1974 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1974.

Events

January

• January 2 – SEMTA begins subsidizing the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's commuter rail service between Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan.^[1]

March

• March 17 – A freight train on Canadian Pacific Railway is derailed when it hits a rock slide near Spences Bridge, British Columbia; the accident leads to the installation of ditch lights on all Canadian diesel locomotives, a practice later copied by American railroads.^[2]

May

• May 6 – Inauguration of full electric service on British Rail West Coast Main Line through to Glasgow.^[3]
• May 8–May 27 – Railway strike in India. The strike by 17 million workers of Indian Railways is the largest known.^[4][5][6]
• May 19
  • At the insistence of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Amtrak renames the Super Chief the Southwest Limited.
  • Amtrak introduces the Expo '74 passenger train between Spokane and Seattle, Washington.

June

• June 16 – The Milwaukee Road ends operation of its electric locomotives in Montana and Idaho. Trains over the Rocky Mountains are now solely powered by diesels.

July

• July 23 – Shin-Koshigaya Station on what is now the Tobu Skytree Line in Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan, is opened.^[7]

August

• August – The Seoul subway opens.
• August 4 – Italicus Express bombing was a terrorist bombing in Italy which klilled 12 people.
• August 5 – Amtrak introduces the Adirondack passenger train between New York City and Montreal, Quebec.
• August 30 – In the Zagreb train disaster an express traveling from Belgrade to Dortmund derailed before entering Zagreb Main Station, killing 153 people.

September

• September 14 – Commercial operation begins on São Paulo Metro, Brazil.
• September 15 – Amtrak introduces the Blue Water Limited passenger train between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan.
• September 16 – Passenger traffic begins through the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) 3.6 mi (5.8 km) Transbay Tube between Oakland and San Francisco beneath San Francisco Bay, the world's longest and deepest immersed tube tunnel.^[8]

Unknown date

• The original Norfolk Southern Railway is merged into the Southern Railway (US).
• John W. Barriger III steps down from the presidency of the Boston and Maine Railroad.^[9]
• The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway operates the last train ever on its subsidiary Grand Canyon Railway; it is a maintenance of way train.^[10]

Accidents

Railway accidents in 1974 (1974) Location and date San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy (4 August) Zagreb, Yugoslavia (30 August) 1973 1975

References

• Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History - June. Retrieved June 13, 2005.

1. ↑ Schramm, Jack E.; Henning, William H.; Andrews, Richard R. (1989). When eastern Michigan rode the rails 1. Glendale, CA: Interurban Press. p. 180. ISBN 0916374866. OCLC 20098495. 
2. ↑ Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (March 4, 2006), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved March 17, 2006.
3. ↑ Gillham, J. C. (1988). The Age of the Electric Train: Electric Trains in Britain since 1883. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1392-6. 
4. ↑ http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1819/18190750.htm
5. ↑ "INDIA: Strangulating Strike". Time. May 20, 1974. Retrieved April 20, 2010. 
6. ↑ "Looking back at anger". The Hindu (Chennai, India). January 6, 2002. Retrieved 21 November 2009. 
7. ↑ Terada, Hirokazu (July 2002). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 198. ISBN 4-87366-874-3. 
8. ↑ Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-359-7. 
9. ↑ "John W. Barriger; Rail historian and railfan". Archived from the original on 1 March 2005. Retrieved 2005-02-22. 
10. ↑ Bianchi, Curt (May 1995). "By steam to the Grand Canyon". Trains Magazine: p. 38–45.