1984 in rail transport
Encyclopedia

April events

  • 9 April - Saltaire station
    Saltaire railway station
    Saltaire railway station serves the village of Saltaire near Shipley in West Yorkshire, England.-History:The original station was opened in May 1856 by the Midland Railway, which had absorbed the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway between Shipley and Colne in 1851...

     is reopened in West Yorkshire
    West Yorkshire
    West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

    , England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

    , by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
    West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
    The West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive is the Passenger Transport Executive for the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the executive arm of the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority and was originally formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport...

     nearly twenty years after it was closed by British Railways.
  • April 28 - Philadelphia's Center City Commuter Connection
    Center City Commuter Connection
    The Center City Commuter Connection, commonly referred to as "the commuter tunnel", is a passenger railroad tunnel in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, built to connect the stub ends of the two separate regional commuter rail systems, originally operated by two rival railroad...

     tunnel opens for service with shuttles between Suburban Station
    Suburban Station (Philadelphia)
    Suburban Station is an underground, art deco, commuter rail station in the Penn Center district of Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its official SEPTA address is 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. The station is operated by SEPTA and is one of the three core Center City stations on the SEPTA...

     and Market East Station
    Market East Station (Philadelphia)
    Market East Station is an underground SEPTA Regional Rail station located in the Market East neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its official SEPTA address is 12th and Filbert streets...

    .

May events

  • May 20 - The Metrorail opens in Miami
    Miami, Florida
    Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

    , Florida
    Florida
    Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

    . There is free service from Dadeland South
    Dadeland South (Metrorail station)
    Dadeland South is a Metrorail transfer station in the Miami suburb of Kendall, Florida at Dadeland. It is the southern terminus of the metro system....

     to Overtown/Arena
    Overtown-Arena (Metrorail station)
    Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre is a Metrorail station in northwest Downtown, Miami, Florida.The station is located at the intersection of Northwest Sixth Street and First Avenue, just south of the neighborhood of Overtown and east of the historic Lyric Theatre...

     to entice residents to ride.
  • May 29 - Canadian Pacific Railway
    Canadian Pacific Railway
    The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

     (CPR) operates the last train over the railroad's Waltham subdivision between Wyman and Waltham
    Waltham, Quebec
    Waltham is a village and municipality in the Outaouais region, part of the Pontiac Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Noire River, along the north shore of the Ottawa River at Allumette Island....

    ; power for this train is handled by road number 6538, the last CPR locomotive
    Diesel locomotive
    A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

     to wear the railroad's maroon and grey livery.

June events

  • June 3 - Electrification is commissioned between Wyee and Newcastle
    Newcastle, New South Wales
    The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

     allowing the introduction of electric interurban trains between Sydney
    Sydney
    Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

     and Newcastle and also the electric operation of freight services on this line.
  • June 30 - The Minsk Metro
    Minsk Metro
    The Minsk Metro is a rapid-transit system that serves Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Opened in 1984, it presently consists of 2 lines and 25 stations totaling 30.3 kilometres...

     in Belarus
    Belarus
    Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

     (then still a part of the Soviet Union
    Soviet Union
    The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

    ) opens.

July events

  • July 23 - The Dublin Area Rapid Transit
    Dublin Area Rapid Transit
    The Dublin Area Rapid Transit is part of the suburban railway network in Ireland, running mainly along the coastline of Dublin Bay on the Trans-Dublin route, from Greystones in County Wicklow, through Dublin to Howth and Malahide in County Dublin.Trains are powered via a 1500V DC overhead catenary...

     opens, serving Dublin with an electrified rapid transit
    Rapid transit
    A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

     service for commuters. The original route was from Howth
    Howth
    Howth is an area in Fingal County near Dublin city in Ireland. Originally just a small fishing village, Howth with its surrounding rural district is now a busy suburb of Dublin, with a mix of dense residential development and wild hillside, all on the peninsula of Howth Head. The only...

     to Bray
    Bray
    Bray is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a busy urban centre and seaside resort, with a population of 31,901 making it the fourth largest in Ireland as of the 2006 census...

    .
  • July 30 - The Polmont rail accident occurred at Polmont
    Polmont
    Polmont is a village in the Falkirk council area of Central Scotland. It lies towards the east of the town of Falkirk, north of the Union Canal, which runs adjacent to the village....

    , near Falkirk
    Falkirk
    Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....

    , Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

    , when an express train from Edinburgh
    Edinburgh
    Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

     to Glasgow
    Glasgow
    Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

    , travelling at high speed, struck a cow near Polmont station
    Polmont railway station
    Polmont railway station is a railway station serving the village of Polmont, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line and is also served by First ScotRail services from Edinburgh to Dunblane.- Services :...

    . Several of the carriages were derailed, resulting in 13 deaths and 61 injuries.

August events

  • August 15 - The first empty revenue Chicago and North Western Railway
    Chicago and North Western Railway
    The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...

     coal
    Coal
    Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

     train enters the Powder River Basin
    Powder River Basin
    The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

     to pick up a trainload of coal; the first consignment is destined for Arkansas Power and Light.
  • August 16 - The first full revenue Chicago and North Western Railway
    Chicago and North Western Railway
    The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...

     coal
    Coal
    Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

     train leaves the Powder River Basin
    Powder River Basin
    The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

     with a load from the North Antelope Mine.

September events

  • September - Official ceremony at Kuanda to mark linking of eastern and western sections of Baikal Amur Mainline.
  • September 3 - The final segment of the O'Hare rapid transit extension
    Blue Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
    The Blue Line consists of a long trunk line in the Chicago Transit Authority's rapid transit system which extends through Chicago's Loop from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway, and across the West Side to its...

     (2.2 miles) of the Chicago 'L'
    Chicago 'L'
    The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...

      between Rosemont
    Rosemont (CTA)
    Rosemont is the 'L' station at the intersection of River Road and I-190. It is located in the median of I-190 with one island platform serving two tracks, 16 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop. Trains are scheduled to depart from Rosemont roughly every 2–7 minutes during rush-hour periods, and...

     and O'Hare International Airport
    O'Hare (CTA)
    O'Hare is the 'L' station at the northwestern terminus of the CTA's Blue Line. It is a subway station with two island platforms serving three tracks, located at O'Hare International Airport, 17 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop. Trains are scheduled to depart from O'Hare roughly every 2-7...

     opens for passenger service.

October events

  • October 11 - The Wembley Central rail crash
    Wembley Central rail crash
    The Wembley Central rail crash occurred on 11 October 1984 just outside Wembley Central railway station, Greater London.The 17:54 passenger train from Euston to Bletchley, formed by two Class 310 electric multiple units, collided with a Freightliner train which was leaving Willesden yard...

     occurred just outside Wembley Central railway station, Greater London
    Greater London
    Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

     and killed three passengers.
  • October 15 - The San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad
    San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad
    The San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad is a freight operator on the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway from San Diego, California to San Ysidro, California . The SD&IV has been owned and operated by RailAmerica since 2000; it had been previously owned by RailTex and operated with the...

     begins freight operations on the former San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway
    San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway
    The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway is a short-line American railroad originally founded in 1906 as the San Diego and Arizona Railway by sugar heir, developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels...

     right of way.
  • October 26 - The first Board of Directors of the newly formed Alaska Railroad
    Alaska Railroad
    The Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad which extends from Seward and Whittier, in the south of the state of Alaska, in the United States, to Fairbanks , and beyond to Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright in the interior of that state...

    , chaired by James Campbell, is appointed by Governor Bill Sheffield, and Frank Turpin is appointed company president.

November events

  • November 2 - The Iowa Interstate Railroad
    Iowa Interstate Railroad
    The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a Class II railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-History:...

     is created using the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
    Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
    The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.-Incorporation:...

     mainline from Chicago, Illinois, to Omaha, Nebraska
    Omaha, Nebraska
    Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

    .
  • November 3 - Electrification between Kingston and Beenleigh in Brisbane
    Brisbane
    Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

     is commissioned.
  • November 6 - The last passenger train departs from Philadelphia's Reading Terminal
    Reading Terminal
    The Reading Terminal is a complex of buildings located in the Market East section of Center City in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States...

    .

December events

  • December 4 - The Eccles rail crash
    Eccles rail crash (1984)
    This article is about the 1984 rail accident. For the 1941 accident, see Eccles rail crash .The 1984 Eccles rail crash occurred on 4 December 1984 at Eccles, Greater Manchester, when an express passenger train collided at speed with the rear of a freight train of oil tankers. The driver of the...

     occurred at Eccles, Greater Manchester
    Eccles, Greater Manchester
    Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...

