2007 in rail transport

Events

January events

• Taiwan January 5 – The first public trains of Taiwan High Speed Rail operate between Taipei and Kaohsiung, a 216 mi journey, in 1:36 hours.
• Estonia January 9 – Government of Estonia buys back majority share in Eesti Raudtee, the national rail operator, from private investors.
• United States January 12 – Railway Age Magazine selects Bill Wimmer, Vice President Engineering for Union Pacific Railroad to receive the 2007 award for Railroader of the Year.
• Australia January 30 – The suburban rail network of Melbourne, Australia is thrown into chaos as much of the fleet of new Siemens Nexas Electric Multiple Unit trains is withdrawn from service after a number of incidents of brake failure.

February events

• Georgia February 7 – At a meeting in Tbilisi, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sign an agreement authorizing construction of the new Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway linking the three nations.
• Canada February 9 – About 2,800 train crew employees of Canadian National (CN) wage a strike action against the railway; the striking workers are members of UTU Canada, the Canadian affiliate of the United Transportation Union.
• France February 13 – During a test run a TGV train reaches 553 km/h (343.75 mph) under test conditions with a shortened train on the LGV Est near Passavant-en-Argonne (Marne), 190 km east of Paris.
• India February 18 – 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings: Terrorist explosions on the international Samjhauta Express near the Indian city of Panipat kill 68.
• United Kingdom February 23 – Grayrigg derailment: A Virgin Trains West Coast services travelling from London Euston to Glasgow Central derails in Cumbria in North-West England due to an inadequate points maintenance regime by Network Rail; one elderly woman dies in hospital as a result of her injuries.
• United States February 26 – The United States Federal Railroad Administration delivers its decision to deny a US$2.3 billion loan request made by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DME).

March events

• South Korea March 16 – Phase three of Incheon Subway Line 1 opens from Gyulhyeon to Gyeyang.
• Japan March 18 – Opening of the Sendai Airport Line in Sendai.
• South Korea March 23 – Opening of the first phase of the Airport Railroad Express (AREX) between Seoul-Incheon and Gimpo airports (37.6 km).
• Japan March 25 – The rebuilt Takahatafudō Station, serving the Keiō Line and the Tama Toshi Monorail Line in Japan opens.
• Japan March 31
  • Final day of operations on the Kurihara Railway in Miyagi Prefecture.
  • Final day of railway operations on the Kashima Railway in Ibaraki Prefecture; the company continues to operate as a holding company wholly owned by the Kanto Railway Company.
  • Final day of operation on the Nishitetsu Kaizuka Line between Nishitetsu Shingu and Tsuyazaki.

April events

• France April 3 – The French TGV sets a new train speed record. The train reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).
• United States April 7 – Weekday service begins on T Third Street light-rail line in San Francisco, leading to massive delays in the San Francisco Municipal Railway.
• South Korea April 17 – Phase 2 of Daejeon Metro Line 1 opens for service between Government Complex, Daejeon and Banseok.
• Turkey April 23 – Trial runs on 250 km long Eskişehir-Ankara part of 533 km long High-speed train line from Istanbul (Turkey's largest metropolis) to Ankara (capital of Turkey) began.
• USA April 23 – Construction begins on the Second Avenue Subway in New York City between 63rd and 105th streets, a resumption of a decades-long project with existing segments elsewhere.
• Canada April 28 – The Orange Line of Montreal Metro is extended 5.2 km to Montmorency in Laval.

May events

• North KoreaSouth Korea May 17 – Official reinauguration of rail services between Dorasan (South Korea) and Kaesong Industrial Region (North Korea).

June events

• FranceAustria June 8 – Last Orient Express through overnight service from Paris to Vienna runs.
• France June 10 – The first section of LGV Est, a high-speed rail line, opens in France. This coincides with improvements to the German rail network to cut travel times from Paris to Eastern France and Germany.
• Switzerland June 15 – Revenue freight traffic starts to use the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps.
• China June 28 – Guangzhou Metro's Line 4 extension connecting Huangge to Jinzhou opens.
• Australia June – $20m allocated for planning and land acquisition for the proposed Australian Inland Railway.

July events

• Ghana July 1 – Kampac Oil of Dubai, as consortium leader, is awarded a construction and operation contract for a new railway line in Ghana connecting Takoradi 800 km to Hamile. The contract, valued at US$1.6 billion, also includes the rehabilitation of a line between Takoradi and Kumasi as part of the Ghanaian government's plans to connect to northern Ghana.
• Japan July 1 – The first timetabled run of N700 Series Shinkansen high-speed train.
• UK July 18 – Metronet, holder of the maintenance contract for a majority of the London Underground lines, seeks authority of the Mayor of London to go into administration following a dispute about responsibility for cost overruns on its contract.

August events

• Russia August 30 – Trubnaya station opened on Moscow Metro.

September events

• United States September – Tunneling for East Side Access in New York begins.

