Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2015

August 2015

 * ...that Odakyu Electric Railway opened both the Odakyū Odawara Line from Tokyo to Odawara and the Mukōgaoka Yūen amusement park in 1927 and connected them with a miniature railway, but plans to build a major road across the line led Odakyu to replace it with the Mukōgaoka-Yūen Monorail in 1966?


 * ...that the Materfer CMM 400-2 diesel multiple unit trains, which are designed for use on Argentina's three primary track gauges of, and , included the first standard gauge DMUs to be produced for General Urquiza Railway services in Entre Ríos Province?


 * ...that the 63 km Ligne de Cerdagne, often called "The Yellow Train" due to the livery on the rolling stock used by the line, traverses 19 tunnels and two bridges as it climbs to 1593 m at Bolquère-Eyne, the highest railway station in France?


 * ...that although Kōbe Station technically forms the end point of the Tōkaidō Main Line and the starting of the San'yō Main Line in Japan, only a few trains originate or terminate at the station and it is more commonly perceived as being in the midsection of the JR Kobe Line?


 * ...that plans for a central station in Kaliningrad, Russia, were promoted as early as 1896 but construction on Kaliningrad Railway station didn't begin until 1920 with the station's grand opening celebration in 1929?


 * ...that in fiscal 2013, Hamamatsuchō Station in Japan was used by an average of 155,784 passengers daily on JR East trains and 108,080 passengers daily on Tokyo Monorail trains, making it the sixteenth-busiest JR East station and the busiest Tokyo Monorail station?


 * ...that although one of the six Great Dome model dome cars built by Budd in 1955 for Great Northern Railway and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad has been scrapped, the other five are still being used by Amtrak?


 * ...that the restoration work to return Fort Collins Municipal Railway car number 21 to operating condition began as a cosmetic restoration proposal by the Fort Collins Junior Women's Club in 1977?


 * ...that the linespeed through Donabate railway station in Fingal, Ireland, is 90 mph, the highest on the Belfast–Dublin line and the highset permittable speed of the De Dietrich coaches used on the line?


 * ...that Chinese-built CSR EMU series trains are used on all of Buenos Aires' electrified commuter rail lines, with the exception of the Urquiza Line which uses Japanese Toshiba EMUs?


 * ...that the Victorian Heritage Register listed Caulfield railway station on the Cranbourne, Frankston and Pakenham lines in Victoria, Australia, was the 7th busiest station in Melbourne's metropolitan network in 2011 and 2012?


 * ...that Bologna Centrale railway station is the fifth busiest station in Italy when gauged by ridership, but is tied with Rome Termini station as the busiest station in Italy when gauged by the number of trains per day?


 * ...that when completed and opened in 2017, Berryessa station on the Silicon Valley BART extension will be the first BART station in San Jose, California, but will be one of a total of four stations after Phase II is complete?


 * ...that in 1988, when the first part of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed line was opened to traffic in Germany, Deutsche Bundesbahn modified a number of LHB prototype carriages for use in what would become the first push-pull long-distance trains on the DB network?


 * ...that Keretapi Tanah Melayu's Electric Train Service between the cities of Kuala Lumpur and Padang Besar on the Malaysia-Thai border, commercially known as ETS, is the fastest metre gauge train service in Malaysia?


 * ...that Kishū Railway Co., which used to be solely a real estate and hotel management company, took over the Kishū Railway Line, the second shortest passenger railway line in Japan, in 1973 in order to gain the prestige of being a railway company?


 * ...that Ukrainian Railways ordered ten HRCS2 multiple unit trains in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2012 football championship, but in December 2012 the newly-built trains broke down on a daily basis due mainly to the cold weather which prompted an apology from the manufacturer Hyundai Rotem citing its "first winter in the country" as the cause?


 * ...that in the early 1890s, traffic peaked at Great Central Station in Chicago with the station serving 100 intercity passenger trains per day, not including suburban (what would now be called commuter) trains?


 * ...that when it was opened in 1924, the Epsom Salts Monorail in California was reported to be "the fastest moving monorail in the world," because the 28-mile (45 km) trip with a full load of epsomite could be completed within one hour?


 * ...that the Alerce railcar produced by the Emepa Group in Argentina sources 90% of its parts of Argentine origin, with the remaining 10% being specialised parts imported from abroad, such as the German brakes and Austrian intelligent doors?


 * ...that approximately 160 thousand bricks are used for the wall of Hanshin Electric Railway's Dome-mae Station platform and tracks in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, because there used to be a factory of Osaka Gas near this station and the factory was made of bricks?


 * ...that diesel locomotive control stands were often designed such that all functional controls are "at hand", generally within the operational radius of the engineer's left forearm from his customary seating position, facing forward at all times?


 * ...that the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway in Scotland was built as part of a plan by the Glasgow and South Western Railway to regain mail traffic that had been switched to the Chester and Holyhead Railway upon its opening in 1850?