Events

January

* January 22–24 – In anticipation of heavy snowfall and preparation for the effects of winter storm Jonas,

WMATA The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

shuts down all services for the weekend.

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...

services are suspended completely for two days and restored to normal service in phases up until January 29. During the shutdown, trains are stored in the system's subway tunnels to shelter them from the storm. * January 23 – The

First Hill Streetcar The First Hill Streetcar, officially the First Hill Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the modern Seattle Streetcar system. It travels between several neighborhoods in central Seattle, including th ...

line opens in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. * January 31 –

Baixada Santista Light Rail Baixada Santista LRT ( pt, VLT da Baixada Santista) is a light rail transit system which operates in 2 cities in the Baixada Santista, state of São Paulo. It is operated by Consórcio BR Mobilidade. It is composed by only one line, which has 1 ...

operations begin.

February

* February 9 –

Bad Aibling rail accident On 9 February 2016, two Meridian-branded passenger trains had a head-on collision at Bad Aibling, Germany. Of approximately 150 people on board the two trains, 12 people died and 85 others were injured, of which 24 seriously. Two months after ...

: Two

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

trains are in a head-on collision at

Bad Aibling Bad Aibling () is a spa town and former district seat in Bavaria on the river Mangfall, located some southeast of Munich. It features a luxury health resort with a peat pulp bath and mineral spa. History Bad Aibling and its surrounding ...

in southeastern Germany, leaving 12 people dead and 85 injured, due to a

train dispatcher A train dispatcher (US), rail traffic controller (Canada), train controller (Australia), train service controller (Singapore) or signaller (UK), is employed by a railroad to direct and facilitate the movement of trains over an assigned territory, ...

's errors. * February 27 – The

DC Streetcar The DC Streetcar is a surface streetcar network in Washington, D.C. , it consists of only one line: a segment running in mixed traffic along H Street and Benning Road in the city's Northeast quadrant. The streetcars are the first to run in ...

opens in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, after several years of delays.

March

* March 5 – The Gold Line Foothill Extension in Los Angeles County, California opens, extending the Metro Rail light rail system by to Azusa, California. * March 16 – The entire Washington Metro system, the second-largest subway system in the United States, is shut down on a weekday for 24 hours during emergency inspections of jumper cables in tunnels. The shutdown follows an electrical fire caused by a jumper cable two days prior. * March 19 ** The first phase of

Valley Metro Rail Valley Metro Rail (styled as METRO) is a light rail line serving the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa in Arizona, USA. The network, which is part of the Valley Metro public transit system, began operations on December 27, 2008. In , the sys ...

's Northwest Extension in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

opens. **

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, ...

opens a

Link light rail Link light rail is a light rail rapid transit system serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is managed by Sound Transit in partnership with local transit providers, and consists of two non-connected lines: ...

extension in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

campus. * March 22 –

2016 Brussels bombings On 22 March 2016, two coordinated terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium were carried out by the Islamic State. Three coordinated suicide bombings occurred: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station on the Brussels ...

: 21 are killed by a terrorist suicide bomb in a subway car at

Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station Maelbeek ( French, former Dutch spelling) or Maalbeek (Dutch, ) is a Brussels Metro station in the City of Brussels, Belgium. Its name originates from the Maalbeek stream. The station opened as a ''premetro'' (underground tram) station on 1 ...

. * March 26 – The first segment of the

Hokkaido Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that links up with the Tōhoku Shinkansen in northern Aomori Prefecture in Honshu and continues on into the interior of Hokkaido through the undersea Seikan Tunnel. Construction started in May ...

opens, bringing high-speed rail service to

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

, following the final run of an overnight locomotive-hauled train in Japan.

April

* April 1 –

Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operato ...

takes over the Northern franchise in England from

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

. * April 5 –

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

(

Northern Railway zone The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi. History Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, i ...

