February 2007 in rail transport

2006, 2007, 2008

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

[edit] Events

- Officials with the East Siberian Railway announce the allocation of 3 billion rubles over a three year period toward the rehabilitation and modernization of the Baikal Amur Mainline, part of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The project will include the installation of 17 sidings, several new stations and new equipment for locomotive repair facilities on the line. The project follows a five-fold increase over 2005 figures in passenger ridership over the line in 2006.^[1]

- Officials with Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) announce an agreement with Iran’s Ministry of Road and Transportation on construction of a new railway near the historic Naqsh-e Rustam site. The original construction plans called for a right-of-way within 500 m of the site; ICHTO ordered that the right-of-way was to be constructed a minimum of one kilometre further away from the site than the original plan. The ICHTO also rejected a plan to build an underground right-of-way beneath the site fearing that such construction would damage the site.^[2]

- Transportation officials in Vietnam announce a plan to build and rehabilitate a rail connection between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The $33 billion plan is anticipated to shorten travel times by rail between the two cities from as much as 40 hours to about 10 hours. Although the railway ministry had planned for a nine year construction timeline, the Prime Minister asked that the project be completed in six years. The governments of Japan and South Korea both have offered financial assistance in the hopes that companies in their respective countries would be awarded contracts in the project.^[3]

- At a meeting in Tiblisi, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sign an agreement authorizing construction of the new Kars-Baku-Tiblisi railway linking the three nations. The agreement included authorization of loans between the countries to pay for construction and the transportation ministers of these countries also signed an agreement stating that construction will begin later in 2007. Speaking after the meeting, Saakashvili stated "by 2010 the Georgian railway will turn into a part the European railway system."^[4]^[5]

- In Thorsby, Alabama, a CSX Transportation freight train struck a van at an unguarded level crossing, killing four people and injuring four others. See also: Thorsby, Alabama grade crossing accident. ^[6]

- 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. VIA Rail and GO Transit trains are unaffected by the strike since VIA trains and facilities are operated by VIA employees and the UTU and GO Transit signed an agreement to keep GO Transit trains running. CN filed a petition with the Canada Industrial Relations Board to declare the strike an illegal action and is running trains during the strike using management personnel in place of striking workers.^[7]^[8]^[9]

- Transit officials from systems across the country and representatives of the United States Federal Railroad Administration open meetings in Boston, Massachusetts, to discuss standards and strategies to avoid problems in the gap size between trains and railway platforms. The issue has recently gained wider awareness due to the death of a Minnesota tourist after she fell through a wide gap on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in August 2006; she was killed after crawling under the platform when a train hit her as she tried to climb up away from the track on the other side. Although this has been the only reported death related to a platform gap, LIRR announced planned improvements to address the issue for almost 40% of its stations.^[10]

- 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. This is the world's fastest conventional scheduled train. The test was part of an extensive research programme by Alstom. The previous speed record was set by another TGV on May 18, 1990, at 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).^[11]^[12]

- Residents of Brighton, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, are rallying to preserve a set of manually operated level crossing gates, the last such gates in operation in the Southern Hemisphere. Train operating company Connex Melbourne has proposed to replace the manual gates with fully automatic gates which could increase train efficiency and reduce expenses at the crossing, but residents wish to preserve the manual gates citing safety issues and heritage status for the crossing.^[13]^[14]

The Grayrigg derailment

Wikinews has related news:

Virgin Train crashes in England

- Grayrigg derailment: A Virgin Trains services travelling from London Euston to Glasgow Central derails in Cumbria in North-West England. One eldery woman died in hospital as a result of her injuries.

– The United States Federal Railroad Administration delivers its decision to deny a $2.3 billion loan request made by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DME). The loan was requested as part of DME's plan to build new track and rehabilitate existing track to haul coal from the mines of Wyoming's Powder River Basin. In announcing the decision, Administrator Joseph H. Boardman noted that the project proposal met many federal requirements for the loan but cited concerns that the railroad might not be able to handle cost overruns during construction or to repay such a hefty amount after construction is completed.^[15]^[16]^[17]

– The Sichuan Bureau of Commerce announces that Chuantie International Technology Corporation of the People's Republic of China has been awarded a contract to build a new railway line from Port Sudan on the Red Sea to the capital city Khartoum, Sudan. The contract, valued over $1 billion, represents the largest railway construction agreement between the two nations and the largest foreign project attempted by a Sichuan company. The contract was signed earlier in February when China's president Hu Jintao was in Sudan to discuss greater cooperation with African nations.^[18]

– Four people are killed, and at least 30 are injured after a strong sandstorm derails a train in China. The derailment occurred after the train left a station in Turfan Prefecture, Xinjiang, bound for Aksu from Ürümqi.^[19]^[20]