Events

January events

* January 10 – The Tama Toshi Monorail Line extension from Tachikawa-Kita Station to Tama-Center Station in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

opens. * January 28 –

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

extends electric train operation on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

from

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

South Station South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. * January 29 – The renovated Termini station in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

opens as part of the

Great Jubilee The Great Jubilee in 2000 was a major event in the Catholic Church, held from Christmas Eve (December 24) 1999 to Epiphany (January 6) 2001. Like other previous Jubilee years, it was a celebration of the mercy of God and forgiveness of sins. T ...

February events

* February 4 – German railway saboteur

Klaus-Peter Sabotta Klaus-Peter Sabotta was an extortionist who sabotaged German railways in December 1998, only six months after the Eschede disaster. He claimed to represent former employees of the German railway operator Deutsche Bahn who had been made redunda ...

is sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...

and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

. * February 29 – In

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, the southern section of Line 7 of the

Seoul Metropolitan Subway The Seoul Metropolitan Subway is a metropolitan railway system consisting of 23 rapid transit, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines located in northwest South Korea. The system serves most of the Seoul Metropolitan Area including ...

is opened between Onsu and Sinpung ().

March events

* March 4 – San Francisco Municipal Railway

F Market & Wharves The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other lines in the system, the F line runs as a heritage streetcar service, almost exclusively using historic equipment both from San Franc ...

streetcar line is extended to Fisherman's Wharf. * March 13 – Buenos Aires Underground operator

Metrovías Metrovías S.A. is an Argentine privately owned company that operates the Buenos Aires Underground and the Metropolitan services of the Urquiza Line. 90% of Metrovías' shares are held by Grupo Roggio. History On 1 January 1994, Metrovías took ...

inaugurates Fátima station on the

Buenos Aires Premetro The Premetro is a light rail line that runs along the outskirts of Buenos Aires, connecting with the Buenos Aires Underground line E, at Plaza de los Virreyes station and then to General Savio, with a short branch to Centro Cívico. It opened ...

April events

* April 10 – In

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the

Dublin Area Rapid Transit The Dublin Area Rapid Transit system (stylised as DART) is an electrified commuter rail railway network serving the coastline and city of Dublin, Ireland. The service makes up the core of Dublin's suburban railway network, stretching from Grey ...

system is extended southwards from Bray to Greystones and northwards from

Howth Junction Howth Junction & Donaghmede railway station ( ga, Stáisiún Ghabhal Bhinn Éadair agus Dhomhnach Míde) serves the area of Donaghmede, and parts of Kilbarrack in Dublin, Ireland. One entrance is located in Donaghmede, the other in Kilbarrack ...

to Malahide. * April 11 –

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

chairman and CEO

John W. Snow John William Snow (born August 2, 1939) is an American economist, attorney, and businessman who is the former CEO of CSX Corporation and served as the 73rd United States secretary of the treasury under U.S. President George W. Bush. He replaced ...

succeeds Ronald J. Conway as president of the railroad. * April 20 - The section of the

Toei Oedo Line Toei or Tōei may refer to: * Tōei, Aichi, Japan * Toei Company, Japanese film and television production company ** Toei Animation, their animation subsidiary * , Japanese abbreviation meaning "operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government" **Tran ...

between

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

and Kokuritsu-Kyōgijō opens for service in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. * April 20–28 –

3801 3801 (pronounced Thirty-eight o-one) is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between 1943 and 1974. It is arguably Australia's most famous steam locomotive, being the only one to have visited all mainla ...

and

3830 3830 (pronounced Thirty-eight thirty) is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between 1949 and 1967. It has been preserved by the Powerhouse Museum and is based at the NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere. It was ...

head to

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

called the ''Millennium Aurora'' by the

New South Wales Rail Transport Museum The NSW Rail Museum is the main railway museum in New South Wales, Australia. A division of Transport Heritage NSW, it was previously known as the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM), Rail Heritage Centre and Trainworks. Transport He ...

during the Easter Long Weekend. This would be the last time that NSW steam will ever visit Victoria.

May events

* May 11 – Tramlink opens in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the first trams in London since 1952, largely on former heavy rail or reserved track formation. * May 23 – Electro-Motive Division delivers to the Union Pacific the first five

EMD SD70M The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are th ...