) inaugurates the semi-high-speed luxury

Gatimaan Express The 12049 / 12050 Gatimaan Express is India's first semi-high speed train that runs between Delhi and Jhansi. It takes 265 minutes (around 4.5 hours) to cover the journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Virangana Lakshmibai Junction railway st ...

between

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station (station code: NZM) is a railway station in South Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It is one of the five main s ...

and

Agra Cantonment Agra Cantonment (station code: AGC) is the main railway station in the Indian city of Agra. It is located near the Sadar Bazaar towards the southwest of the city. It lies on the main Delhi–Chennai and one of the Delhi–Mumbai lines. Overvi ...

. * April 9 –

Rail transport in Cambodia Cambodia has of metre gauge rail network, consisting of two lines: one from the capital Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, and another from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the Thai border. The lines were originally constructed during the time when the co ...

: Passenger services between Phnom Penh and the southern city of Sihanoukville resume after a 14-year suspension. * April 22 – The A Line in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, an electrified

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

link between

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

and Denver International Airport owned by RTD, begins service.

May

* May 20 – The second phase of the Expo Line light rail in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

opens, extending the line to

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

June

* June 1 – Opening of the

Gotthard Base Tunnel , rm, Tunnel da basa dal Sogn Gottard , image = 20141120 gotthard-basistunnel02-wikipedia-hannes-ortlieb.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Turnout at Faido multifunction station , line = Gotthard Line , location = Switzerland ( Uri, Grisons and ...

, the world's longest and deepest rail tunnel. * June 4 – Beginning of " SafeTrack" program by the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

, to conduct emergency maintenance on the aging Washington Metro system, with expected single-tracking and shutdowns scheduled to last until March 2017. * June 6 – Opening of the Perris Valley extension of the 91 Line, a commuter rail line operated by Metrolink in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, from Riverside to Perris. * June 19 – JR Kyushu phases out the 485 series. * June 19 – Opening of

Kirkstall Forge railway station Kirkstall Forge railway station is a suburban station serving the Kirkstall area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is on the Leeds to Bradford Line between Leeds City and Shipley and was opened on 19 June 2016, near the site of an earlie ...

in England, close to the site of the earlier station with the same name . * June – The last locomotives are removed from the strategic steam reserve in Sweden in working order. * June 30 – Full opening of LRT Ampang Line and

Kelana Jaya Line The LRT Kelana Jaya Line is a medium-capacity light rapid transit (LRT) line and the first fully automated and driverless rail system in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. It forms a part of the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System in and around ...

extension line operated by

RapidKL Rapid KL (styled as ''rapidKL'') is a public transportation system owned by Prasarana Malaysia and operated by its subsidiaries Rapid Rail and Rapid Bus. With its coverage throughout Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley areas, it was followed by a ...

July

* July 1 –

Taiwan High Speed Rail Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is the high-speed railway of Taiwan consisting of one line that runs approximately along the west coast, from the capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction and operations managed by a pri ...

Nangang Station Nangang () is a railway and metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taiwan High Speed Rail, Taiwan Railways Administration and Taipei Metro. The station is served by the fastest HSR express services of the ''1 series''. History Nangang S ...

opens. * July 3 – Phase 2 of

LGV Est The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne (East European High Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne (near Paris) and Vendenheim (near Strasbourg). The line halved the ...

, including the

Saverne Tunnel The Saverne Tunnel (french: Tunnel de Saverne), also known as the Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne Tunnel (french: Tunnel d'Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne), is a twin-bore , high-speed rail tunnel in western Bas-Rhin, France. It carries the LGV Est line of Franc ...

, opens, extending the line from Baudrecort to

Vendenheim Vendenheim (, ;; gsw, label= Alemannic, Vangene, gsw-FR, Fangene) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department, Alsace, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It has been the eastern terminus of the LGV Est high-speed rail from Pa ...

near Strasbourg. * July 12 – Andria-Corato train collision: at least 23 people are killed and 50 injured by the head-on collision of two passenger trains on a single-track railroad in the Apulia region of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. * July 25 – Opening of the B Line commuter rail system in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. * July 26 – The Chinese-built Kaduna–Abuja section of the high-speed Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway starts operation.