October events

• Guatemala October 1 – Ferrovías Guatemala (subsidiary of Railroad Development Corporation) suspends all operations.
• Australia October 15 – The William Street tunnel opens as the first stage of Transperth's Mandurah line
• United States October 31 – MBTA Commuter Rail Greenbush Line opens in Massachusetts.
• United Kingdom – Last publication of the monthly OAG Rail Guide, successor to the ABC Rail Guide timetable of 1853.

November events

• Belarus November 7 – Minsk Metro Maskoŭskaja line gets extended to Uruchye.
• United Kingdom November 11 – West Midlands train operating company franchise is taken over from Silverlink and Central Trains by London Midland (a Govia company) and the East Midlands franchise from Midland Mainline and Central Trains by East Midlands Trains. National Express is the principal loser in these changes. Arriva CrossCountry takes over a revised CrossCountry franchise from Virgin CrossCountry. London Overground Rail Operations commences operation, effectively returning the lines involved to public control.

• France November 13 – Strikes in France begin to disrupt SNCF and Paris Metro service.
• United Kingdom November 14 – High Speed 1 is opened with public passenger services into rebuilt St Pancras International.
• Germany November 14 – Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL, or German Train Drivers' Union) engages in a national three-day strike against Deutsche Bahn.
• United States November 26 – LYNX light-rail service begins in Charlotte, North Carolina.

December events

• Hong Kong December 2 – Two railway companies, the MTR Corporation and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation are merged.
• United Kingdom December 9 – National Express East Coast takes over the British InterCity East Coast train operating franchise from GNER.
• South Korea North Korea December 11 – freight service to resume between South Korea and North Korea.
• Switzerland December 12 – NBS Mattstetten–Rothrist line converted to the first Swiss high-speed line, being a part of strategic plan Rail 2000 with detailed longer-term projects.
• United Kingdom December 18 – Grand Central, a new rail operator in England, inaugurates passenger services from Sunderland to London King's Cross.
• Ireland December 19 – The IE 22000 Class Diesel Multiple Unit enters service on Intercity routes in Ireland.
• Australia December 23 – The Mandurah line opens as an extension to Transperth's rail network.
• Spain December 23 – The Madrid–Valladolid high-speed rail line opens to passengers in Spain, including the 28 km Guadarrama Tunnel, the fourth longest railway tunnel in Europe.
• Russia December 24 – Moscow Metro Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line gets extended from Park Pobedy to Strogino.
• Russia December 29 – Sretensky Bulvar station opened on the Lyublinskaya Line of Moscow Metro.
• Switzerland – Regular passenger-train service begins in the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps.

Unknown date events

• United States – The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad expects to complete construction on the railroad's expansion into Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
• India Bhutan – Construction is expected to begin on a new rail link between India and Bhutan.
• Japan – JR Central phases out 113 series.

Accidents

• United States January 7 – A Washington Metro train derails near downtown Washington, D.C., sending 16 people to the hospital and prompting the rescue of 60 people from a tunnel.
• India February 18 – 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, a terrorist attack on the Samjhauta Express near the Indian city of Panipat, 80 km north of New Delhi; sixty-eight people are killed.
• United Kingdom February 23 – Grayrigg derailment: A Virgin Trains West Coast services travelling from London Euston to Glasgow Central derails on faulty points in Cumbria in North-West England. One elderly woman dies in hospital as a result of her injuries.
• United States May 23 – during the early morning hours, a BNSF Railway switching crew jumped off the locomotive after hearing reports of 34 runaway tank cars loaded with beer charging into Denver's 33rd Street Yard at 40 mph, later slamming into the locomotives and causing substantial damage. The crew were uninjured. The cause was negligence from the crew of another yard leaving the handbrake or airbrakes released.
• Australia June 5 – Kerang train crash: Eleven people die in a level crossing collision near Kerang, Victoria, Australia.
• United Kingdom June 12 – A train on the Atlantic Coast Line in Cornwall collides with a car at Chapel level crossing, on the outskirts of Newquay.
• China July 15 – In Shanghai, platform-edge doors cause a fatal accident. when a man tries to force his way onto a crowded train at the station for the Shanghai Indoor Stadium, but failes. When the doors close, he is trapped between the platform doors and the train, leading to his death.
• Democratic Republic of Congo August 1 – The Benaleka train crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo kills over 100.
• Pakistan December 19 – Mehrabpur train derailment occurs near Mehrabpur in Pakistan killing 40.

Deaths

February deaths

• February 23 – Robert W. Richardson, American railroad historian, dies (b. 1910).

August deaths

• August 9 – Walter Rich, Chairman of Delaware Otsego Corporation, New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad and Central New York Railroad (b. 1946).

December deaths

• December 24 – George Warrington, president of Amtrak 1998–2002, executive director of New Jersey Transit 2002–2007 (b. 1952).

