January events ,
Houston • January 1 –
METRORail light rail service in
Houston, Texas, opens.
February events • February –
Pacific National takes over
Australian Transport Network. • February 3 – The first freight train travels the entire north–south
transcontinental railroad in Australia between
Adelaide, South Australia, and
Darwin, Northern Territory. • February 6 – A
suicide bomber kills 41 people near
Avtozavodskaya subway station on
Moscow Metro's
Zamoskvoretskaya Line.
See: February 2004 Moscow Metro bombing March events • March 11 –
2004 Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous bombings on
Cercanías commuter trains in
Madrid (Spain) kill 191 people and injure more than 1,800. • March 13 – First services are operated by
M250 series Super Rail Cargo high speed freight
electric multiple units of the
Japan Freight Railway Company. • March 20 – An agreement between the governments of
Thailand and
Laos is signed to extend the railway to
Thanaleng Railway Station in Laos, about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from the
First Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge, which would become the first railway link to Laos. • March 28 – First services operate on
Binhai Mass Transit (or Jinbin
light rail) in
Tianjin, China, including No. 1 bridge (25.8 kilometres (16 mi) in length). • March 30 –
High-speed train service is inaugurated in Korea between
Seoul and
Daegu.
April events • April – The
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in
Pierre, South Dakota, rules that the
Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad may use
eminent domain to purchase land in
South Dakota in order to build the railroad's extension into
Wyoming's
Powder River Basin. • April –
Great North Eastern Railways, operators of services on the
East Coast Main Line in England and Scotland, introduce
802.11b wireless LAN access to the Internet on their
Mallard InterCity 225 trains. • April 1 –
High speed train service is inaugurated in Korea between
Seoul and
Busan; the trains make the trip in 2 hours and 40 minutes. • April 1 - Tokyo subway system,
Tokyo Metro replaced and private company from
Teito Rapid Transit Authority. • April 5 - The
Manila Line 2 commenced almost full commercial operations by opening the segment from
Araneta Center–Cubao Station up to
Legarda Station. • April 6 –
Amtrak passenger train
City of New Orleans en route to Chicago from New Orleans derails near
Flora, Mississippi, resulting in one fatality. • April 18 –
Connex takes over the half of the
Melbourne suburban rail network formerly operated by
M-Train. • April 29 – The
European Railway Agency headquartered in
Lille, France, is formed.
May events • May 1 – The
MAX Yellow Line, Interstate Avenue light rail line, opens in Portland, Oregon. • May 9 – Construction begins on a railway tunnel under the
Bosphorus strait in Turkey; the tunnel opened for service in 2013. • May 10 –
Canadian National Railway acquires
Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad and
Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway • May 15 – With repairs to tunnels 8 and 16 complete and destroyed bridges rebuilt, including the
Goat Canyon Trestle, the
Carrizo Gorge Railway officially reopens freight service to
Plaster City and the
Union Pacific Railroad interchange.
June events ] • June – the 150th anniversary of the
Grand Excursion is commemorated with special runs by
Milwaukee Road 261 and
Canadian Pacific 2816 along the northern
Mississippi River. • June – Caltrain finishes their two-year-long
CTX project, which included strengthening the tracks between San Francisco and San Jose and introducing an all new
CTC system. This project allowed for the start of Baby Bullet express service and the resumption of weekend service on the route. • June 7 – The high speed
Gautrain between
Johannesburg and
Pretoria, South Africa is announced; it is expected to open in 2009. • June 23 –
Madrid Metro orders 698 new
subway cars valued at €1 billion; the order is shared by
Bombardier and
Siemens. • June 25 – The
Causeway Street Elevated streetcar line in
Boston is closed. • June 26 • The
Hiawatha Line light rail service in
Minneapolis, Minnesota opens to the public. • An
AVE Class 102 train reaches a new speed record of during type approval test runs. • June 30 – In Ireland the first stage of
Dublin's
LUAS light rail system opens, the "
Green Line" from
Sandyford to
St. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The route follows the old
Harcourt Street railway line for the most part.
July events • July 14 –
Canadian National Railway completes its purchase of
BC Rail. • July 15 –
Dennis H. Miller is promoted to president of the
Iowa Interstate Railroad. • July 25 – Thieves steal two
brass handles and four copper pipes from the
Fairy Queen steam locomotive in New Delhi, India. • July 28 – Phase 1 of
Wuhan Metro's
Line 1 connecting
Huangpulu Station to
Zongguan Station opens. • July 29 – The
Dublin to Rosslare Europort route becomes the first in the Irish Republic to have locomotive hauled trains completely replaced by diesel railcars.
August events • August 1 –
Iowa Interstate Railroad takes over operations of a daily freight train from
Iowa City, Iowa, to
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from the
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway. • August 15 – Fourth rail was finished in 13 km section between
Helsinki, the capital of Finland and
Kerava, its suburb. • August 31 – The United States
Surface Transportation Board renews the authority of
TTX Corporation to continue pooling and leasing railroad rolling stock for ten more years, over the protests of other rolling stock leasing companies.
