Events
January events January – New Kolkata railway station for long-distance passengers officially inaugurated in Chitpur. January 5 – Railway workers across India begin voting on whether or not to hold a strike against Indian Railways in February. The union's demands center around pay scales, pensions, and private investment into the railway. A Northern Railway Mazdoor Union spokesperson stated that the decision to hold the strike vote was made at the recent All India Railwaymen's Union convention in Mumbai; Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh union members protested at the convention by burning an effigy of Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Voting is scheduled to conclude on January 8, and the vote count, which is expected to begin on January 9, will be monitored by external observers.Hindustan Times (January 5, 2006), Railway employees vote on proposed strike issue . Retrieved January 6, 2006.Chennai Online (January 5, 2006), Railway staff to go on strike in Feb . Retrieved January 6, 2006. January 6 – China's Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun announces details of a 160 billion yuan ($20 billion) plan for railway construction there in the coming year. The ministry expects to begin construction on as many as 87 new railway projects in 2006, including thirteen new express passenger train routes and opening new electrified lines. The plan also includes the acceleration of eleven express passenger route projects already under construction.Xinhua (January 6, 2006), Govt to invest more on railway construction. Retrieved January 6, 2006.
February events February 7 – Workers in Turkmenistan begin the final phase of construction on the Trans Karakum railway that will connect Ashgabat to Dashoguz, crossing the Karakum Desert. The new railway connection is expected to cut travel times between the two cities in half, bypassing the current circuitous route from Ashgabat through Mary and Lebap provinces and along the border with Uzbekistan. Once construction is completed, the official opening ceremony is expected to be held at the new Ichoguz station on the border between Ahal and Dashhowuz provinces.Turkmenistan.ru (February 7, 2006), Construction of Trans-Karakum railway nears completion in Turkmenistan. Retrieved February 8, 2006. February 13 – Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) announces that it has sold its 50% share in operations (the other 50% was owned by Wesfarmers) of the Australian Railroad Group (ARG) in Western Australia to Queensland Rail (QR) and Babcock & Brown (B&B). The deal, valued at $974 million (A$1.55 billion), splits the holdings between operations and infrastructure elements with QR purchasing the above-rail operations and B&B purchasing the below-rail infrastructure. In a concurrent deal, G&W is purchasing Wesfarmer's share of ARG in South Australia for $15 million (A$22 million), which is renamed Genesee & Wyoming Australia and operated as a subsidiary company of G&W.Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. (February 13, 2006), . Retrieved February 14, 2006. February 20 – Officials in Thailand affirm that they will consider World Heritage Railway status for the Thailand-Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway. Thousands of British, Dutch and Australian nationals perished in the railway's prisoner of war construction camps during World War II, and the railway's construction served as the inspiration for the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai. The campaign to gain heritage status is being led by Takashi Nagase, an English language teacher in Japan, who had served as an interpreter for the Japanese military during the war.TMC.net (February 20, 2006), Thailand considers World Heritage status for 'Death Railway'. Retrieved February 20, 2006.
March events March – Guilford Rail System changes its name to Pan Am Railways. March 1 – South Korean railroad strike of 2006: Members of the Korean Railway Workers' Union begin a strike action against Korean National Railroad (Korail). Systemwide passenger service is reduced by 60% and freight service is also drastically reduced during the strike. Union members called the strike to protest Korail's practice of replacing regular long-term positions with short-term contract positions. March 9 – Groundbreaking ceremonies are held in Dublin, Ireland, on Spencer Station, the first new railway station to be built in the city in more than 100 years. The first shovelfuls of dirt were turned by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen. The new station, which is valued at €30 million, will serve the Maynooth and Navan lines and is planned as part of an extension of the city's Luas light rail system to the north docks area. The new station, part of the Transport 21 plan announced in 2005, is expected to open in mid-2007.IOL (March 9, 2006), Cullen turns sod on new Dublin city railway station . Retrieved March 9, 2006. March 24 – Officials with the Portuguese firm Mota-Engil announce that the company will begin building a trans-Andean railway line in April 2006 that will connect Argentina and Chile. Construction of the new Transandino del Sur railway will begin near the Argentine city of Zapala and will run from there for the to the Chilean border; Mota-Engil expects to complete this section by 2008. From the border, the contract to build the segment to the Chilean city of Lonquimay, further, will be up for international bidding. March 27 – Second phase of the Kintetsu Keihanna Line opens for service between Ikoma Station and Gakken Nara-Tomigaoka Station, bringing railway service further into Kansai Science City.
