Events
By month
January events
January 16 – The Tozai Line in Kyoto is extended from Nijo to Uzumasa-Tenjingawa.
February events February 27 – Official opening of Santo Domingo Metro. – National Express changes the name of the railway operating company one to National Express East Anglia as part of a company-wide rebranding exercise.
March events March 9 – The Red line in Kaohsiung opens for service. – Sprinter starts service between Oceanside and Escondido, California, reinstating passenger service on the Escondido branch line. March 15 – The Osaka Higashi Line is scheduled to open in Osaka, Japan; the opening was originally scheduled for 2006, but delayed due to problems acquiring land. March 27 – Heathrow Terminal 5 station opens in London. March 30 – Yokohama Municipal Subway's Green Line is opened for regular operations. – Kolkata Metro is extended from Tollygunge station to Pranabnagar station.
April events April 1 – The Miki Railway Miki Line in Japan, which connected Yakujin Station in Kakogawa and Miki Station in Miki, is closed. April 26 – FrontRunner, a new commuter rail service, begins running in Utah. April 28 – Wrexham & Shropshire begin to run passenger services between London Marylebone station, the West Midlands, Shropshire and north-east Wales.
June events June 2 – An unexploded bomb from World War II is found near where the District and Hammersmith & City lines cross the Prescott Channel, not far from Bromley-by-Bow tube station, causing disruption to trains. June 2–6 – AfricaRail 2008 Conference. June 14 – Opening of the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Subway Line between Shibuya and Ikebukuro ().
July events July 5 – Meeting between Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador regarding a proposed rail link for freight and passengers between the three countries, also connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic.
August events August 1 – China officially opens the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway line, the first in the world regularly to host trains traveling up to . – LNER-design Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado makes first official move under its own steam, the first main line steam locomotive built in Britain since 1960.
September events
September 14 – The Orange line in Kaohsiung opens for service.
October events
October 9 – The Green Line of the Baku Metro is extended from Memar Ajami to Nasimi. October 19 – The Nakanoshima Line operated by Keihan Railway opens for service between Nakanoshima and Temmabashi in Osaka, Japan.
November events November – Voter approval of Measure M in Los Angeles County, California, commits additional tax dollars to transit projects.
December events December 14 – Final run of the original 0 series Shinkansen. December 27 – The first section of the new Valley Metro Rail system, part of Valley Metro in Phoenix, Arizona, opened.Associated Press (reprinted by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, February 16, 2005), Phoenix begins work on light rail . Retrieved February 16, 2005. – The Monkey Park Monorail Line in Nagoya is abolished.
By season
Summer events – The project to rebuild and upgrade Guiyang Southern Station to more than double its capacity is expected to be completed.CRI Online (December 28, 2005), Building of Railway Hub in SW China Started. Retrieved December 29, 2005.
Unknown date events
– Indian Railways expects to complete the conversion of its electrified section in Mumbai from a 1,500 volt DC system to 25,000 volts AC; this will make the Mumbai section's electrification consistent with the rest of Indian Railways' network. – Vietnam expects to complete construction on the Hanoi–Lào Cai railway line upgrade.Xinhua (September 25, 2005), France to fund Vietnam in upgrading busiest railway route. Retrieved September 27, 2005. – The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, will begin construction of a new intercity light railway beginning with a section between Baltiyskaya Zhemchuzhina and the Obukhovo metro station.
Accidents April 28 – 2008 Shandong train collision: Sixty-six people are killed and almost 250 injured when a passenger train from Beijing careers off the rails and slams into another train in eastern China. The rail accident, the worst in China in more than a decade, happens near the city of Zibo in Shandong province. August 8 – 2008 Studénka train wreck: A EuroCity train en route to Prague strikes a part of a motorway bridge that has fallen onto the track near Studénka station and derails, killing 8 people and injuring 64 others. September 12 – 2008 Chatsworth train collision: A Metrolink commuter train, having passed a signal at danger, collides head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Los Angeles, killing 25 and injuring 130.
Deaths
March deaths March 16 – John Shedd Reed, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1967-1986 (born 1917).
Industry awards
Japan Awards presented by the Japan Railfan Club 2008 Blue Ribbon Award: JR Central & JR West N700 Series Shinkansen 2008 Laurel Prize: JR East/Sendai Airport Transit E721 series/SAT721 EMU and JR East KiHa E200 DMU
References