Industry awards

Japan

; Awards presented by Japan Railfan Club

• 2007 Blue Ribbon Award: Toyama Light Rail 0600 series "Portram"
• 2007 Laurel Prize: JR East E233 series EMU and Nishi-Nippon Railroad 3000 series EMU

North America

;2007 E. H. Harriman Awards

;Awards presented by Railway Age magazine

• 2007 Railroader of the Year: Bill Wimmer (UP)
• 2007 Regional Railroad of the Year: South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL)
• 2007 Short Line Railroad of the Year: RJ Corman West Virginia Lines

United Kingdom

;Train Operator of the Year:

• 2007: Eurostar

References

References

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2. (February 1, 2007). "EVR's private interlude is over". [[Railway Gazette International]].
3. (January 12, 2007). "Union Pacific Vice President-Engineering Bill Wimmer Named Railway Age Railroader Of The Year". [[Union Pacific Railroad]].
4. Moynihan, Stephen. (January 30, 2007). "Soapy suds too much for trains in make-or-brake tests". The Age.
5. (February 7, 2007). "Saakashvili Speaks of Regional Railway, as Deal Signed". UNA-Georgia.
6. (February 7, 2007). "Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey sign agreement on new railroad". ITAR-TASS.
7. Marowtis, Ross. (February 13, 2007). "CN strike likely to continue over weekend".
8. Pringle, Josh. (February 11, 2007). "CN Rail Strike Won't Disrupt Service: Officials". CFRA.
9. (February 11, 2007). "CN strike challenged: Railway files beef with labour board". Winnipeg Sun.
10. (December 18, 2006). "Alstom commits itself to the French very high speed rail programme". Alstom.
11. (February 14, 2007). "French high-speed TGV breaks world conventional rail-speed record". Deutsche Presse-Agentur (reprinted by Monsters and Critics).
12. (February 26, 2007). "FRA Administrator Denies DM&E Powder River Basin Loan Application Citing Unacceptable Risk to Federal Taxpayers". United States Federal Railroad Administration.
13. (February 27, 2007). "FRA Rejects Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's Loan Application". L.B. Foster.
14. (February 28, 2007). "DM&E loan denial's effect is uncertain". Post-Bulletin.
15. Kim, Hoon-ki. (12 March 2007). "인천도시철도 1호선 귤현~계양역 16일 개통".
16. Kusamichi, Yoshikazu. (16 March 2017). "仙台空港鉄道、開業10周年で記念切符など発売…輸送密度は倍増".
17. (2007-03-21). "Incheon-Gimpo Airports Train to Open Friday". The Chosun Ilbo.
18. (3 April 2017). "宮城県栗原市に「くりでんミュージアム」が完成".
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21. Gordon, Rachel. (April 11, 2007). "Passengers left in lurch by T-Third's rough start / Muni metro mess: New streetcar line brings commuters delays, confusion and stress". The San Francisco Chronicle.
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23. (2007-12-11). "First Regular Train Service Crossess Inter-Korean Border". Korea Report.
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26. (July 1, 2007). "Kampac wins Ghana railway contract". Khaleej Times.
27. BBC News. (July 18, 2007). "Metronet calls in administrators".
28. (14 October 2007). "Perth's new underground railway stations ready for action.". Government of Western Australia.
29. (15 October 2007). "Perth CBD's first underground train station in operation".
30. (16 October 2007). "Rush-hour commuters take new underground stations in their stride". The West Australian.
31. Knowlman, Brian. (Summer 2007). "What time's the next timetable?". National Railway Museum Review.
32. (July 10, 2007). "Virgin loses Cross Country rail". BBC News.
33. Haigh, Philip. (July 18–31, 2007). "HSTs to CrossCountry as Arriva wins £1.1bn deal". Rail.
34. (September 5, 2006). "Introducing London Overground – a new era for London Rail". [[Transport for London]].
35. [http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/corporate/file_rep/PR-07-078-E.pdf Rail Merger All Set For December 2, 2007]
36. "National Express awarded contract for growth on InterCity East Coast". [[Department for Transport]].
37. (December 18, 2007). "Passenger services begin Tuesday December 18". Grand Central.
38. (23 December 2007). "All aboard as the new Perth-to-Mandurah Railway begins". Government of Western Australia.
39. (23 December 2007). "1500 take first railway trip to Mandurah".
40. (23 December 2007). "Perth to Mandurah line takes first passengers".
41. Trains News Wire. (April 29, 2005). "Swiss complete digging Alpine tunnel".
42. Kolkata Newsline. (March 6, 2006). "India, Bhutan to start work for railway linkage by 2007".
43. Klein, Allison. (8 January 2007). "Green Line Metro Train Derails; at Least 18 Hurt". The Washington Post.
44. (12 June 2007). "Driver injured in train collision". [[BBC]].
45. "Man caught between subway train and safety doors dies in Shanghai". International Herald Tribune.
46. Grace, Tom. (September 2010). "Railroad chairman Rich dies". The Daily Star.
47. (May 17, 2007). "Railroad Employees Post Safest Year Ever in 2006". Association of American Railroads.
48. (May 18, 2007). "RailAmerica's Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad Wins Harriman Award". [[RailAmerica]].
49. Bronson, Carol. (March 21, 2008). "Watco earns accolades for rails". Pratt Tribune.
50. (2007). "Railway Age 2007 RR of the Year". American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.