January 5 in rail transport

19th century

20th century

• 1977 – Gare de Bercy station, near Gare de Lyon in Paris, France, opens.
• 1985 – At ceremonies held in Nenana and Seward, Alaska, ownership of the Alaska Railroad is officially transferred to the U.S. state of Alaska.

21st century

• 2006 – A Virginia Railway Express train from Fredericksburg, Virginia, bound for Washington, D.C., derails due to a chipped railroad switch point near Quantico, injuring seven passengers and two crewmembers.
• 2007 – The first public trains of Taiwan High Speed Rail operate between Taipei and Kaohsiung, a journey, in 90 minutes. Although some relatively minor problems still remain, such as ticket machines not accepting credit cards or returning the incorrect change, the trains operated on schedule.

Deaths

• 1867 – William Norris, American steam locomotive builder and founder of Norris Locomotive Works (b. 1802).
• 1954 – Death Valley Scotty (born Walter Edward Scott), con man who chartered the Scott Special record-breaking run on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1905, dies (b. 1872).

References

fr:5 janvier dans les chemins de fer