April 2005 in rail transport

April 1
- All former BC Rail systems and operations are fully integrated into those of the purchasing railroad, Canadian National Railway. 1
- Kansas City Southern Railway completes its controlling interest purchase of TFM.
- OmniTRAX purchases Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado RailNet, Georgia and Florida RailNet and Illinois RailNet from North American RailNet.

April 4
- East Japan Railway Company and Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit introduce women-only passenger cars in trains on the Saikyo and Rinkai Lines to deter groping. [http://www.trains.com/content/dynamic/articles/000/000/005/830xrwog.asp?]
- The sale of General Motors Electro-Motive Division to Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners is completed; the new company is known as Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD). 2

April 11 - Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signs into law a bonding bill for the Northstar Corridor Development Authority in Minneapolis worth $866 million.
April 13 - The transport ministry of Bulgaria issues the first freight transport license to a private company, Bulgarian Railroad Company, to operate on the nation's rail network. 3
April 14 - Nineteen cars of a southbound Union Pacific train operating on Canadian National Railway tracks south of Superior, Wisconsin, derail and cause a forest fire near Solon Springs, Wisconsin. 4
April 15
- Amtrak cancels all Acela Express trains between Washington, DC, New York City and Boston as cracks are found in the brakes on a majority of the trainsets' coaches. 5 6
- SEPTA begins construction on an $85 million project to replace and upgrade signal, communications and track switch equipment between its Wayne Junction and Glenside stations
April 16 - Alaska Railroad opens its new headquarters building and operations center in Anchorage, Alaska. 7

April 18 - Vadodara rail collision between passenger train and stationary freight train kills 18.
April 20 - UTA TRAX, in Salt Lake City, Utah, begins construction of its 900 South Station, the railroad's first new station in six years; this is the first station for the railroad that is to be built in a mainly residential area.
April 21 - At least 17 people are killed and 78 injured in a collision between a passenger train and stationary goods train in western India.
April 23 - Los Angeles Metrolink opens a new station in Palmdale on the system's Antelope Valley line. 8

April 25 - A JR West commuter train derails and strikes an apartment building in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan, [...] 106 and injuring more than 460 others; see Amagasaki rail crash.
April 28
- The English, Welsh and Scottish Railway acquires the assets of Probotec Limited, the leading manufacturer of railroad freight car suspension systems in Europe. 9
- Swiss engineers blast through the last section of rock on the first bore of the Loetschberg base tunnel project under the Alps. 10 See also Swiss finish drilling world's longest overland tunnel
April 30 - The English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) was expected to close a deal that will allow the railway to operate freight trains through the Channel Tunnel; such operations would make EWS one of the first non-governmental companies to operate trains on France's national rail network.11''

Deaths

April 22 - Margaret Landry Moore, "Miss Southern Belle" spokesmodel for Kansas City Southern's Southern Belle passenger trains (b. 1923). 12
April 28 - Frank Turpin, CEO of Alaska Railroad, 1985–1993 (b. 1923). 13

(July 2005), "Abandonments and Acquisitions", Trains Magazine, p. 19.
Amtrak (April 15 2005), Service Alert: Acela Express - Amtrak Cancels All Friday and Saturday Acela Express Service Due to Brake Problem. Retrieved April 15 2005.
Associated Press (April 14 2005), Freight train derails, burns in northwestern Wisconsin. Retrieved April 14 2005.
Canadian National Railway (March 21 2005), CN – BC Rail Systems Integration. Retrieved March 21 2005.
(July 2005), "City Rail briefs", Trains Magazine, p. 29.
EWS Railway (April 28 2005), EWS acquires the assets of Probotec Limited. Retrieved April 30 2005.
General Motors Electro-Motive Division (April 4 2005), Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners Complete Acquisition of Electro-Motive from General Motors. Retrieved April 13 2005.
Hauser, Kristine, New York Times (April 15 2005), Amtrak Suspends Acela Trains After Finding Brake Problems. Retrieved April 15 2005.
Kansas City Southern Industries (April 1, 2005), Kansas City Southern Announces Closing of TFM Transaction; Naming of TFM Interim CEO. Retrieved May 26, 2005.
Mapaye, John, KTUU (April 16 2005), Railroad opens new operations center. Retrieved April 18 2005.

(April 8 2005), EWS close to Channel Tunnel deal. Retrieved April 12 2005.
(April 27 2005), Metrolink opens Palmdale commuter station. Retrieved May 4 2005.
(April 29 2005), Swiss complete digging Alpine tunnel. Retrieved May 4 2005.
(April 5 2005), Tokyo introduces women-only trains to prevent groping. Retrieved April 7 2005.