September

* September 9 –

Cincinnati Bell Connector The Connector is a streetcar system in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The system opened to passengers on September 9, 2016. The streetcar operates on a loop from The Banks, Great American Ball Park, and Smale Riverfront Park through Downt ...

opens to the public with a free-ride weekend after years of planning and building, bringing streetcar service back to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

for the first time since the 1950s. * September 10 In

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

opened movement on

Moscow Central Circle The Moscow Central Circle or MCC (russian: Московское центральное кольцо, МЦК), designated Line 14 and marked in a strawberry red/white color is a orbital urban/metropolitan rail line that encircles historical M ...

* September 24 – Angle Lake station near

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

opens, extending

service past SeaTac Airport. * September 30 – The

Wachusett station Wachusett station is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line. It is northwest of the intersection of Massachusetts Route 2 and Route 31 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It serves as the northwestern terminus for Fitchbur ...

near Boston, Massachusetts, begins limited service, with full service beginning in November. The new station extends the MBTA Commuter Rail system by .

October

* October 23 –

Kwun Tong line extension The Kwun Tong line extension (abbreviated KTE; ) is an extension of the MTR rapid transit network in Hong Kong. It extends the existing train service of Kwun Tong line to Ho Man Tin station and Whampoa station. Construction started on 25 July ...

opens. * October 24 – Opening of the South Oak Cliff extension of the

Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is a transit agency serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex of Texas. It operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Dallas and twelve of its suburbs. In , the system had ...

Blue Line to

University of North Texas at Dallas The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNTD) is a public university in Dallas, Texas. It opened in 2000 as a branch campus of the University of North Texas, offering upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in multiple disciplines. In 20 ...

November

* November 8 – Major mass transit expansions are approved by voters in U.S. cities, including

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

(

Measure M Measure R was a ballot measure during the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California, that proposed a half-cent sales taxes increase on each dollar of taxable sales (originating in or made from Los Angeles County) for thirty years ...

(

Sound Transit 3 Sound Transit 3, abbreviated as ST3, was a ballot measure during the November 2016 elections in Seattle, Washington, proposing an expansion of the regional public transit system. The measure was proposed by Sound Transit, which was established ...

), and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. * November 20 – Pukhrayan train derailment: Indian Railways'

Indore–Patna Express The Indore–Patna Express is an Express Train of the Indian Railways, which runs between Indore Junction railway station of Indore, the largest city and commercial hub of Central Indian state Madhya Pradesh and Patna Junction, railway station ...

derails at

Pukhrayan Pukhrayan is a town and a Municipality in Kanpur Dehat district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Found to the south-west of Mati on National Highway 25, Pukhrayan is from Bhognipur. Geography Pukhrayan is located at . It is on averag ...

near Kanpur with at least 146 fatalities. * November 28 – The double-track high-speed section from Larvik to

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn w ...

on the

Vestfold Line The Vestfold Line ( no, Vestfoldbanen) is a railway line which runs between Drammen and Eidanger in Norway. The line connects to the Drammen Line at the northern terminus at Drammen Station and continues as the Bratsberg Line past Skien Station ...

, including the Holmestrandsporten, opens for service.

December

* December 2 – The

Evergreen Extension The Evergreen Extension (previously known as the Evergreen Line) is a extension of the Millennium Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The extension runs from Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby to Lafarge Lake–Douglas in Co ...

of the

Vancouver Skytrain SkyTrain is the medium-capacity rapid transit system in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, serving Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks running on underground ...

opens, extending the

Millennium Line The Millennium Line is the second line of the SkyTrain rapid transit system in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada. The line is owned and operated by BC Rapid Transit Company, a subsidiary of TransLink, and links the cities ...

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. ...

. * December 11 – Reopening of Łódź Fabryczna station after 5 years of reconstruction. * December 16 – Opening of MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line Phase 1 connecting Sungai Buloh station, Sungai Buloh to Semantan MRT station, Semantan. * December 28 – The South Island line of Hong Kong's MTR metro system opens, connecting Admiralty station (MTR), Admiralty station to the Southern District, Hong Kong, Southern District.

References

{{reflist 2016 in rail transport,