January 2009 in rail transport

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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in January 2009.

Events

January 2

• – The Canadian Railway Hall of Fame inducts Keith Hunt, Jim Munsey and Steve Harvey for their contributions to rail transport in Canada. Hunt served as apprentice electrician and was promoted through the ranks to become corporate vice president of Canadian National Railway (CN), Munsey started as a telegrapher and was promoted to become a regional safety manager for CN, and Harvey worked for GO Transit where he served as a system safety officer.

January 3

• – Indian Railway Board Chairman Kalyan Jena makes a public statement to assure the Indian people that the current financial crisis will not significantly affect planned railway construction projects in India. The projects include improvements to rail corridors connecting Kolkata-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Kolkata-Chennai via Orissa and Chennai-Goa.

January 12

• – Boris Johnson, Mayor of London officially opens Docklands Light Railway extension from King George V to Woolwich Arsenal.

January 17

Barack Obama aboard the Georgia 300 as the train passes through Claymont, Delaware, on the way to Washington, D.C.

• – In advance of his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama retraces the 1861 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-Washington, D.C., train journey of Abraham Lincoln. Obama began the tribute by holding a town hall meeting at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. He reached Wilmington, Delaware, to pick up Vice President-elect Biden in the Georgia 300, a railroad car used by past presidents. Obama and Biden arrived at Union Station in Washington, D.C., at 7:00 pm EST.

January 20

• – At a ceremony in Brussels, the Community of European Railways and Union des Industries Ferroviaires Européennes present the 2009 European Railway Awards. Switzerland's Transport Minister and former President Moritz Leuenberger received the Political Award for his work to build and maintain a sustainable transportation policy while Sweden's Bengt Sterner received the Technical Award for his work to introduce the electronic train control system and further development that led to the European Train Control System (ETCS) in 1997.

January 21

• – Archaeologists in Iran warn that construction of the Shiraz-Esfahān railway line, which was rerouted in 2006 to avoid damage to the Naqsh-e Rustam site in Fars Province now threatens the Rahmatabad Tepe site. The current plans route the line within 10 metres (33 ft) of newly discovered kilns at Rahmatabad Tepe that date back to the 5th millennium BCE. Experts worry that if the railway line is not moved, vibrations from passing trains will destroy the kilns.

January 22

• – In an address to the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, MP Zeynulla Alshimbaev relates that construction on the new Uzen-Gizilgaya-Bereket-Etrek-Gorgan railway line could be delayed by as much as a year. In 2007 the presidents of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran all signed agreements to build and operate the new line connecting the three countries and Turkmenistan began construction on its section in December 2007; about 70 km (43 mi) of track for this line has been built in Iran. In his address, Alshimbaev cited a lack of financing as the main cause for the potential delay.

January 29

• – In a unanimous decision at its regular Board meeting, Amtrak names current Board of Directors member and former mayor of Macomb, Illinois, Thomas Carper to become the Chairman of the Board for the railroad and Donna McLean the former Chairman will step down to become Vice Chairman. McLean replaces Hunter Biden as Vice Chairman while Biden remains on Amtrak's Board. Amtrak expects to expand its Board of Directors from five members to nine in 2009 in order to comply with the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008.

January 31

60163 Tornado approaches Newcastle Central Station under the wires of the electrified East Coast Main Line, in Newcastle upon Tyne, northern England.

• – Tornado, the first new steam locomotive built in the United Kingdom since the dieselisation of British railways in the mid-20th century, makes its first main line public run pulling a carload of fare-paying passengers. The locomotive pulled its train from York to Darlington, Durham and Newcastle before returning to the National Railway Museum where it is currently kept and maintained. Seats on the train were reserved for supporters of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the organization that built the locomotive. (BBC)