1996 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1996.

Events

January events

• January 6 - A computer-controlled Washington Metro train overran the platform at the Shady Grove station, colliding with a parked train and fatally injuring the operator. (See 1996 Gaithersburg Metrorail Accident).

March events

• March 4 - A Wisconsin Central freight train derails on a broken switch in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. The Weyauwega derailment forced the evacuation of the entire town until March 20 while fire crews worked to control the resulting blaze.
• March 28 - Mucha line of Taipei Mass Rapid Transit, the first subway line of Taiwan, opens.

June events

• June 26 - The Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad and the A&G Railroad merge to form the Bay Line Railroad.

July events

• July 27 - Ron Burns becomes president of Union Pacific Railroad.
• July 28 - The Talleyrand Terminal Railroad (a subsidiary of Genesee and Wyoming, Inc.) begins operations in Jacksonville, Florida.

September events

• September 14 - The York-Durham Heritage Railway begins operations on CN's former branch between Uxbridge and Stouffville, Ontario.

October events

• October - The first stage of Cairo Metro's Line Two (the Yellow line) opens.

November events

• November 18 - Fire erupts in the Channel Tunnel seriously damaging 200 m of the tunnel's lining.
• November 21 - Limited freight service in the Channel Tunnel resumes while construction crews make repairs at the location of the fire three days earlier.

December events

• December 4 - Passenger service resumes through the Channel Tunnel.

Unknown date events

• The Union Pacific Railroad finishes the acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before with the purchase of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The merged company retains the name "Union Pacific" for all railroad operations.
• The Hell Gate Bridge, built in 1916, is overhauled, including its first paint job in 80 years.
• A coal train in Beresfield, New South Wales, Australia passes a red signal (SPAD) and collides with the rear of a second coal train on the same track in the Beresfield rail disaster; due to the accident, a somewhat random factor has been added to the vigilance control signals' intervals.
• Construction begins on San Juan, Puerto Rico's Tren Urbano mass transit system.

Deaths

References

• Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved September 13, 2005.
• (May 2002), Setbacks for Puerto Rico's system, Trains Magazine, p. 31.
• Union Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad Chronological History: The 1800s. Retrieved July 22, 2005.