1971, 1972, 1973

Years in rail transport

1971 in rail transport 1972 in rail transport 1973 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1972.

Events

January events

• January - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD SD40-2.

March events

• March 30 - The Milwaukee Road discontinues its Limburger Special service to New Glarus, Wisconsin.^[1]

April events

• April 1 - The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) pulls out of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, becoming a terminal road in New Jersey; this does not effect their Lehigh and New England Railway operations, however. The Lehigh Valley Railroad assumes operation of the former CNJ lines in Pennsylvania.
• April 30 - British Rail suspends operation of the Brighton Belle passenger train between London and Brighton, England.^[2]

August events

• August 10 - The Illinois Central Railroad and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad merge to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.

September events

• September 11 - Revenue service begins on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• September 18 - São Paulo Metro is inaugurated.
• September 27 - Commemorating the opening of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) two weeks earlier, United States President Richard Nixon rides a BART train.

October events

• October 30 - The driver of a fast train does not notice a stop signal due to heavy fog and collides with another train in Schweinsburg-Culten, East Germany. 22 die and 70 are injured.
• October 30 - Illinois Central Gulf commuter rail crash - The accidental tripping of a signal at 27th Street Station in Chicago, Illinois causes an IC Electric express train to telescope another, killing 45 and injuring over 300.

Unknown date events

• The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Western Maryland Railway become parts of the Chessie System.
• The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway is officially merged into the Chicago and North Western Railway railroad.
• Donald Russell steps down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Southern Pacific Company, the parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The position remains vacant until 1976.
• General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces computer control systems in its line of diesel locomotives with the EMD SD40-2.
• Fred Burbidge succeeds Ian David Sinclair as president of Canadian Pacific Railway.
• The Family Lines System is formed through the merger of several eastern and southeastern United States railroads.
• The Pacific Great Eastern Railway changes its name to British Columbia Railway.

Births

Deaths

References