April events April 1 – The London passenger rail services of West Anglia Great Northern and Thameslink are merged under First Capital Connect in a new franchise that will continue for six years. The new franchisee plans to overhaul the trains with new liveries and on-board services as well as an £8 million program of upgrades for several major stations. April 7 – Officials with BNSF Railway announce that the railway will become the first United States railroad to open an office in China when its office in Shanghai opens later in April. Both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, which both maintain track and operate in the US, already maintain offices in China, but this will be the first office for a US-headquartered railway. The office is hoped to help BNSF with logistics planning for containerized shipments between the US and Asia. April 10–14 – Conference of African Railway Ministers discusses integration and gauge standardisation. April 11 – Hong Kong's Executive Council formally approves the merger of Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) and Mass Transit Railway (MTR). Officials close to the negotiations estimate a passenger fare reduction for as many as 2.8 million riders on the first day that the merger is effective. The proposal includes a formula for future fare adjustments. The resulting company will use the MTR name and identity; it will be responsible for the daily operation of both KCR and MTR systems. Although up to 700 layoffs are predicted due to job duplication, officials estimate that the combined company could be looking to hire 1,300 more employees within a few years. April 24 – Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway merges with Regionalverkehr Mittelland to form the new BLS AG, operating primarily in the Swiss Canton of Bern. April 25 – Officials with the governments of Spain and the Basque autonomous region sign an agreement outlining the proposed Basque Y railway service. The service would provide passenger and freight rail transport between the three Basque provincial capitals of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao and San Sebastián and connections to the high-speed Madrid–Vitoria-Gasteiz–Paris rail corridor. The agreement puts the section between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Bilbao under Spanish control, and the section in Gipuzkoa province under Basque control.
May events May 9 – The last train from Beijing South railway station departed at 23:09, and the station then stops services for preparing the rebuild. The new Beijing south will be the starting station of high-speed trains include Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail and Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway. The rebuild work is scheduled to be completed in 2008. May 11 – Transport and Communications Minister of Greece, Mihalis Liapis, announces a €2 billion pledge by the government to rehabilitate the country's rail network. One of the projects included in the pledge is an expansion of passenger rail service between Athens and Thessaloniki. OSE, the national railway of Greece, is expected to submit orders for new equipment valued at over €750 million in the following week. May 13 – Inauguration of Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway. May 16 – In ceremonies held in Washington, D.C., the 2005 E. H. Harriman Awards for employee safety on American railroads are presented. Recipients in class A (line-haul railroad companies with more than 15 million employee hours per year) are: Gold – Norfolk Southern Railway (for the 17th consecutive year); Silver – BNSF Railway; and Bronze – CSX Transportation. In class B (between 4 and 15 million employee hours per year), the recipients are: Gold – Canadian Pacific's U.S. subsidiary (formerly Soo Line Railroad); Silver – Kansas City Southern Railway; and Bronze – Metra. In class C (less than 4 million employee hours per year), the recipients are: Gold – Florida East Coast Railway; Silver – Pan Am Railways; Bronze – Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad. The final group, switching and terminal railroads, recipients are: Gold – Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis; Silver – Conrail; Bronze – Belt Railway of Chicago.
May 22 – Mark 4 InterCity Coaches enter service in the Republic of Ireland. May 26 – Berlin Hauptbahnhof is ceremonially opened by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who arrives together with transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee in a specially chartered InterCityExpress from Leipzig. A "Symphony of Light" is performed immediately following the dedication. Reamonn and BAP perform at Hauptbahnhof, and there are also events at the other new stations: Gesundbrunnen, Potsdamer Platz and Südkreuz. Full public operation begins 2 days later.
June events – Fastline Freight begins revenue operation. June 5 – Indian Railways begins construction on a new rail bridge that will become the highest railroad bridge in the world. The bridge, crossing the Chenab River at 359 metres (1,178 ft) above the river and connecting Katra and Laol in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, will also include the world's largest supporting arch. The arch will span 1,315 m (4,314 ft). Construction is expected to be completed by 2009. June 6 – In a precedent-setting case brought by European Green Party legislator Alain Lipietz and his sister, SNCF, the national railway of France, is ordered to pay almost $80,000 in reparations for transporting members of their family to the Drancy deportation camp during World War II. SNCF argued at trial that they were at the time under orders of the German military; the railroad further argued that the German military threatened to shoot any railroad official who disobeyed their orders. The court disagreed with SNCF concluding that there was no way that SNCF could have avoided knowledge of the prisoners' likely deportation to concentration camps and that SNCF made no effort to either protest the transportation or to transport them in a humane manner. June 20 – Hankyu Railway announces that it has completed its stock purchase for control of Hanshin Electric Railway in a transaction totalling about $2.2 billion. Hankyu now owns a 63.7% interest in Hanshin, which is planned to be operated as a subsidiary company beginning later in 2006. The purchase makes the combined company the third largest railway in Japan by revenue, and the second largest in the Kansai region.