1996 in rail transport

Events

January events

• January 6 – A computer-controlled Washington Metro train overruns the platform at the Shady Grove station, colliding with a parked train and fatally injuring the operator.

  February events

• February 4 – The first two British passenger train operating companies begin operation of their service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: South West Trains and Great Western Trains.
• February 10 – Woodlands Extension of the MRT North South line in Singapore opened, adding six new stations to the current network.
• February 16 – 1996 Maryland train collision: A Chicago bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, killing 11 people.
• February 19 – Approximately 1,000 passengers are trapped in the Channel Tunnel when two Eurostar trains break down due to electronic failures caused by snow and ice.
• February 24 – The three British trainload freight companies, Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail, are acquired by North & South Railways, a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central, as part of the privatisation of British Rail.

  March events

• March 4 – Weyauwega, Wisconsin derailment: A Wisconsin Central freight train derails on a broken switch in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. The derailment forces the evacuation of the entire town until March 20 while fire crews work to control the resulting blaze.
• March 15 – Amtrak selects the "American Flyer" design developed by Bombardier and Alstom, based on the TGV trains of France, as the design model for its Acela Express rolling stock.
• March 18 – SNCF begins a construction project to renew the track ballast on the Paris-Lyon TGV line; the project is expected to last through 2006.
• March 28
• * Muzha Line of Taipei Mass Rapid Transit, the first rapid transit line of Taiwan, opens.
• * Freight services between Higashi-Yokoze freight terminal and Shin-Akitsu on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line in Japan are discontinued.
• March – Government of Guatemala suspends operation on the entire Ferrocarriles de Guatemala network.

  April events

• April 14 – The British trainload freight company North & South Railways Ltd becomes EWS.
• April 21 – The Jokela rail accident, a derailment in thick fog, kills 4 in Tuusula, Finland.
• April 27 – The Tōyō Rapid Railway Line, connecting Nishi-Funabashi and Katsutadai opens in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
• April 28 – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline and Great North Eastern Railway.

  May events

• May 4 – Purchase by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad of the former Chicago and North Western Railway branch lines from Rapid City, South Dakota to Colony, Wyoming and Crawford, Nebraska becomes effective.
• May 12 – The Green Line of the CTA elevated and subway rail system, returns to service after a $400 million, 2½-year reconstruction period. Many station facilities were still incomplete, while several other stations were closed indefinitely.
• May 17 – Canadian National Railway's Beachburg Subdivision between Pembroke and Nipissing, 126 miles of track which traversed Algonquin Provincial Park, is officially abandoned.
• May 20 – The British railway infrastructure management company, Railtrack, is privatised, being floated on the London Stock Exchange with shares worth 360p.
• May 26 – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises in England as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Connex South Central and LTS Rail.

  June events

• June 2 – First part of the Belgian High Speed line put into service, continuing the French LGV Nord.
• June 26 – The Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad and the A&G Railroad merge to form the Bay Line Railroad.

  July events

• July 21 – British train operating company Chiltern Railways begins operation of its passenger service franchise in England as part of the privatisation of British Rail, following a management buyout.
• July 24 – The Dehiwala train bombing carried out by the LTTE kills 64 people.
• July 26 – Conventional rail world speed record of attained by the JR Central "300X" six-car train between and on the Tokaido Shinkansen.
• July 27 – Ron Burns becomes president of Union Pacific Railroad.
• July 28 – The Talleyrand Terminal Railroad begins operations in Jacksonville, Florida.
• July 31 – Canadian Pacific Railway makes the last run of a grain load in a boxcar with the final deliveries of grain to Thunder Bay, Ontario.
• July 31 – The first low-floor light rail car in North America is received by Portland, Oregon's TriMet.

  August events

• August 19 – Metra's North Central Service commuter rail line begins operations on the Milwaukee District/West Line and on the Wisconsin Central Railroad between Union Station in downtown Chicago and Antioch.

  September events

• September 11 – The Union Pacific Railroad finishes the acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before with the purchase of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The merged company retains the name "Union Pacific" for all railroad operations.
• September 14 – The York–Durham Heritage Railway begins operations on CN's former branch between Uxbridge and Stouffville, Ontario.

  October events

• October 1 – The Norwegian Railway Inspectorate is created.
• October 13 – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Cardiff Railway Company and Wales & West ; Connex South Eastern; Island Line, Isle of Wight ; and Thames Trains.
• October – The first stage of Cairo Metro's Line Two opens.

  November events

• November 18 – Channel Tunnel fire seriously damaging 200 m of the tunnel's lining.
• November 21 – Limited freight service in the Channel Tunnel resumes while construction crews make repairs at the location of the fire three days earlier.

  December events

• December 1 – Norwegian State Railways is split into the Norwegian National Rail Administration and the Norwegian State Railways.
• December 4 – Passenger service resumes through the Channel Tunnel.
• December 5
• * BNSF Railway reopens Stampede Pass in Washington and resumes operating freight trains over the line.
• * Canadian National Railway operates its last train of grain to be hauled in 40 ft boxcars; CN SD40s numbered 5256 and 5051 depart Canora, Saskatchewan, with a train of 114 such boxcars bound for Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Thunder Bay, Ontario.
• December 16 – Opening of LRT STAR Line from to in the Kuala Lumpur conurbation of Malaysia.
• December 30
• * Dallas Area Rapid Transit opens the first line of Trinity Railway Express between Dallas and Irving, Texas.
• * The Brahmaputra Mail train bombing: a bomb explodes a train travelling in Lower Assam in Eastern India, totally destroying three carriages of the train and derailing six more, killing at least 33 people.
• December 31 – The Burlington Northern Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway merge to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.

  Accidents

Deaths

January deaths

• January 3 – Terence Cuneo, British railway artist.

  May deaths

• May 9 – Carl Fallberg, cartoonist who created Fiddletown & Copperopolis.