Editing 2002 in rail transport (section)

==Events==

===January events===
* January – The [[Muskingum Electric Railroad]], one of only six heavy freight electric railroads in the United States, closes.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Reh, Vincent|title=Muskingum Electric Railroad just about done|journal=[[Trains (magazine)|Trains]]|pages=22–23|date=February 2002}}</ref>
* January 1 – The [[Bodensee–Toggenburg railway]] in Switzerland merges into the [[Südostbahn]].
* January 2 – The [[Iowa Interstate Railroad]] operates its first [[unit train|unit]] coal train over the former [[Milwaukee Road]] mainline through [[Amana Colonies|Amana, Iowa]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Iowa Interstate operates first coal train to Cedar Rapids|journal=Trains|page=22|date=May 2002}}</ref>
* January 14 – The [[Strategic Rail Authority]] unveils its 10-year strategic plan for the British national railway network, including a £4.5bn investment in new trains, improved station facilities, track repair and signalling work.<ref>{{cite news|last=Left|first=Sarah|title=Key dates in Britain's railway history|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=January 15, 2002|url=https://www.theguardian.com/transport/Story/0,2763,633951,00.html| accessdate=7 July 2007<!--DASHBot-->}}</ref>
* January 27 – [[Deniliquin railway line|St Albans railway line]] block signalling and electrification extended to [[Watergardens railway station, Melbourne|Sydenham]] in [[Melbourne]], Australia.

===February events===
* February –  Australia’s [[National Rail Corporation]]'s freight operations and assets are combined with the [[Government of New South Wales]]' [[FreightCorp]] and sold to [[Toll Group|Toll Holdings]] and [[Patrick Corporation]] as [[Pacific National]].<ref>Toll and Laing win rail bid ''[[Railway Digest]]'' February 2002 page 4</ref>
* February 8 – [[Changi Airport MRT station]] on the [[Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)|Singapore MRT System]] is opened, giving [[Singapore Changi Airport]] its first rail link in 21 years.

===April events===
* April – [[David L. Gunn]] is appointed to head [[Amtrak]] by [[President of the United States]] [[George W. Bush]], and [[David Laney]] joins the Amtrak Board of Directors.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/News_Release_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1081256321339 |title=David M. Laney Joins Amtrak's Board of Directors |date=November 26, 2002 |publisher=Amtrak |accessdate=January 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606172839/http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak%2Fam2Copy%2FNews_Release_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1081256321339 |archivedate=June 6, 2011 }}</ref>
* April 4 – [[Electro-Motive Diesel|General Motors Electro-Motive Division]] and [[Porterbrook]] are awarded a contract to build new [[diesel locomotive]]s for the first open access rail freight carrier in Belgium.<ref>{{cite press release|publisher=General Motors Electro-Motive Division|date=April 4, 2002|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060314011914/http://www.emdiesels.com/en/company/news/links/20020404_Porterbrook_Belgian.html|url=http://www.emdiesels.com/en/company/news/links/20020404_Porterbrook_Belgian.html|archivedate=14 March 2006|title=EMD and Porterbrook Win Contract For First Belgian Private Railway|accessdate=April 13, 2005}}</ref>
* April 14 – Opening of [[KLIA Ekspres]] from [[Kuala Lumpur Sentral railway station]] to [[Kuala Lumpur International Airport]] in Malaysia.
* April 17 – [[Robert Krebs]] resigns as chairman of the board of directors of [[BNSF]], and is replaced by company CEO [[Matthew K. Rose]].<ref>{{cite press release|publisher=[[BNSF]]|url=http://www.bnsf.com/media/news/articles/2002/03/2002-03-21-a.html|date=March 21, 2002|accessdate=December 6, 2006|title=BNSF Board Elects CEO Matt Rose Chairman Succeeding Rob Krebs, Who is Retiring|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061110184853/http://www.bnsf.com/media/news/articles/2002/03/2002-03-21-a.html|archivedate=2006-11-10|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* April 29 – The first [[British Rail Class 390|Class 390 ''Pendolino'']], operated by [[Virgin Trains West Coast]] in the UK, arrives at [[Euston railway station|Euston station]] in [[London]].

===May events===
* May – The Metrolink 91 Line (now the [[91/Perris Valley Line]]) opens for service between Los Angeles and [[Riverside, California]].

===June events===
* June - The [[New South Wales 86 class locomotive|NSW 86 class]] electric locomotives are retired from regular service.
* June 12 – The [[Talgo|Talgo XXI]] trainset sets the [[land speed record for rail vehicles|land speed record for railed vehicles]] with [[diesel locomotive|diesel]] power at 256.38&nbsp;km/h (159.3&nbsp;mph).