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s in the largest single order (1,000 locomotives) for diesel locomotives ever by a single railroad.

June events

* June 1 – The Amtrak California ''

San Diegan San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

'' is extended further north to San Luis Obispo and the service is renamed to '' Pacific Surfliner''. * June 7 – The

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel The Portage Glacier Highway, or Portage Glacier Road, is a highway located in the U.S. state of Alaska. The highway is made up of a series of roads, bridges, and tunnels that connect the Portage Glacier area of the Chugach National Forest and the ...

, originally built for rail traffic in 1943, opens for combined rail/highway traffic, making it the longest combined rail/highway tunnel in North America. * June 30 - The

Texas Transportation Company The Texas Transportation Company was an electrified, Class III, short-line railroad in San Antonio, Texas, that operated from 1897 until 2001. It served the Pearl Brewery and several other businesses, moving carloads between those businesses a ...

closed.

July events

* July 1 – Opening of the Øresund Bridge bridge-tunnel carrying road traffic and the

Øresund Railway Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width v ...

between Denmark and Sweden. * July 4 –

's new Bakersfield Station opens. * July 9 –

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

restored service on the

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...

between

Dover Plains Dover Plains is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 1,323 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

and Wassaic, a move the railroad billed as its first service expansion since it was created in 1983. * July 11 – Via Rail announces that it will use five

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. ...

s leased from

for runs between

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

and

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

. * July 14 – The United States

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...

's temporary moratorium on railroad mergers is upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; the ruling contributes to the failure of the proposed BNSF/ CN merger. * July 20 – The Manila Line 3 commenced full commercial operations by opening the remaining segment from

Buendia station Buendia station is an underground Manila Metro Rail Transit (MRT) station situated on Line 3. It is one of two underground stations that can be found on the line, the other being Ayala. The station lies near the EDSA–Kalayaan Flyover and Gil ...

Taft Avenue station Taft Avenue station is a Manila Metro Rail Transit (MRT) station situated on Line 3 and is the line's only station in Pasay. Located at the intersection of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), one of Metro Manila's major thoroughfares, and Taf ...

. * July 21 – Manchester Metrolink, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, is extended to Eccles.

August events

* August 1 – In Seoul, South Korea, the central section of Line 7 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is opened between Sinpung and Koknuk University (), enabling services to operate fully between

Jangam The Jangam or Jangamaru (ಜಂಗಮರು) are a Shaiva order of religious monks. They are the priests or gurus of the Hindu Shaiva sect. Jangamas are also gurus of Veerashaiva' sect Jangamas are disciples of Lord Shiva as mentioned in Bas ...

and Onsu. * August 7 – In Seoul, South Korea, the first section of Line 6 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is opened between Bonghwasan and Sangwolgok ().

October events

* October 2 – Via Rail operates a funeral train for

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

between

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

; the train's journey, which was frequently slowed through towns for the numerous well-wishers, was documented by a CBC news

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. * October 29 –

upgrades service on the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overal ...

'' to daily.

September events

* September 26 ** The final section of the Toei Mita Line in Tokyo, Japan, opens between

Meguro is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporate ...

and Mita stations. ** The final section of the

Tokyo Metro Namboku Line The is a subway line owned and operated by Tokyo Metro in Tokyo, Japan. The line runs between Meguro in Shinagawa and Akabane-Iwabuchi in Kita. The Namboku Line was referred to as Line 7 during the planning stages, thus the seldom-used officia ...

in Tokyo, Japan, opens between

and Tameike-Sanno stations.

December events

* December 11 – Amtrak's

Acela Express The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, includ ...

makes its first run. * December 12 – The final section of the Toei Oedo Line between Kokuritsu-Kyōgijō and Tochomae opens for service in Tokyo, Japan. * December 15 – In Seoul, South Korea, Line 6 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is extended from Sangwolgok to Eungam ().

Accidents

* January 4 – The

Åsta accident The Åsta accident was a railway accident that occurred at 13:12:25 on 4 January 2000 at Åsta in Åmot, south of Rena in Østerdalen, Norway. A train from Trondheim collided with a local train from Hamar on the Røros Line, resulting in an exp ...

