Portal:Trains/Did you know/March 2012

March 2012

 * ...that CountryLink Xplorer trains entered service in 1993 after the Coalition NSW State Government in Australia was placed under considerable pressure from National Party members of parliament to reintroduce passenger rail services over the Main North and Northwest routes from Sydney to Armidale and Moree respectively?


 * ...that construction of the Cleveland Railway in England was repeatedly held up by disputes with its main rival, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which attempted unsuccessfully to use all means at its disposal to maintain its rail monopoly south of the River Tees leading to an event in 1860 dubbed the "Battle of the Tees" in which the construction of a jetty was delayed by a blockade of barges?


 * ...that because the Chikuhō Electric Railroad Line, also called Chikutetsu, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, used to have a through service with the now defunct Nishitetsu Kitakyūshū tram line, the Chikutetsu Line only uses tram vehicles but the line is legally classified as a railway under the Railway Business Act and not a tramway under the Tram Act?


 * ...that CG Railway operates an approximate 900 mi train ferry between the Port of Mobile at Mobile, Alabama, United States, and the Port of Coatzacoalcos in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico?


 * ...that what would eventually become Calgary Transit began as the Calgary Municipal Railway in 1909, with twelve electric streetcars serving Calgary, Canada, which was at the time a city of 30,000?


 * ...that the Moldovan railway network that is now operated by Calea Ferată din Moldova was originally built in the 1870s to broad gauge, converted to standard gauge in the 1920s following the union with Romania, but then converted back to broad gauge after World War II when Moldova became part of the Soviet Union?


 * ...that Buranda railway station on the Cleveland Line in Queensland, Australia, was built in 1888 in an area called Logan Road, and the local area took on the railway station's name after Pugh's Almanac began using it?


 * ...that the Black River and Western Railroad in New Jersey, United States, traces its origins back to William Whitehead who, with his sons in the late 1950s, began collecting rolling stock and laying track to revive the Rockaway Valley Railroad which went through his back yard, but construction had to be halted due to the expansion of I-78?


 * ...that the 6-track wide 409.19 m long Hohenzollern Bridge across the River Rhine connecting the Köln Hauptbahnhof and Köln Messe/Deutz stations is the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany?


 * ...that the $80 1/2$ mile (129.6 km) long gauge network of tramways in Birmingham, England, operated by Birmingham Corporation Tramways from 1904 to 1953 was the largest narrow gauge tramway network in the United Kingdom?


 * ...that the present Bjørnfjell Station in Narvik, Norway, opened in 1925 to the east of Old Bjørnfjell Station, which opened in 1913, and both stations remained in use until 1956 when Old Bjørnfjell Station closed?


 * ...that although the Beppu Rakutenchi Cable Line funicular railway in Beppu, Ōita, Japan, is legally considered as public transit and not an attraction ride, riders have to pay the Beppu Rakutenchi amusement park (to which it connects) admission fee to ride the funicular line?


 * ...that Barcelona Sants railway station in Spain has become the Catalan capital's most important transport hub, being the centre of Rodalies de Catalunya including Barcelona suburban railway services and regional services, as well as the main inter-city station for national and international destinations?


 * ...that although it lies some distance from the centre of the town, the present Atherton railway station in Greater Manchester, England, was originally named Atherton Central to differentiate it from Atherton Bag Lane, which was closed in 1954, and Howe Bridge on the line between Wigan North Western and Manchester Exchange?


 * ...that on June 1, 2008, South Caucasus Railways, a wholly owned subsidiary of Russian Railways, took over all property and operations of Armenian Railways, the 845 km long, gauge national rail network of Armenia to begin a 30-year concession agreement?


 * ...that Anáhuac station, which opened in 2008 on the Monterrey Metro in Mexico, was originally planned to be a hub for the "Transmetro" BRT program, but those plans were later scrapped?


 * ...that the Amanohashidate Cable Car funicular line in Miyazu, Kyōto, Japan, is the only funicular line that Tango Kairiku Kōtsū operates while it also operates buses and ships?
 * ...that the Airport Rail Link line in Bangkok, Thailand, which opened in 2005 was built largely along the same alignment as the failed Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System (BERTS) project which was partially obstructed by pillars built for BERTS in the mid 1990s, but after extensive debate on their suitability for reuse and demands for compensation from Hopewell, the State Railway of Thailand decided to demolish the pillars and build new ones?


 * ...that 65th Street Yard in Brooklyn, New York, originally had four car float bridges that handled more than 1000 cars per day from the 1920s to the 1950s then fell out of use by the 1970s, but as of 2011 the yard is being restored by the Port Authority for use by New York New Jersey Rail, LLC?


 * ...that the 2011 Flores rail crash, which occurred when a bus driver ignored warning lights and drove around a partly lowered crossing barrier in the Flores barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the morning rush hour resulting in 11 deaths and 228 injuries, was the deadliest rail crash within the city since the Villa Soldati level crossing tragedy in 1962?


 * ...that the unusual vertical arrangement of Épinay-sur-Seine station on the RER in Paris, France, is due to its formerly having been a transfer point to the Grande Ceinture line, which had a stop there called the Grand Sentier?


 * ...that Yorkgate railway station in Belfast, Northern Ireland, opened in 1992, when the railway at York Road was finally linked via the high-level Dargan Bridge to the rest of the network at Belfast Central, to replace the original York Road station which originally opened in 1848?


 * ...that because the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of the track and many stations between Miyako and Kamaishi on the Yamada Line in Japan, JR East has officially proposed that this section of the line be scrapped and the right-of-way used as a bus rapid transit route?


 * ...that Woodville Railway Station, at the northern terminus of the Wairarapa Line at the junction with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line in New Zealand, is distinctive for its unique (to New Zealand) balloon loop track arrangement, which allows trains from Hawke’s Bay direct access to the Wairarapa and vice versa without having to run the locomotive around the train?


 * ...that since the construction of Vienna's new Hauptbahnhof (main station), many services were transferred to Wien Meidling from the demolished Südbahnhof leading to a passenger volume of 55,000 people daily, an increase of 10,000 passengers, making Meidling one of Austria's most frequented railway stations?