January 2005 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in January 2005.

Events

January 1

• – ÖBB, the national railway of Austria, is reorganized into ÖBB-Holding AG, a holding company to manage subsidiaries ÖBB-Dienstleistungs GmbH, ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG (for passenger train operations) and Rail Cargo Austria AG (for freight train operations).

January 3

• – Kansas City Southern names Arthur Shoener, formerly a vice president at Union Pacific Railroad, as the new CEO of the holding company's Kansas City Southern Railway and Texas Mexican Railway divisions.

January 4

• – Bombardier receives a contract from SNCF for 350 million euros to build 100 new regional trainsets.

January 6

• 
  – Graniteville train disaster – A Norfolk Southern train carrying a few carloads of hazardous materials (including chlorine gas) collides with a parked train in Graniteville, South Carolina, causing 9 deaths and over 250 injuries.

January 7

• – A passenger train and freight train collide head-on in Crevalcore, in northern Italy (near Bologna), on the single-track mainline between Bologna and Verona.

January 12

• – General Motors announces that it has agreed to sell its Electro-Motive Division to a partnership led by Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners.

• – Five cars of a CN freight train derail in Fort St. John, Manitoba (a suburb of Winnipeg), Canada; as one of the cars was carrying propane, the area is evacuated. The tank car remains upright and intact, so local residents are allowed to return fairly quickly.

January 17

• – Two Bangkok Metro trains collide, injuring nearly 200 people. ,

January 18

• – A station at the Milwaukee Airport opens on Amtrak's Hiawatha service. , ,

January 24

• – Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway introduces a new corporate logo that replaces the railroad's verbose name with BNSF Railway.

January 26

• – Glendale train crash – In what police initially call a suicide attempt, a Metrolink train in Glendale, California, (a suburb of Los Angeles) hits a car parked on a grade crossing and then derails into another Metrolink train and a parked Union Pacific Railroad locomotive; resulting in 11 fatalities and 200 injuries. , ,

January 29

• – Singapore's third LRT Line, Punggol LRT Line opened.
• – Meitetsu Airport Line, open between Tokoname and Centrair route, with Gifu-Meitetsu Nagoya and Centrair route of direct limited express to start.

January 31

• – Regular Metrolink passenger service is restored through Glendale, California, the scene of the previous week's Glendale train crash.

Deaths

• January 23 – John H. Kuehl, editor of Private Varnish magazine, passenger car historian and photographer (born 1938).

References

• Associated Press (January 17, 2005), 200 hurt in Bangkok subway crash. Retrieved January 19, 2005.
• BBC News (January 17, 2005), Thai subway shut for safety probe. Retrieved January 19, 2005.
• BNSF Railway (January 24, 2005), BNSF Adopts New Corporate and Subsidiary Logos and Changes Name of Railway Subsidiary as Part of Tenth Anniversary Celebration. Retrieved January 25, 2005.
• CBS/AP (January 26, 2005), Parked car caused train wreck. Retrieved January 26, 2005.
• Edgar, Amy Geier, Associated Press (January 6, 2005), Four Die, 200 Injured in S.C. Train Crash. Retrieved January 7, 2005.
• General Motors (January 12, 2005), GM Agrees To Sell Electro-Motive Division. Retrieved January 12, 2005.
• Kansas City Southern Industries (January 3, 2005), KCS Names Arthur Shoener EVP and COO of the Company, President & CEO of KCS's U.S. Rail Holdings, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company and Texas Mexican Railway Company; Owen Zidar Named Vice President Marketing. Retrieved January 25, 2005.
• (January 2005), KCS says no to merger, for now. Retrieved_January_25, 2005.
• Kitching, Chris (January 13, 2005), CN tankers derail, force evacuations. Retrieved January 25, 2005.
• Liu, Caitlin, and Torrejon, Veronica; Los Angeles Times, Train service is fully restored. Retrieved February 1, 2005.
• Molloy, Tim; Associated Press (January 26, 2005), Suicide try triggers California commuter rail tragedy, police say. Retrieved January 26, 2005.
• National Railroad Passenger Corporation (January 18, 2005), Governor Doyle, Senator Kohl & Amtrak dedicate new passenger rail station at Milwaukee airport. Retrieved February 4, 2005.
• Nguyen, Daisy; Associated Press (January 26, 2005), 9 killed as suburban L.A. trains derail. Retrieved January 26, 2005.
• Paolucci, Gianluca; Reuters (January 7, 2005), Italy Train Crash Kills at Least 13, Many Injured. Retrieved January 25, 2005.
• Sandler, Larry, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online (January 13, 2005), Amtrak on track to open at airport. Retrieved January 19, 2005.