1962 in rail transport

Events

January events

• January 4 – New York City Subway introduces a driverless train.
• January 8 – The Harmelen train disaster, the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands, occurs when one passenger train driver misses a warning signal and passes a red signal to collide nearly head-on with another passenger train. 93 are killed.
• January 28 – The last lines of streetcars in Washington, D.C., end operations.

February events

• February 1 – The Nordland Line in Norway is completed and opened to Bodø.

March events

• March 15 – Canadian Pacific Railway receives authorization to discontinue passenger train service between Ottawa and Chalk River.
• March 23 – In Tokyo, Japan, the Marunouchi Line branch is extended from Nakano-fujimicho to Honancho.

May events

• May 3 – Mikawashima train crash in Japan kills 160.
• May 22 – SNCF in France completes electrification from Strasbourg through to Paris.
• May 23 – Drilling for the new Montreal Metro system commences.
• May 31
• Toei Subway Line 1 (present-day Asakusa Line) opens between Asakusabashi and Higashi-Nihonbashi in Tokyo, Japan.
• The Hibiya Line is extended north from Minami-senju to Kita-senju and south from Naka-okachimachi to Ningyocho. Through service to the Tobu Isesaki Line also begins.

June events

• June 30 – The Norfolk and Western Railway discontinues electrification on the former Virginian Railway.

July events

• July 17 – Canadian National Railway debuts a new paint scheme on its transcontinental passenger train, the Super Continental.

August events

• August 29 – In Tokyo, Japan, the Hibiya Line begins service between Kasumigaseki and Higashi-ginza.

September events

• September 1 – Port Authority Trans-Hudson assumes operation of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad.
• September 7 – The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway, in England, is closed by the Western Region of British Railways.
• September 30 – Toei Subway Line 1 (present-day Asakusa Line) is extended from Higashi-Nihonbashi to Ningyocho in Tokyo, Japan.

October events

• October 3 – British railway unions call a one-day strike in protest of workshop closures.
• October 11 – Colorado and Southern Railway 2-8-0 number 641 pulls the last steam locomotive-operated regular daily service revenue train on a standard gauge railroad in the United States when it pulls a train from Leadville to Climax, Colorado.
• October 28 – The Lake Street Elevation of the Chicago Transit Authority rail system is placed in operation, relocating 2.6 miles of the former at-grade portion of the route onto the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company's elevated right-of-way, with new stations at Central, Austin, Ridgeland, Oak Park and Harlem. The improvement eliminated a total of 22 grade crossings in Chicago, Oak Park and Forest Park.

Unknown date events

• Railway extended to Wau, South Sudan.
• New York Central purchases the first electric multiple unit passenger cars from Pullman-Standard for use on the Metro-North railroad.
• Union Pacific 3985, a Challenger locomotive, is removed from revenue service on the Union Pacific Railroad.
• First Indian Railways Class WDM-2, from ALCO, introduced. The class will eventually exceed 2,800 units.
• ALCO closes the ALCO Thermal Products Division (formerly Brooks Locomotive Works) plant in Dunkirk, New York.
• Harry A. deButts is succeeded by D. William Brosnan as president of the Southern Railway.
• The Northern Refrigerator Car Line is combined with Merchants Despatch.

Accidents

Deaths

• February 2 – Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway 1919–1932 and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1932–1949 (b. 1879).

References