October 2007 in rail transport

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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in October 2007.

Events

October 1

• – Speaking at a press conference, Vladimir Yakunin, president of RZD, the Russian national railway company, announces that RZD and Deutsche Bahn of Germany are in talks to acquire a Polish rail freight company. Yakunin did not specify which company is the acquisition target nor did he disclose any projected costs for the deal, but analysts speculate the company may be PKP Cargo. Representatives in Deutsche Bahn's publicity department were reported as not having enough information to either confirm or deny Yakunin's statements.

October 3

• – Moeletsi Mbeki, the executive in charge of South Africa-based Comazar, meets with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa to discuss Comazar's concession to manage the Ethio-Djibout Railway Company. In June 2007, the governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti both came to a decision to revoke Comazar's concession in favor of Kuwait-based Al-Ghanim & Sons Group. Ethiopia and Djibouti both cite what they call credible evidence that Comazar does not have the means to operate the concession; Mbeki disputes this finding as "hearsay and gossip."

October 4

• – News sources in Korea report that an agreement has been reached to operate freight trains across the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Trains would run through the border area to an industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea. Rail connections between the two nations was severed in the early 1950s when the Korean War began.
• – Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) announces that it has completed the financial transactions to acquire Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) and subsidiaries (including Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad). Control of DM&E has been placed into a voting trust with Richard Hamlin appointed as trustee; the trust will remain in effect until the United States Surface Transportation Board (STB) issues its decision on the acquisition. CP plans to integrate DM&E's operations once it receives STB approval, which is expected within a year.

October 5

• – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially approves the new Crossrail line through central London. Stating that Crossrail entailed "enormous importance, not just for London but for the whole country," Brown expressed his optimism for the project. The line, which would connect Maidenhead to Essex with an extension to Heathrow Airport, would include some above-ground trackage with some new underground trackage through the center of London. Construction is expected to begin in 2010 and the line is hoped to open in 2017.

• – Many regional and local trains of Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany are suspended due to a strike by the country's train drivers union, GDL. The strike was permitted by the German courts only for drivers of local and regional trains; drivers of long-distance and intercity trains, ICE high-speed rail networks and freight trains were forbidden from participating due to the possible impact on the German economy. The main point of the strike was to protest for better wages to bring wages more in line with other European carriers.

October 10

• – Shareholders of MTR, the main rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, vote for a merger between it and Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) with just over 82% of the votes cast in favor of the merger. MTR is expected to see an increase in its rail and property development revenues but releases fare controls to KCR. Hong Kong's government, which owns KCR, was forced to abstain from the vote since it held ownership of a 76.7% stake in MTR. Analysts expect the merger to save MTR between HK$400 and HK$500 million annually.
• – 2007 Painesville derailment, Several cars of a CSX, freight train, Q380-09 derail in Painesville Township, Ohio, at about 12:05PM local time (UTC-4). Many of the derailed cars caught fire; although emergency crews responding to the accident didn't initially know what was carried on the train, ethanol is believed to be one of the fuels in the fire. At least one of the tank cars in the train was carrying isobutylene, a highly explosive material. Area residents within one mile (1.6 km) have been evacuated. Fire officials are allowing the fire to burn down a little before they attack the flames while cars that are not burning are kept cool with running water. Broken rail suspected as cause of derailment.

October 11

• – Emile Ouosso, Transport Minister for the Republic of the Congo, signs an agreement in Seoul, South Korea, authorizing the Congo-Malaysia-Korea Consortium (CMKC), an organization that includes Korail and part of Korean steel producer POSCO, exclusive rights to build and operate about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of new railway lines connecting Brazzaville to Ouésso and Djambala to Pointe-Noire. The agreement also grants CMKC exclusive rights to develop iron, oil, gas and forestry products near these new lines. Construction is expected to begin in 2009, and the concession will remain in force for a period of 30 years. Exact figures were not released, but reports indicate the agreement could be valued at more than $3 billion.

October 14 - October 20

October 17

• – Passenger rail services across France are limited by a nationwide strike to protest the elimination of a pension system currently afforded to rail, energy and other workers across the country. In Paris, RATP reported three of its 14 Paris Métro lines were closed with only one tenth the normal traffic operating on the remaining lines, and SNCF operated only 46 of its usual daily average of 700 TGV trains. Bus and tram service was also disrupted in 27 other cities, causing problems for commuters.
• – The United States House of Representatives passes the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007 bill on a vote of 377 to 38, sending the bill to the Senate for a vote there. The bill, if signed into law, will change the hours-of-service rules for railroad employees in the United States to require a minimum of 10 consecutive off-duty hours in the 24 hours immediately before beginning a work shift and at least one period of 24 consecutive off-duty hours every seven days. The bill would also create the Federal Railroad Safety Administration, led by an Administrator appointed by the President, to enforce safety regulations related to rail transport in the United States.

October 21 - October 27

October 22

• – In a statement released by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, details of the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the African Union of Railways 6th Working Group are announced. Among the topics to be discussed are plans to link all of the railway corridors in Africa and to standardize railway infrastructure across the continent. Representatives from 11 nations, including Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and Tanzania, are expected to attend the meeting in Lagos.

October 23

• – In a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Moroccan King Mohammed VI, an agreement is reached for France to build a new high-speed rail connection between Tangier and Marrakech. The deal, which is expected to be led by Alstom, is estimated at €2 billion; the first section of the line, connecting Tangier and Kenitra is hoped to be operational by 2013.

October 24

• – Thameslink construction begins with Luton Airport Parkway the first station to be extended. After station platforms are lengthened, train lengths between Bedford and Brighton can be extended by 50% to accommodate increased ridership beginning in 2011. It is expected that 24 trains per hour will operate on the line through central London when the project is completed.

October 31

• – The Audiencia Nacional of Spain delivers its verdicts against the accused perpetrators of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, in which 191 people died and more than 2,000 people were injured. Of the 28 defendants in the trial, 21 were found guilty on a range of charges from forgery to murder. Two of the defendants were sentenced each to more than 40,000 years in prison, but Spanish law limits the actual time served to 40 years.