, a northbound BM92

multiple unit A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined together, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train contr ...

and a southbound passenger train headed by a Di 3 locomotive collided on Norway's Rørosbanen line near

Åsta Åsta is a village in Åmot Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of ...

station, killing 19 people. * February 6 – The

Brühl train disaster Brühl or Bruhl may refer to: Places ;Germany * Brühl (Rhineland), a town in North Rhine-Westphalia ** Brühl station, a railway station * Brühl (Baden), a town in Baden-Württemberg, near Mannheim * Brühl (Leipzig), a street in Leipzig * Brü ...

; in Brühl, Germany killed 9 when a train negotiated a low speed turnout at three times the correct speed and derailed, on the

West Rhine Railway The West Rhine railway (German: ''Linke Rheinstrecke'', literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It i ...

. * March 8 – Tokyo train disaster: a sideswipe collision of two Tokyo Metro trains kills 5 people near Naka-Meguro Station. * October 17 – The Hatfield rail crash, south of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK, occurs when a train traveling at 115 mph derails due to a rail that breaks under it. Four people are killed, and there is considerable disruption to the national rail network as the infrastructure is reviewed. * November 11 – A faulty heater aboard a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

train in Kaprun, Austria, starts a fire in the train's brake fluid while the train is in a tunnel; only twelve of the train's 155 passengers survived the fire in the

Kaprun disaster The Kaprun disaster was a fire that occurred in an ascending train in the tunnel of the Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 funicular in Kaprun, Austria, on 11 November 2000. The disaster killed 155 people (150 on the ascending train, two on the descending t ...

. * December 2 – The

Sarai Banjara rail disaster The Sarai Banjara rail disaster occurred on 2 December 2000, when a derailed freight train crossed onto the opposite track early in the morning in Punjab, India. A Howrah–Amritsar Express a passenger train coming from other direction hit the f ...

in the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, India killed 46 and injured at least 150 when a freight train derailed into the path of a passenger train. * December 30 – The

Rizal Day bombings The Rizal Day bombings, also referred to as the December 30 bombings, were a series of bombings that occurred around Metro Manila in the Philippines on December 30, 2000. The explosions occurred within a span of a few hours, killing 22 people a ...

occurred around

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

in the Philippines leaving 22 dead.

Deaths

Industry awards

Japan

; Awards presented by Japan Railfan Club: * 2000 Blue Ribbon Award:

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

E26 series '' Cassiopeia'' sleeping car * 2000

Laurel Prize The is an award presented annually in Japan since 1961 by the Japan Railfan Club. It is awarded for railway vehicles that entered service in the previous year and voted by the selection committee as having the most outstanding functional and des ...

: **

Hiroden is a Japanese transportation company established on June 18, 1910, that operates streetcars and buses in and around Hiroshima Prefecture. It is known as for short. The company's rolling stock includes an eclectic range of trams manufactur ...

5000 series ''Green Mover'' tramcar **

JR Central is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

700 Series Shinkansen **

209-950 series The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) commuter train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in the Tokyo area of Japan since 1993. The series was introduced in 1992 for experimental operations (as the 901 series) and in 1993 fo ...

(now

E231-900 series E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worl ...

) EMU

North America

;2000

E. H. Harriman Award The E.H. Harriman Award was an annual award presented to American railroad companies in recognition for outstanding safety achievements. History The award was founded in 1913 by Mary Averell Harriman, wife of the late Edward H. Harriman. Afte ...

s ;Awards presented by Railway Age magazine * 2000 Railroader of the Year: ''The railroad worker'' (the award for 2000 was changed to "Railroader of the Century") * 2000

Regional Railroad of the Year ''Railway Age'' is an American trade magazine for the rail transport industry. It was founded in 1856 in Chicago (the United States' major railroad hub) and is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. History The magazine's ...

Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad is a class II railroad that operates in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. The railroad's main route runs from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio, to the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Penns ...

* 2000 Short Line Railroad of the Year: Arkansas Midland Railroad

References

* Some of the events listed here were translated from 2000 dans les chemins de fer, the equivalent French-language Wikipedia article. * Green, Timothy C. (September 1, 2004),
Train Scan August 2000
'. Retrieved July 7, 2005. {{reflist