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.
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.
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.
September events
- September 7 – The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway, in England, is closed by the Western Region of British Railways.
October events
- 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 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
Births
Deaths
