2009 in rail transport

2008 2009 2010

Years in rail transport

2008 in rail transport 2009 in rail transport 2010 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2009.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 By month 1.1.1 January events 1.1.2 February events 1.1.3 March events 1.1.4 April events 1.1.5 May events 1.1.6 June events 1.1.7 July events 1.1.8 August events 1.1.9 September events 1.1.10 October events 1.1.11 November events 1.1.12 December events 1.2 Unknown date events 2 Accidents 3 Industry awards 3.1 North America 3.2 United Kingdom 4 References

Events

By month

January events

• January 12 – Official opening of Docklands Light Railway London City Airport branch extension under the River Thames to Woolwich Arsenal.^[1][2]
• January 23 – Canadian National Railway closes on purchase of Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway.^[3][4][5]

February events

• February 2 – Opening of WES Commuter Rail line from Wilsonville, Oregon, to Beaverton; see http://trimet.org for more information.
• February 28 – Opening of East West MRT Line extension of additional two stations from Boon Lay. Trains by this date no longer terminate at Boon Lay Station.

March events

• March – First section of Istanbul-Ankara High Speed Rail Line, between Ankara and Eskişehir (245-kilometre (152 mi)), opens.
• March 16 – Reopening of New York City's South Ferry Station after four years of renovation.^[6]
• March 20 – Hanshin Namba Line, Amagasaki-Namba route to open, with Hanshin Sannomiya-Kintetsu Nara direct commuter express train starting.
• March 31 - The deadline for securing financing for the Amman-Zarqa Light Rail System by the Kuwaiti-led consortium passed, effectively voiding the projects after more than 10 years in planning. The deadline had already been extended twice before.^[7]

April events

May events

• May 1 – Pan Am Southern, a joint venture between Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern Railway, begins operation.
• May 28 – Singapore Circle MRT Line Stage 3 ready for service using 3-car Alstom trains.

June events

• June 22 – Washington Metro accident occurs when two afternoon southbound Metrorail trains on the Red Line are in a rear-end collision between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations in Northeast Washington, D.C., United States, killing eight passengers and the operator of the rear train, trapping several occupants, and injuring up to 100 more, the most serious accident in the Metro’s history.^{[8][9][10][11]}

July events

• July 18 – Sound Transit Central Link light rail line in Seattle, Washington opens.
• – Link between Kerman and Zahedan joins Europe and Middle East to Subcontinent for first time, albeit with break-of-gauge.

August events

• August 16 – Kowloon Southern Link, an extension of the KCRC West Rail Line in Hong Kong, completed and opened.^[12]
• August 17 – Opening of Canada Line rapid transit line in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• August 21 – Span of Iarnród Éireann's Broadmeadow viaduct, carrying the main line to Belfast about 13 km north of Dublin and just north of Malahide, collapses due to scour.^[13]
• August 30 – New Portland Transit Mall light-rail alignment opens for service, initially (until September 12) used only by the MAX Yellow Line.^[14]

September events

• September 9 – Partial opening of Dubai Metro.
• September 12 – MAX Green Line light rail line in Portland, Oregon, opens, transporting riders from Portland State University to Clackamas Town Center Transit Center.^[15][16]
• September 20 - The Powerhouse Museum's 3265 is recommissioned with a ceremony at Sydney Central Station and shuttle rides with the locomotive to Bankstown.

October events

November events

• November 13 – As announced on July 1, the British InterCity East Coast Main Line passenger rail franchise is transferred at 23:59 from National Express East Coast to the Department for Transport-owned company Directly Operated Railways Ltd for operation by its subsidiary East Coast Main Line Company Ltd, trading as East Coast, prior to retendering from late 2010.^[17][18][19]
• November 16 – The section from Stavanger to Sandnes on the Sørland Line opened with double track.^[20]
• November 30 – Metro Trains Melbourne (subsidiary of MTR Corporation of Hong Kong) takes over operation of suburban rail network in Melbourne, Australia, from Connex.^[21][22]

December events

• December – Construction to restore the mainline of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad from Gold Hill to Carson City, Nevada completed.^[23]
• December 1 - Tasmanian Government-owned Tasmanian Railway Company takes over operations in the island from Pacific National.^[24]
• December 9 – Services on the London Underground Circle line cease to run continuous complete circuits, for the first time since 1884.^[25]
• December 13 – Start of domestic services on High Speed 1, the UKs first high speed services run by Southeastern, from Dover Priory to London St Pancras, via Ashford International. The British Rail Class 395 trains will be part of the 'Javelin' service provided during the London 2012 Olympics
• December 28 – Zhengxi Passenger Railway high speed line between Zhengzhou and Xi'an, China, opens.^[26]
• December 31 – Chicago Transit Authority's Brown Line capacity expansion project completed.^[27]

Unknown date events

• - High speed railway service between Buenos Aires and Rosario, Argentina, to open.^[28]
• – Indian Railways to complete construction on the Chenab Bridge, the highest bridge in the world, crossing the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir.^[29]
• – Construction to begin in the Republic of the Congo on about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of new railway lines connecting Brazzaville to Ouésso and Djambala to Pointe-Noire.^[30]

Accidents

Railway accidents in 2009 (2009) Location and date Jajpur, India (13 February) • Polomka Bucnik, Slovakia (21 February) • Washington, United States (22 June) • Chenzhou, China (29 June) • Viareggio, Italy (29 June) • Rudine, Croatia (24 July) • Friedewald, Germany (12 September) • Mathura, India (20 October) • Cairo, Egypt (24 October) • Bologoye, Russia (27 November) • Washington, United States (29 November) 2008 2010

Industry awards

North America

2009 E. H. Harriman Awards

Group	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
A
B
C
S&T

Awards presented by Railway Age magazine

• 2009 Railroader of the Year:
• 2009 Regional Railroad of the Year: Wisconsin and Southern Railroad^[31]
• 2009 Short Line Railroad of the Year:

United Kingdom

Train Operator of the Year

• 2009:

References