===July events===
* July 1
** [[Vy|Norges Statsbaner]] is privatised under the [[Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications]].
** The railroad [[dining car]] catering services of [[Mitropa]], which was founded in 1916, are handed over to DB Reise & Touristik, a subsidiary of [[Deutsche Bahn]].
* July 4 – [[Electro-Motive Diesel|General Motors Electro-Motive Division]] announces that it will build new locomotives for [[Eversholt Rail Group|HSBC Rail]]; the locomotives will be leased by [[CargoNet]] for use in Norway north of the [[Arctic Circle]] and are expected to enter service after February 2003.<ref>{{cite press release|publisher=General Motors Electro-Motive Division|date=July 4, 2002|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060314011828/http://www.emdiesels.com/en/company/news/links/20020704_Norway_HSBC.html|url=http://www.emdiesels.com/en/company/news/links/20020704_Norway_HSBC.html|archivedate=14 March 2006 |title=EMD to provide locomotives to Norway|accessdate=April 13, 2005}}</ref>
* July 26 – The German manufacturer of rail equipment, [[Vossloh]], announces the acquisition of the French company [[Cogifer]].
* July 30 – The [[Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad]] takes over operations from the defunct [[I&M Rail Link]] in the north central United States.<ref>{{cite press release| publisher=[[Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad]]| date=July 29, 2002| url=http://dmerail.com/News/ICEPRES2.htm| title=IMRL Sale Final; IC&E Begins Operations Tomorrow| accessdate=April 2, 2005| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315104537/http://www.dmerail.com/News/ICEPRES2.htm| archivedate=15 March 2005| url-status=dead}}</ref>

===August events===
* August 1 – [[Deutsche Bahn]] opens the high-speed line between [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]] and [[Cologne]], Germany.

===September events===

===October events===
* October 11 &ndash; The prototype [[AVE Class 102]] train (later used by track authority [[Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias|ADIF]] as test train Class 330) reaches speeds of {{convert|362|km/h|abbr=on}} during test runs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revistalineas.com/Lineas16/noticia04-01.htm |accessdate=30 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829013136/http://www.revistalineas.com/Lineas16/noticia04-01.htm |archivedate=29 August 2008| title=Las pruebas del Talgo 350 en la línea de alta velocidad| language=es| website=Líneas de Tren}}</ref>
* October 31 – [[BC Rail]] operates the last run of the ''[[Cariboo Prospector]]'' passenger train between [[Prince George, British Columbia|Prince George]] and [[North Vancouver (city)]], British Columbia.

===November events===
* November 22 – The [[Toronto Transit Commission]] opens the [[Sheppard line|Sheppard Subway]], connecting the [[Sheppard-Yonge (TTC)|Sheppard-Yonge]] and [[Don Mills (TTC)|Don Mills]] stations.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/History/index.jsp| title=Toronto Transit Commission – History| publisher=City of Toronto| accessdate=November 22, 2007}}</ref>
* November 23 – Expansion opens at [[Fremont-Centerville (Amtrak station)]].

===December events===
* December
** [[National Express]] hands back its [[M-Train|M>Train]], [[M-Tram|M>Tram]] and [[V/Line]] public transport franchises in [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]], Australia to the [[Government of Victoria]] due to financial instability.<ref>National Express Quits Victorian Rail and Tram Operations ''[[Transit Australia]]'' February 2003 page 43</ref>
** The [[Tōhoku Shinkansen]] in Japan is extended from [[Morioka, Iwate|Morioka]] to [[Hachinohe, Aomori|Hachinohe]].
* December 1 – Final {{Convert|4.4|km|mi|abbr=on}} section of the [[Rinkai Line]] between [[Tennōzu Isle Station|Tennozu Isle]] and [[Ōsaki Station|Osaki]] Stations opens for service in [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=企業情報 |trans-title=Company Information |url=https://www.twr.co.jp/enterprise/tabid/201/Default.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130043850/https://www.twr.co.jp/enterprise/tabid/201/Default.aspx |archive-date=30 November 2023 |access-date=30 January 2024 |website=twr.co.jp |language=ja}}</ref>
* December 7 – First section of [[Porto Metro]] opens in Portugal.
* December 10 – Inauguration of Belgian High Speed Line 2 ([[HSL 2]] – Leuven<>Ans) by [[Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant]].<!-- I have no 'proof' file, but in my job I was the technical organiser of this event -->
* December 15 – All first-class cars on the [[TGV]] become non-smoking cars.
* December 24 – First line of the [[Delhi Metro]] is inaugurated in [[India]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Indian PM launches Delhi metro|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2602907.stm|work=[[BBC News]]|date=December 24, 2002|accessdate=April 22, 2010}}</ref>
* December 27 – The first [[X'Trapolis 100|X'Trapolis]] train enters service with [[Connex Melbourne]], Australia.

===Unknown date events===
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* Completion of 360&nbsp;km of dual [[Rail gauge|gauge]] track on [[Bangladesh Railway]], improving connections between the previously isolated east and west networks and giving 1676&nbsp;mm gauge access to [[Dhaka]], the capital.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Choudhury, Iqbaluddin|author2=Rahman, Mostafizur|title=Jamuna bridge and dual-gauging unite the BR network|journal=[[Railway Gazette International]]|volume=158|year=2002|pages=326–7|url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/jamuna-bridge-and-dual-gauging-unite-the-br-network.html|accessdate=9 September 2007 <!--DASHBot-->|archive-date=24 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624161238/http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/jamuna-bridge-and-dual-gauging-unite-the-br-network.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>