September events Red Line,
Dublin • September – In Ireland, following the replacement of the
Cahir viaduct, the Limerick junction to Waterford section of railway reopens after nearly a year after the viaduct collapsed under a cement train. • September 3 – The
Canadian Museum of Rail Travel, in
Cranbrook, British Columbia, holds grand opening ceremonies for its new museum facilities. • September 8 –
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway opens the second railroad "flyover" bypass in
Kansas City, Missouri. • September 13 – The
Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway files its second application to abandon most of its trackage on
Cape Breton Island. • September 28 • The second
LUAS line opens, the "
Red Line" linking
Tallaght in west
Dublin to the city centre and
Heuston and
Connolly stations on the main Irish
railway network. •
Charles Wickliffe Moorman IV is promoted to president of
Norfolk Southern. •
Railpower Technologies signs a memorandum of understanding with
Swedish Train Technology to perform hybrid locomotive conversions in Europe.
October events • October –
General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the
EMD SD70M-2. • October –
Amtrak opens a new
maintenance facility in
Oakland, California. • October 3 – The
Southwestern Railroad leases the Carlsbad Subdivision (183 miles of track between
Clovis and
Carlsbad, New Mexico) from the
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. • October 4 –
Transperth's
Joondalup line is extended from
Currambine to
Clarkson. • October 6 – Aonami Line,
Nagoya to Kinjō-futō route start in
Aichi Prefecture. • October 14 – The Canadian
Transportation Safety Board issues its final report on the
CN accident of May 2, 2002; the report blames the truck driver's fatigue as the cause of the accident and admonishes fire crews for less-than-optimal training in hazardous materials. • October 15 –
Canadian National Railway announces that it is selling its locomotive remote control business unit (which produced the
Beltpack control system) to Cattron Group, Inc., so the railroad can focus on operations. • October 18 –
Rocky Mountain Railtours officially changes its name to
Rocky Mountaineer Vacations. • October 21 – The first railroad conductors graduate from
British Columbia Institute of Technology's 32-week course. • October 22 –
Canadian National Railway (CN) announces that it will open shipping offices in Shanghai and Beijing; the office will advertise CN's shipping abilities to North American destinations, especially on the Pacific coast. • October 27 – The North American rail labor union
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees votes to merge with the
Teamsters. • October 29 - The
Manila Line 2 commenced full commercial operations by opening the remaining segment from
Legarda Station up to
Recto Station.
November events • November 1 –
Amtrak discontinues the
Palmetto south of
Savannah, Georgia, replacing rail service to several towns in western
Central Florida with
Amtrak Thruway bus service. The
Pennsylvanian west of
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is also discontinued, with the rest merged into the
Keystone Service and
Three Rivers lines. • November 3 –
Progressive Rail leases former
Wisconsin Central Railway track in northern
Wisconsin and begins operations on the line under its subsidiary railroad,
Wisconsin Northern Railroad. • November 8 –
Canadian National,
Canadian Pacific and
Norfolk Southern announce an operating agreement to speed shipments between eastern Canada and the eastern United States. • November 20 -
NoMa-Gallaudet University Station (formerly New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University), the first
infill station to be built between two existing stations on the
Washington Metro, is opened on the
Washington D.C. Metro
Red Line. • November 23 – The new
Wisconsin Northern Railroad begins operations on leased
Union Pacific Railroad (formerly
Chicago and North Western Transportation Company) and
Canadian National Railway (formerly
Wisconsin Central) tracks.
December events • December 4 – Second phase of the
Hiawatha Line opens, connecting
Minneapolis, Minnesota to
MSP Airport and the
Mall of America in
Bloomington • December 12 •
SNCF disallows smoking on all French
TGV trains. •
Swiss Federal Railways begins the first phase of implementing its Rail2000 plan to improve service. • December 13 –
Bombardier president
Paul Tellier announces his retirement. • December 17 – The last
X'Trapolis train enters service with
Connex in Melbourne, Australia. • December 18 - The
Washington Metro Blue Line is extended from
Addison Road-Seat Pleasant to Largo Town Center (now ) in
Lake Arbor, Maryland. The extension, totaling 3.2 miles (5.2 km) adding the and Largo Town Center (now ) stations, is the first WMATA project to go beyond the
Capital Beltway in Prince George's County. • December 21 •
Siemens receives an order to build 60 new
ICE trainsets for service between Moscow and
Saint Petersburg, Russia; the new equipment is expected to enter service in 2007. •
KCR Ma On Shan Rail opens in Hong Kong. • December 28 –
Shenzhen Metro begins operation in
Shenzhen, China.
Unknown date events •
Chicago Transit Authority installs a new electric third rail along the Yellow Line to replace the aging overhead trolley wire dating from the pre-1963
Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad; this eliminates CTA's last stretch of trolley wire operation. •
Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company retires the last of the electric
multiple unit passenger cars built by
Pullman-Standard for the
New York Central in 1962–1965. The cars are replaced with new cars built by
Bombardier ==Accidents==