte, North Carolina.

December events

• December 2 – Two railway companies, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation and the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation are merged.^[24]
• December 8 – Sretensky Bulvar station opened on the Lyublinskaya Line of Moscow Metro.
• December 9 – National Express East Coast (NXEC Trains Ltd) takes over the British East Coast Main Line train operating franchise from GNER.^[25]
• December 11 – freight service to resume between South Korea and North Korea.
• December 18 – Grand Central Railway, a new rail operator in England, inaugurates passenger services from Sunderland to London King's Cross.^[26]
• December 23 - The Madrid–Valladolid high-speed rail line opens to passengers in Spain, including the 28 kilometres (17 mi) Guadarrama Tunnel, the fourth longest railway tunnel in Europe.
• December 24 – Moscow Metro Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line gets extended from Park Pobedy to Strogino.
• December 28 – SPRINTER light-rail service begins in San Diego County, California.
• – Regular passenger-train service begins in the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps.^[27]
• – High-speed train service is expected to be extended from the current Madrid-Tarragona route to Barcelona.

Unknown date events

• – The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad expects to complete construction on the railroad's expansion into Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
• – High speed train service, using newly built ICE trainsets from Siemens, is expected to open between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• – SNCF is expected to open new high speed train service between Paris and Frankfurt; annual ridership estimates at the time of the service announcement in 2005 are as high as 1.5 million per year.^[28]
• – SNCF is expected to launch a new TGV Est service from Paris through Luxembourg, southwest Germany and Switzerland using new TGV Duplex (double-decker) equipment built by Alstom.^[29][30]
• – The Vossloh locomotive plant in Valencia, Spain, is expected to begin assembly of the new EMD Euro 4000 model locomotive designed by Electro-Motive Diesels for sales to European railroads.^[31]
• – Construction is expected to begin on a new rail link between India and Bhutan.^[32]
• – The Lok Ma Chau Spur Line of the KCRC East Rail Line in Hong Kong to connect the existing KCRC East Rail to the Lok Ma Chau border crossing between Hong Kong and China is expected to be completed and opened in 2007.^[33]
• – Optimistic opinions on the Donetsk Metro construction estimate the first line of the system will open.
• – The Eskişehir-Ankara part of 533 km long High-speed train line from Istanbul (Turkey's largest metropolis) via Eskişehir to Ankara (capital of Turkey), is expected to be opened in 2007 reducing the traveling time from 6–7 hours to 3 hours 10 minutes.
• – The construction of a railway linking Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan will start in the second half of 2007.^[34]

Accidents

• January 7 – A Washington Metro train derails near downtown Washington, D.C., sending 16 people to the hospital and prompting the rescue of 60 people from a tunnel.^[35]
• February 18 – The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings were a terrorist attack that occurred on the Samjhauta Express near the Indian city of Panipat, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of New Delhi. Sixty-eight people were killed.
• February 23 – Grayrigg derailment: A Virgin Trains services travelling from London Euston to Glasgow Central derails in Cumbria in North-West England. One elderly woman dies in hospital as a result of her injuries.
• June 5 – Kerang train crash: Eleven people died in a level crossing collision near Kerang, Victoria, Australia.
• July 15 – In Shanghai, platform-edge doors caused a fatal accident. A man tried to force his way onto a crowded train at the station for the Shanghai Indoor Stadium, but failed. When the doors closed, he was trapped between the platform doors and the train, leading to his death.^[36]
• August 1 – The Benaleka train crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo kills over 100.
• December 19 – Mehrabpur train derailment occurred near Mehrabpur in Pakistan killing 40.

Deaths

February deaths

• February 23 – Robert W. Richardson, American railroad historian, dies (b. 1910).

August deaths

• August 9 – Walter Rich, Chairman of Delaware Otsego Corporation, New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad and Central New York Railroad (b. 1946).^[37]

December deaths

• December 24 – George Warrington, president of Amtrak 1998-2002, executive director of New Jersey Transit 2002-2007 (b. 1952).

Industry awards

Japan

Awards presented by Japan Railfan Club

• 2007 Blue Ribbon Award: Toyama Light Rail 0600 series "Portram"
• 2007 Laurel Prize: JR East E233 series EMU and Nishi-Nippon Railroad 3000 series EMU

North America

2007 E. H. Harriman Awards^[38]

Group	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
A	Norfolk Southern Railway	CSX Transportation	BNSF Railway
B	Kansas City Southern Railway	Canadian Pacific Railway's United States subsidiary	Long Island Rail Road
C	Florida East Coast Railway	Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad[39]	BNSF Suburban Operation in Chicago
S&T	Birmingham Southern Railroad	Conrail	Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis

Awards presented by Railway Age magazine

• 2007 Railroader of the Year: Bill Wimmer (UP)^[3]
• 2007 Regional Railroad of the Year: South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL)^[40]
• 2007 Short Line Railroad of the Year: RJ Corman West Virginia Lines^[41]

