July 2009 in rail transport

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

Events

July 1

• – Lord Adonis, British Secretary of State for Transport, announces that the government would bring the InterCity East Coast Main Line passenger rail franchise, currently held by National Express East Coast, into public ownership later in the year, before retendering it from late 2010. This is due to the inability of National Express to meet its financial commitments under the existing contract. Richard Bowker, chief executive of National Express, confirmed he is to leave the company to become chief executive of Union Railway in the United Arab Emirates.^[1]
• – An upgraded Åndalsnes Station opened with a renovated station building, a new bus station and new, taller platforms.^[2]

July 2

• – Government officials in the People's Republic of China announce that Macquarie Group and JPMorgan Chase have been hired to restructure some of the nation's most important railway properties into a new holding company that could lead an initial public offering of stock valued up to US$5 billion. Although specific properties have not been officially named, the existing Shanghai-Beijing line is expected to be included in the new holding company.^[3]

July 5

• – At approximately 2:00 AM local time, a Walt Disney World Monorail System train piloted by Austin Wuennenberg is hit by a second monorail train at the park's Transportation and Ticket Center;^[4] Wuennenberg is killed in the collision, while several park guests were injured. The operator of the second train was uninjured but was taken to a nearby hospital, being emotionally shaken. No possible cause for the accident has yet been released by investigators. The monorail system is closed while park and police investigations continue.^[5]

July 18

• – Sound Transit begins service on the Central Link light rail line between Downtown Seattle and Tukwila, with an extension to the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport planned to open in December.^[6]

July 24

• – At 12:00 p.m. EST hundreds of Via Rail engineers staged a strike action effectively shutting down Canada's national rail service. CN Rail is not affected by the strike as their workers are members of UTU Canada, the Canadian affiliate of the United Transportation Union.^[7]

Wikinews has related news: Tilting train derails in Croatia, six dead

• – A Croatian train en route from the capital, Zagreb, to the Dalmatian city of Split crashes, killing six and wounding 40, according to medical authorities. The incident occurred at 12:08 pm (1008 GMT), when the two-carriage tilting train derailed near the town of Kaštela, outside Split. Croatian media say that this is the worst railway accident to have occurred in independent Croatia, adding that the train derailed several meters before a ravine.^[8][9][10] See also: 2009 Rudine train derailment.

References