2012 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2012.

Years in rail transport

2011 in rail transport 2012 in rail transport 2013 in rail transport

Events

January

• 9 January – Shenyang Metro Line 2 opened.
• 14 January – The Marina Bay Extension of the Circle MRT Line in Singapore opens for service.[1]

February

• 4 February – National Express East Anglia's passenger service franchise expires; from the following day services are taken over by Abellio Greater Anglia.
• 22 February – Buenos Aires rail disaster: A buffer stop collision at Once railway station kills 51.

March

• 3 March – Szczekociny rail crash: A head-on collision in Poland kills 16.
• 25 March – The north shore connector extension of the Pittsburgh Light Rail system opens.

April

• 13 April – The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area) grants the Downtown San Francisco Extension top priority for federal funding. This would extend the Caltrain line 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from the current terminus at 4th & King (close to AT&T Park) to Downtown San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center and be used by California High-Speed Rail as its terminal.[2] The extension is scheduled to open in 2019.
• 23 April – Boston's MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line extension to Wickford Junction (MBTA station) opens.
• 28 April – The first phase of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Expo Line opens for service. The line runs from downtown LA to Culver City. The next phase of the project will extend the line to Santa Monica.[3]
• 28 April – Suzhou Metro opens.
• 30 April – Oakton-Skokie station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow Line opens

May

• 27 May – GoRail starts operating on Tallinn–Saint Petersburg line after a four-year hiatus.[4]

June

• 13 June – The Manchester Metrolink light rail system opens the first phase of its Oldham & Rochdale Line over the former Oldham Loop Line to a temporary terminus at Oldham Mumps.[5]
• 15 June – The Sacramento Regional Transit Light Rail Green Line phase 1 to River District opens. A future extension is planned to extend this line to the Sacramento International Airport but is not expected to be completed until sometime during the 2020s.[6][7]
• 28 June – Kunming Metro opens.

July

• 1 July – Tianjin Metro Line 2 opens.
• 28 July – Construction was completed and service commencing on the AirportLink line of the Miami Metrorail, extending service to Miami International Airport via the Miami Intermodal Center[8]

August

• 27 August – Construction is completed on the north east extension of Calgary Alberta's light rail transit system, the C-Train. The extension has added 2 new stations in northeast Calgary at Martindale and Saddletowne, adding several kilometers of track to the system.
• 31 August – Sofia Metro Line 2 entered into service.

September

• 16 September – Chengdu Metro Line 2 opens.
• 22 September – The 2001-opened Portland Streetcar system, in Portland, Oregon, inaugurates service on a second line, the "Central Loop" (or CL Line), serving the central east side.[9]
• 28 September – Phase 1 of Chongqing Rail Transit's Line 6, connecting Wulidian to Kangzhuang, opens.[10]

October

• 1 October –
  • Tianjin Metro Line 3 opens.
  • The Nikšić–Podgorica railway reopens to passengers after reconstruction and electrification.
• 3 October – The UK Department for Transport announces cancellation and rerunning of the InterCity West Coast passenger service franchise bidding process after discovering significant technical flaws in its assessment, reversing an August decision to award it to FirstGroup and following challenges by incumbent operator Virgin Trains.[11]
• 8 October – Seattle's Sounder commuter rail south line extension to South Tacoma and Lakewood opens.[12]

November

• 24 November – Hangzhou Metro Line 3 opens.

December

• 1 December – The Harbin–Dalian High-Speed Railway opens for service.[13]
• 3 December – The Orange Line (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) opens for service carrying passengers to Belt Line. The plan is then to have the line extended to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by 2014.[14]
• 3 December – The Blue Line (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) extension to the Downtown Rowlett Station opens for service.[14]
• 10 December – Opening of West Line of the Calgary C-Train, the system's first new line in 25 years.
• 10 December – Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner extends service south from Salt Lake City to Provo
• 16 December – The Manchester Metrolink light rail system extends its Oldham & Rochdale Line to Shaw & Crompton.[15]
• 21 December – Inauguration of the reopened Nigerian Railway Corporation's Lagos–Kano railway line in Nigeria, rebuilt by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and Costain West Africa.[16][17]
• 26 December – The Beijing-Zhengzhou section of the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway is scheduled to open, completing the HSR connection from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shenzhen.[18][19]
• – Automation of Paris Métro Line 1 reaches 100%. This is the second automated line after Line 14.

Deaths

• 18 March – Alan Pegler, British railway preservationist, dies (b. 1920).
• 22 July – Ding Guan'gen, Minister of Railways for China 1985–1988, dies (b. 1929).
• 5 August – Benjamin W. Heineman, president of Chicago and North Western Railway 1956–1972, dies (b. 1914).
• 4 October – Bernard Holden, president of Bluebell Railway, dies (b. 1908).

Industry awards

Japan

Awards presented by the Japan Railfan Club

• 2012 Blue Ribbon Award: JR East E5 Series Shinkansen EMU
• 2012 Laurel Prize: JR Freight Class HD300-900 hybrid locomotive

References

1. Musfirah, Hetty (28 November 2011). "Bayfront, Marina Bay stations on CCL to begin soon". channelnewsasia.com. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
2. Cabanatuan, Michael (16 April 2012). "Caltrain downtown extension gets top billing for top dollar". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
3. Hymon, Steve. "More on the Expo Line opening". The Source. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
4. Kuul, Marek (27 May 2012). "Gorail taasavas Tallinna-Peterburi rongiliini". ERR (in Estonian). Retrieved 27 May 2012.
5. "Metrolink line to Oldham opens today". Transport for Greater Manchester. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
6. "Green Line to the River District". Sacramento Regional Transit District. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
7. "Sacramento Green Line Open". Light Rail Transit Association. 16 June 2012. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
8. Miami-Dade Transit. "AirportLink Schedule". Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
9. Redden, Jim (20 September 2012). "Track Town heads east: Streetcar's new eastside loop already spurring development". Portland Tribune. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
10. "Part of Light Rail Line 6 opens". Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
11. "West Coast Main Line franchise competition cancelled" (Press release). Department for Transport. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
12. Doughton, Sandi (6 October 2012). "Lakewood area celebrates arrival of Sounder service". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
13. "World's fastest railway in frigid regions starts operation". English.news.cn. 1 December 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
14. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20121203-dart-blue-line-launches-long-awaited-rail-service-in-rowlett.ece
15. Kirby, Dean (12 December 2012). "Shaw and Crompton Metrolink trams start this Sunday". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
16. Ibukun, Yinka (22 December 2012). "Nigeria railroad project connects 2 major cities". The Big Story. Associated Press. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
17. "Nigeria reopened railway tracks connecting Lagos to Kano". Nile TV International. 23 December 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
18. "京广高铁拟12月下旬开通届时广州直达北京最快约8小时，二等座票价估计近千元" [Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway to be opened in late December]. Xinxi Shibao (信息时报). 21 November 2011. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
19. Chen, Stephen (15 December 2012). "Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line to open on 26 December". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 December 2012.

See also

• List of rail accidents (2010–2019)