2008 in rail transport

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

Events

By month

January events

• January 16 – The Tozai Line in Kyoto is extended 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from Nijo to Uzumasa-Tenjingawa.[1]

February events

• February 27
  • – Official opening of Santo Domingo Metro.
  • – National Express changes the name of the railway operating company one to National Express East Anglia as part of a company-wide rebranding exercise.[2][3]

March events

• March 9 – Sprinter starts service between Oceanside and Escondido, California,[4] reinstating passenger service on the Escondido branch line.
• March 15 – The Osaka Higashi Line is scheduled to open in Osaka, Japan;[5] 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.[6]
• – Kolkata Metro is extended from Tollygunge station to Pranabnagar station.^[citation needed]

April events

• April 1 – The Miki Railway Miki Line in Japan, which connected Yakujin Station in Kakogawa and Miki Station in Miki, is closed.[7]
• 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.[8][9][10]

CRH3 unit for Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway

June events

• June 2 – An unexploded bomb from World War II is found near where the District and Hammersmith & City lines cross the Prescott Channel, not far from Bromley-by-Bow tube station, causing disruption to trains.[11]
• June 2–6 – AfricaRail 2008 Conference.[12]
• June 14 – Opening of the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Subway Line between Shibuya and Ikebukuro (8.9 km (5.5 mi)).[13]

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).[14][15][16]
  • – 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.[17]

Tornado, August 2008

October events

• October 19 – The Nakanoshima Line operated by Keihan Railway opens for service between Nakanoshima and Temmabashi in Osaka, Japan.[18]

November events

• November – Voter approval of Measure M in Los Angeles County, California, commits additional tax dollars to transit projects.

December events

• December 27 – The first section of the new Valley Metro Rail system, part of Valley Metro in Phoenix, Arizona, opened.[19][20][21]

By season

Summer events

• – The project to rebuild and upgrade Guiyang Southern Station to more than double its capacity is expected to be completed.[22]

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.[23]
• – 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^[ambiguous] metro station.[24]

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.
• August 8 – 2008 Studénka train wreck: A EuroCity train en route to Prague strikes a part of a motorway bridge that has fallen onto the track near Studénka station and derails, killing 8 people and injuring 64 others.
• September 12 – 2008 Chatsworth train collision: A Metrolink commuter train, having passed a signal at danger, collides head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Los Angeles, killing 25 and injuring 130.[25]

Deaths

March deaths

• March 16 – John Shedd Reed, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1967-1986 (born 1917).[26][27]

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. Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau (October 17, 2007). 地下鉄東西線二条～太秦天神川間が1月16日に延伸開業 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
2. "'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.
3. Clinnick, Richard (March 12–25, 2008). "NX ditches 'one' brand with East Anglian overhaul promise". Rail. 587: 12–13.
4. Burge, Michael (March 10, 2008). "Passenger train sprints into service". U-T San Diego. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
5. "おおさか東線が開業" [Osaka Higashi Line opens for service]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). 17 March 2008. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
6. Ohno, Masato (31 March 2008). "地上も走るリニア式地下鉄 - ヨコハマの新たな足、横浜市営地下鉄グリーンラインが開業". MyNavi Corporation (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
7. "三木鉄道ミキ300-105が樽見鉄道へ" [Miki Railway 300-series unit 105 transferred to Tarumi Railway]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). 12 December 2008. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
8. "Setback for new Wrexham service". Railway Magazine. 153 (1273): 12. May 2007.
9. "New direct rail service launches this April". Wrexham & Shropshire. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
10. Clinnick, Richard (May 7–20, 2008). "40 years on – Wrexham and Shropshire takes to the rails". Rail. 591: 6–7.
11. "Wartime bomb find disrupts Tube". BBC News. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
12. "Africa Rail 2008 - programme". Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
13. "副都心線・有楽町線のダイヤが決定！" [Fukutoshin Line and Yurakucho Line timetables have been decided!]. tokyometro.jp (in Japanese). 27 March 2008. Archived from the original on 18 July 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
14. "China launches high-speed train". BBC News. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 2 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
15. "China opens Beijing-Tianjin railway one week ahead of Olympics". Xinhua. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
16. Fletcher, Hannah (2008-08-01). "China inaugurates 220mph fastest rail service in world in time for Olympics". Times Online. London. Retrieved 2008-08-01.^[dead link‍]
17. "A1 Steam Locomotive Trust". Retrieved 2008-08-27.
18. "京阪中之島線が開業" [Keihan Nakanoshima Line opens]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). 31 October 2008. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
19. Associated Press (reprinted by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, February 16, 2005), Phoenix begins work on light rail Archived 2005-05-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 16, 2005.
20. Valley Metro. "Construction schedule". Archived from the original on 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
21. Holstege, Sean (2006-06-30). "Plan has light rail on track". Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
22. 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
23. Xinhua (September 25, 2005), France to fund Vietnam in upgrading busiest railway route. Retrieved September 27, 2005.
24. "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.
25. "Human error led to fatal train collision, spokeswoman says". CNN. 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
26. "John Shedd Reed, rail executive". San Jose Mercury News. Associated Press. 2008-03-17. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
27. Shah, Tina (2008-03-17). "John Shedd Reed, 1917 - 2008". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-03-17.^[permanent dead link‍]