United Kingdom

Train Operator of the Year

• 2007: (not yet announced)

References

1. Grauwels, Stephan (January 5, 2007). "Taiwan's High-Speed Train Debuts". Associated Press (reprinted by CBS). Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
2. "EVR's private interlude is over". Railway Gazette International. February 1, 2007. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
3. "Union Pacific Vice President-Engineering Bill Wimmer Named Railway Age Railroader Of The Year" (Press release). Union Pacific Railroad. January 12, 2007. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
4. Moynihan, Stephen (January 30, 2007). "Soapy suds too much for trains in make-or-brake tests". Melbourne: The Age. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
5. "Saakashvili Speaks of Regional Railway, as Deal Signed". UNA-Georgia. February 7, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
6. "Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey sign agreement on new railroad". ITAR-TASS. February 7, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
7. Marowtis, Ross (February 13, 2007). "CN strike likely to continue over weekend". Retrieved February 14, 2007.
8. Pringle, Josh (February 11, 2007). "CN Rail Strike Won't Disrupt Service: Officials". CFRA. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
9. "CN strike challenged: Railway files beef with labour board". Winnipeg Sun. February 11, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
10. "Alstom commits itself to the French very high speed rail programme" (Press release). Alstom. December 18, 2006. Retrieved February 4, 2007.
11. "French high-speed TGV breaks world conventional rail-speed record". Deutsche Presse-Agentur (reprinted by Monsters and Critics). February 14, 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
12. "FRA Administrator Denies DM&E Powder River Basin Loan Application Citing Unacceptable Risk to Federal Taxpayers" (Press release). United States Federal Railroad Administration. February 26, 2007. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
13. "FRA Rejects Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's Loan Application". L.B. Foster. PR Newswire. February 27, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
14. "DM&E loan denial's effect is uncertain". Post-Bulletin. February 28, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
15. Gordon, Rachel (April 11, 2007). "Passengers left in lurch by T-Third's rough start / Muni metro mess: New streetcar line brings commuters delays, confusion and stress". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 13, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
16. "'Hidden Europe' magazine e-news Issue 2007/15". June 7, 2007. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
17. Meillasson, Sylvain (August 2007). "Lötschberg Base Tunnel opens". Today's Railways Europe. 140: 19–26.
18. "Kampac wins Ghana railway contract". Khaleej Times. July 1, 2007. Retrieved July 5, 2007.
19. BBC News (July 18, 2007). "Metronet calls in administrators". Archived from the original on August 26, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2007.
20. Knowlman, Brian (Summer 2007). "What time's the next timetable?". National Railway Museum Review. 120: 31–3.
21. "Virgin loses Cross Country rail". BBC News. July 10, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
22. Haigh, Philip (July 18–31, 2007). "HSTs to CrossCountry as Arriva wins £1.1bn deal". Rail. 570: 6–7.
23. "Introducing London Overground – a new era for London Rail" (Press release). Transport for London. September 5, 2006. Archived from the original on June 10, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
24. Rail Merger All Set For December 2, 2007
25. "National Express awarded contract for growth on InterCity East Coast". Department for Transport. Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
26. "Passenger services begin Tuesday December 18". Grand Central. December 18, 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2008.
27. Trains News Wire (April 29, 2005). "Swiss complete digging Alpine tunnel". Retrieved May 4, 2005.
28. Trains News Wire (May 24, 2005). "New high-speed line to link France and Germany". Retrieved May 25, 2005.
29. Alstom (July 26, 2005). "ALSTOM to supply 28 TGV trainsets and 8 TGV power cars to SNCF worth 550 million euros". Archived from the original on October 26, 2005. Retrieved July 27, 2005.
30. Trains NewsWire (July 26, 2005). "Alstom to supply TGV trainsets and power cars to SNCF". Retrieved July 27, 2005.
31. Electro-Motive Diesel. "Euro 4000". Archived from the original on March 14, 2006. Retrieved December 1, 2005.
32. Kolkata Newsline (March 6, 2006). "India, Bhutan to start work for railway linkage by 2007". Retrieved March 7, 2006.
33. KCRC. "KCRC New Projects". Archived from the original on February 18, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2006.
34. turkishdailynews (January 16, 2007). "Railway construction to start in second half of 2007". Retrieved January 16, 2007.
35. Klein, Allison; Martin Weil (January 8, 2007). "Green Line Metro Train Derails; at Least 18 Hurt". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
36. Man caught between subway train and safety doors dies in Shanghai – International Herald Tribune
37. Grace, Tom (August 10, 2007). "Railroad chairman Rich dies". The Daily Star. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
38. "Railroad Employees Post Safest Year Ever in 2006" (Press release). Association of American Railroads. May 17, 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
39. "RailAmerica's Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad Wins Harriman Award" (Press release). RailAmerica. May 18, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
40. Bronson, Carol (March 21, 2008). "Watco earns accolades for rails". Pratt Tribune. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
41. "Railway Age 2007 RR of the Year" (PDF). American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2008.