Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 1, 1977 The Blue Line of the Washington Metro first went into service. This line’s inaugural stretch between National Airport station in Arlington County, Virginia, and Stadium-Armory station in southeast Washington, D.C., joined the Red Line (introduced the previous year) in forming what was then the world’s newest major rapid transit system. The Orange... Continue Reading →
June 30, 2023 On Hawaii’s island of Oʻahu, Kualakaʻi station in the community of East Kapolei first went into service. This station was one of nine that were officially opened on the same date. These stations constituted the inaugural segment of Skyline, a light metro rapid transit system that is managed by the Honolulu Department... Continue Reading →
June 24, 2024 Operations formally began for a Paris Metro station built at Orly Airport, which is located approximately 8.1 miles (13 kilometers) south of the central area of France’s capital city. This airport is based in Paris’s southern suburbs of Orly and Villeneuve-le-Roi. It is one of two international airports serving Paris. (The other... Continue Reading →
June 1, 1982 A little over two months before the Helsinki Metro was officially inaugurated, Hakaniemi station became one of a few stations of that rapid transit system to be opened to the public for test drives of trains during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Hakaniemi station is named for an area within the... Continue Reading →
May 13, 1885 Operations officially began for a rapid transit system in what was then the independent city of Brooklyn, New York. This new means of public transportation in Brooklyn was the first elevated railway – a transit system with its tracks above street level and on a viaduct or some other raised structure –... Continue Reading →
May 11, 1991 The first segment of the Green Line of the Washington Metro rapid transit system was formally opened. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post highlighted the fanfare surrounding this public transportation milestone in the nation’s capital. “The politicians were there,” reported Washington Post staff writer. Stephen C. Fehr. “So were clergy... Continue Reading →
April 28, 1978 Operations began for Adenauerplatz station, a part of the line that is designated as U7 and within the rapid transit system known as the Berlin U.Bahn. This station was built in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorft, a borough of what was then West Berlin. West Berlin was a political enclave in the western area of the... Continue Reading →
April 1, 2013 Operations began for Pedro Mir station on Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro, a rapid transit system in the metropolitan region of the Dominican Republic’s capital city. The station was one of 13 opened as part of the inaugural segment of that line. Pedro Mir station was built underneath Avenida John... Continue Reading →
February 25, 1908 The first tube of the McAdoo rapid transit tunnel system allowing electric trolleys to travel between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Manhattan was formally opened amid great fanfare. This structure made history as the first transportation tunnel beneath a major river. “It is the first tunnel for passenger traffic under the Hudson River and... Continue Reading →
February 18, 2019 An infrastructure milestone took place for City Railway Station in the city of Bengaluru (also called Bangalore), which is the capital of the state of Karnataka in southern India. This underground station on the East-West corridor of Namma Metro rapid transit system’s Purple Line had been opened on April 30, 2016. Nearly... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 