2011 in rail transport

Years in rail transport 2010 in rail transport 2011 in rail transport 2012 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that are currently scheduled to occur in 2011. Please be aware that the actual dates that these events occur on may differ substantially from what is shown here.

Events

By month

January events

• January 10 – Regular through passenger service from Wuhan to Wanzhou over the complete new Yiwan Railway in China starts. The line features 288 km (179 mi) of bridges on a total length of 377 km (234 mi).^[1]

February events

• February 19– First public passenger train operates throughout between Caernarfon and Porthmadog Harbour over the restored Welsh Highland Railway.
• February 28 – Wabtec announces that it has acquired Brush Traction, the English-based locomotive builder and maintainer, for US$31 million.^[2]

March events

• March 13 – Kyushu Shinkansen opens between Hakata of Fukuoka and Shin-Yatsushiro, with Osaka and Kagoshima direct bullet train starting.
• – Sassenheim railway station opens in the Netherlands.

May events

• May 1 – Veendam railway station opens in the Netherlands.
• May 1 – Tide Light Rail begins service in Norfolk, Virginia.

June events

• June 16 – An NSB Class 73 burns up after catching fire in a burning show shed at Hallingskeid Station on Norway's Bergen Line.^[3]
• – A-Train commuter rail service begins in northern Texas.^[4]
• – Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway opens in China.

July events

• July 23 – Wenzhou train collision: At least 39 people are killed when a China Railway High-speed train collides in rear with a preceding stationary train halted by a lightning strike, throwing two coaches off a viaduct close to Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.^[5]

August events

• August 7 – West Valley and Mid-Jordan extensions of TRAX open in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area.
• August 15 – The Gevingåsen Tunnel on Norway's Nordland Line opens.^[6]
• August 19 – The first line of the Jerusalem Light Rail opens to passengers. It runs from Pisgat Ze'ev in the northeast, south along Road 60 to Jaffa Road (Rehov Yaffo). From there, it runs along Jaffa Road westward to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, and continues to the southwest, crossing the Chords Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, along Herzl Boulevard to Beit HaKerem and terminates near Mount Herzl.
• August 26 – The Bærum Tunnel and section of track between Lysaker and Sandvika on Norway's Asker Line is takne into use.^[7]
• August 31 – Opening of Docklands Light Railway extension from Canning Town to the new Stratford International station, taking over the North London Line infrastructure (which closed on 9 December 2006) and linking the Docklands area with domestic and international high-speed services on High Speed 1 and with the 2012 Olympic Games site.^[8][9][10]

September events

• September 27 – Brookhaven Rail Terminal opened on Long Island, New York, a 28 acre facility for bulk commodities

October events

• October 8 – The Circle MRT Line becomes fully operational.
• – Banihal-Qazigund railway tunnel (Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel) a part of its Udhampur – Srinagar – Baramulla rail link project, opened in October 2011, India's longest and Asia's second longest railway tunnel and reduced the distance between Quazigund and Banihal to only 11 km. The 10.96 km long railway tunnel, passes through the Pir Panjal Range of middle Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir.^[11][12][13]

November events

• November 7 – A new 7.8-kilometer (4.8 mi) segment of the Vestfold Line with double track between Barkåker and Tønsberg, including the Jarlsberg Tunnel, is taken into use.^[14]
• November 8 - The new 5000-Series rail cars (5001-5706), built by Bombardier Transportation of Plattsburg, New York are placed in revenue service on the Chicago Transit Authority elevated-subway rail system. These new rail cars (the first since the 1992-94 built Morrison-Knudsen 3200-Series) represent the next generation of high-tech transport on the Chicago 'L'-Subway. They feature smooth stainless steel car bodies with fluted sidewalls, sculptured face ends, color-coded digital LED destination signs, ADA accessibility with longitudinal seating arrangements and two wheelchair locations. The 5000-Series cars are also equipped with AC traction motors.

December events

• December 11 – SNCF opens LGV Rhin-Rhône.
• December 28 – Hangzhou Metro opens in China
• – Hangyong Passenger Railway opens in China.
• – Utrecht Leidsche Rijn railway station opens in the Netherlands.

Unknown date events

• – Zhengzhou East Railway Station opens in Zhengzhou, China.
• – Rail service begins to Warsaw Chopin Airport.
• – Revenue service on JR East's new mainline between Hachinohe and Shin-Aomori in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, begins.^[15][16]
• – The 594 km (369 mi) long high speed railway between Ankara and Izmir opens.
• – The 455 km (283 mi) long high speed railway between Ankara and Sivas opens.
• – The aging Hitachi trains in Melbourne are completely phased out.

Industry awards

Japan

Awards presented by the Japan Railfan Club

• 2011 Blue Ribbon Award: Keisei Electric Railway AE series Skyliner EMU
• 2011 Laurel Prize: Tokyo Metro 16000 series EMU

North America

2011 E. H. Harriman Awards

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

Awards presented by Railway Age magazine

• 2011 Railroader of the Year: Wick Moorman (NS)^[17]
• 2011 Regional Railroad of the Year:
• 2011 Short Line Railroad of the Year:

United Kingdom

Train Operator of the Year

• 2011:

Deaths

• January 15 – Francesco di Majo, designer of the Pendolino (born 1910).^[18]
• May 4 – Richard Steinheimer, American railroad photographer, dies (b. 1929).
• July 29 – Richard Marsh, Baron Marsh, chairman of British Rail 1971–1976, dies (b. 1928).
• October 20 – Roger Tallon, designer of the TGV (born 1929).^[19]

References