Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 1, 1896 In the northeastern part of the present-day Republic of Ireland, a railway station was opened in the town and townland (division) of Ardee in County Louth. At that time, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged together as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; this sovereign state remained... Continue Reading →
July 27, 1888 In Argentina’s province of Buenos Aires, a 32.9-mile (53-kilometer) extension of the horse-drawn Buenos Aires Central Railway between the cities of Pilar and Zárate was completed. This took place less than four months after the opening of the railway line’s first segment. That initial segment of 29.2 miles (47 kilometers) was built... Continue Reading →
July 14, 1990 In California, the Blue Line of Los Angeles County’s transit system began making regular runs. This line (renamed the A Line in 2019) was the first of the six lines that now comprise the Los Angeles Metro Rail. “After nearly three decades, commuter rail returns to Los Angeles today with the opening... Continue Reading →
June 29, 2012 In western Switzerland’s canton (member state) of Vaud, a railway station was formally inaugurated in the municipality of Prilly. (This municipality is a western suburb of Lausanne, the capital of Vaud, and located near that city’s district of Malley.) It took three-and-a-half years for Switzerland’s national railway company Swiss Federal Railways (also... Continue Reading →
June 16, 2017 In the planning area of Tuas in the West Region of Singapore, an open house was held for a newly completed addition to the East West line (EWL) of the sovereign island country’s high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. The EWL’s Tuas West Extension (TWE) covers 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometers) altogether and... Continue Reading →
June 9, 1853 A railway station in the city of Aalst in northwestern Belgium was opened. This facility was built as one of the stations for the Belgian State Railways, which had been established in 1834 as the country’s first state-owned railway system. Aalst railway station was designed by architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar (1811-1880). He also... Continue Reading →
May 13, 1885 In Australia, the opening of a railway in the village of Oatlands in the central part of the island colony (now state) of Tasmania was celebrated with much enthusiasm. The Oatlands Railway was built as a short branch of the Main Line (also known as the South Line), a freight rail corridor... Continue Reading →
April 14, 2002 In Malaysia, an express rail line serving Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) began operations. KLIA, which is about 28 miles (45 kilometers) south of the central section of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, is that country’s largest and busiest airport; it is also one of the biggest airports in all of... Continue Reading →
April 8, 2013 The first segment of the PHX Sky Train, a small-scale automated transit system transporting people within and also to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona’s capital and largest city, was opened to the public. Construction on this 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) segment of the PHX Sky Train had begun in 2008.... Continue Reading →
March 21, 1937 Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad’s two newest Daylight streamliner trains made their first regular runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles. These passenger trains were both originally known as the Daylight Limited. On the day of their shared debut, both trains each consisted of a dozen Pullman passenger cars that were pulled along by... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 