2012 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that are currently scheduled to occur in 2012. Please be aware that the actual dates that these events occur on may differ substantially from what is shown here.

Events

January

• January 9 - Shenyang Metro Line 2 opened.
• January 14 – The Marina Bay Extension of the Circle MRT Line in Singapore opens for service.^[1]

February

• February 4 – National Express East Anglias passenger service franchise expires; from the following day services are taken over by Abellio Greater Anglia.
• February 22 – Buenos Aires rail disaster: A buffer stop collision at Once railway station kills 51.

March

• March 3 – Szczekociny rail crash: A head-on collision in Poland kills 16.
• March 25 – The north shore connector extension of the Pittsburgh Light Rail system opens.

April

• April 13 – The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area) grants the Downtown San Francisco Extension top priority for federal funding. This would extend the Caltrain line 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from the current terminus at 4th & King (close to AT&T Park) to Downtown San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center and be used by California High Speed Rail as its terminal.^[2] The extension is scheduled to open in 2019.
• April 23 – Boston's MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line extension to Wickford Junction (MBTA station) opens.
• April 28 – The first phase of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Expo Line opens for service. The line runs from downtown LA to Culver City. The next phase of the project will extend the line to Santa Monica.^[3]
• April 28 - Suzhou Metro opens.
• April 30 - Oakton-Skokie station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow Line opens

May

• May 27 – GoRail starts operating on Tallinn–Saint Petersburg line after a four-year hiatus.^[4]

June

• June 13 – The Manchester Metrolink light rail system opens the first phase of its Oldham & Rochdale Line over the former Oldham Loop Line to a temporary terminus at Oldham Mumps.^[5]
• June 15 – The Sacramento Regional Transit District Green Line phase 1 to River District opens. A future extension is planned to extend this line to the Sacramento International Airport but is not expected to be completed until sometime during the 2020s.^[6][7]
• June 28 - Kunming Metro opens.

July

• July 1 - Tianjin Metro Line 2 opens.
• July 22 – Construction was expected to be completed and service commencing on the AirportLink line of the Miami Metrorail, extending service to Miami International Airport via Miami Central Station^[8]

August

• August 27 – Construction is completed on the north east extension of Calgary Alberta's light rail transit system, the C-Train. The extension has added 2 new stations in northeast Calgary at Martindale and Saddletowne, adding several kilometers of track to the system.

September

• September 16 - Chengdu Metro Line 2 opens.
• September 22 – The 2001-opened Portland Streetcar system, in Portland, Oregon, inaugurates service on a second line, the "Central Loop" (or CL Line), serving the central east side.^[9]
• September 28 – Phase 1 of Chongqing Rail Transit's Line 6, connecting Wulidian to Kangzhuang, opens.^[10]

October

• October 1 - Tianjin Metro Line 3 opens.
• October 3 – The UK Department for Transport announces cancellation and rerunning of the InterCity West Coast passenger service franchise bidding process after discovering significant technical flaws in its assessment, reversing an August decision to award it to FirstGroup and following challenges by incumbent operator Virgin Trains.^[11]
• October 8 – Seattle's Sounder commuter rail south line extension to South Tacoma and Lakewood opens.^[12]

November

• November 24 - Hangzhou Metro Line 3 opens.

December

• December 1 – The Harbin–Dalian High-Speed Railway opens for service.^[13]
• December 3 – The Orange Line (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) opens for service carrying passengers to Belt Line. The plan is then to have the line extended to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by 2014.^[14]
• December 3 – The Blue Line (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) extension to the Downtown Rowlett Station opens for service.^[14]
• December 10 – Opening of West Line of the Calgary C-Train, the system's first new line in 25 years.
• December 10 - Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner extends service south from Salt Lake City to Provo
• December 16 – The Manchester Metrolink light rail system extends its Oldham & Rochdale Line to Shaw & Crompton.^[15]
• December 21 – Inauguration of the reopened Nigerian Railway Corporation's Lagos–Kano railway line in Nigeria, rebuilt by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and Costain West Africa.^[16][17]
• December 26 – The Beijing-Zhengzhou section of the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway is scheduled to open, completing the HSR connection from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shenzhen.^[18][19]

Deaths

• 18 March – Alan Pegler, British railway preservationist, dies (b. 1920).
• 22 July – Ding Guan'gen, Minister of Railways for China 1985-1988, dies (b. 1929).
• 5 August – Benjamin W. Heineman, president of Chicago and North Western Railway 1956-1972, dies (b. 1914).
• 4 October – Bernard Holden, president of Bluebell Railway, dies (b. 1908).

Industry awards

Japan

Awards presented by the Japan Railfan Club

• 2012 Blue Ribbon Award: JR East E5 Series Shinkansen EMU
• 2012 Laurel Prize: JR Freight Class HD300-900 hybrid locomotive

References

See also

• List of rail accidents (2010–2019)