    , when an express passenger train collided at speed with the rear of a freight train, killing three people.
  • December 20 - The Summit Tunnel fire
    Summit tunnel fire
    The Summit Tunnel fire occurred on 20 December 1984 on a dangerous goods train passing through the Summit Tunnel on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border, on the rail line between Littleborough and Todmorden, England.-History:...

     occurred on a dangerous goods
    Dangerous goods
    Dangerous goods are solids, liquids, or gases that can harm people, other living organisms, property, or the environment. They are often subject to chemical regulations. "HazMat teams" are personnel specially trained to handle dangerous goods...

     train passing through the Summit Tunnel
    Summit Tunnel
    The Summit Tunnel in England is one of the oldest railway tunnels in the world: it was built between 1838 and 1841 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway beneath the Pennines...

     on the Greater Manchester
    Greater Manchester
    Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

    /West Yorkshire
    West Yorkshire
    West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

     border in England.
  • December 23 - Seventeen people were killed in the Train 904 bombing
    Train 904 bombing
    The Train 904 bombing, also known as the Christmas Massacre, was a terror attack which occurred on December 23, 1984, in the Apennine Base Tunnel. A bomb on the 904 express train from Naples to Milan was detonated, killed 17 and wounded 267...

     in the Apennine base tunnel in Italy. The attack is attributed to the Mafia
    Mafia
    The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

    .

Unknown date events

  • Delaware and Hudson Railway
    Delaware and Hudson Railway
    The Delaware and Hudson Railway is a railroad that operates in the northeastern United States. Since 1991 it has been a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, although CPR has assumed all operations and the D&H does not maintain any locomotives or rolling stock.It was formerly an important...

     is purchased by Guilford Transportation Industries.
  • The Southern Pacific Company, parent of the Southern Pacific Railroad
    Southern Pacific Railroad
    The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

     merges into Santa Fe Industries
    Santa Fe Industries
    Santa Fe Industries was the diversified parent company, headquartered in Chicago, of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Formed in 1968, its non-railroad operations included construction, real estate, and energy units. In the early 1980s, after longtime head John Shedd Reed had been...

    , parent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
    Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
    The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...

    , to form Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation. When the Interstate Commerce Commission
    Interstate Commerce Commission
    The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...

     refuses permission for the planned merger of the railroad subsidiaries as the Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad
    Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad
    In the 1980s, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Southern Pacific Transportation Company attempted a merger. It began with the merger of holding companies Santa Fe Industries and Southern Pacific Company on December 23, 1983 to form the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation , which...

     SFSP shortens its name to Santa Fe Pacific Corporation
    Santa Fe Pacific Corporation
    The Santa Fe Pacific Corporation was formed as the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation in 1984 by the merger of Santa Fe Industries, which owned the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, with the Southern Pacific Company, which owned the Southern Pacific Railroad...

     and puts the SP railroad up for sale while retaining the non-rail assets of the Southern Pacific Company.
  • Philip Anschutz
    Philip Anschutz
    Philip Frederick Anschutz is an American entrepreneur. Anschutz bought out his father's drilling company in 1961 and earned large returns in Wyoming. He has invested in stocks, real estate and railroads...

     purchases the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
    Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
    The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to Rio Grande or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, is a defunct U.S. railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado in 1870; however, served mainly as a transcontinental...

    .
  • David L. Gunn
    David L. Gunn
    David L. Gunn is a transportation system administrator who has headed several significant railroads and transit systems in North America....

     assumes control of the New York City Transit Authority
    New York City Transit Authority
    The New York City Transit Authority is a public authority in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City...

    .
  • Construction begins on the Buffalo Metro Rail
    Buffalo Metro Rail
    The NFTA has a fleet of 26 rigid-bodied LRVs for the Metro Rail system, numbered sequentially from 101 to 127. They were built by Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan. One car was damaged in transit and later purchased by a restaurateur, Bertrand H. Hoak, of Hamburg, as an addition to Hoak's Armor Inn...

     system.
  • Via Rail Canada restores service on the Super Continental
    Super Continental
    The Super Continental was a transcontinental Canadian passenger train operated originally by the Canadian National Railway beginning in 1955 and subsequently by Via Rail from 1977 until its cancellation in 1981. Service was restored in 1985 but was again eliminated in 1990...

    passenger train.
  • General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD SD60
    EMD SD60
    The EMD SD60 is a 3,800 horsepower 6-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. Intended for heavy-duty drag freight or medium-speed freight service, it was introduced in 1984, and production of SD60 variants ran until 1995.- History and development...

    .
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