Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 3, 2016 In Norway’s capital city of Oslo, operations began for a rapid transit station in the borough of Grünerløkka. This station is part of the Oslo Metro, and it was specifically built in Grünerløkka’s neighborhood of Løren. Construction on Løren station started in 2013. Løren station, which is 89 feet (27 meters) underground,... Continue Reading →
March 27, 1976 The first 4.6 miles (7.4 kilometers) of the Washington Metro were officially opened just over six years after construction on this rapid transit system had begun. “The nation’s capital got a subway Saturday,” announced a subsequent Associated Press news article, “an itty-bitty one by most metropolitan standards, but a subway nonetheless.” This... Continue Reading →
March 19, 2018 In northern Italy’s autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a railway station built to serve Trieste Airport near the commune of Ronchi dei Legionari was officially opened. (Ronchi dei Legionari is 19 miles [30 kilometers] northwest of Trieste, a major seaport and the capital city of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.) Those attending the inauguration of... Continue Reading →
March 13, 2004 On Kyūshū – the third largest of Japan’s five main islands – operations began for a newly completed passenger railway station in the city of Minamata. Shin-Minamata Station is served by both the Kyushu Shinkansen high-speed trains (popularly known as bullet trains); and the Hisatsu Orange Railway Line. Shin-Minamata Station was designed... Continue Reading →
February 27, 1850 In central Ohio, a key transportation milestone took place in Columbus when regular railroad service was introduced to that city. The Columbus & Xenia Railroad (C&X), which measured 54.7 miles (88 kilometers) in length and connected Columbus with the town of Xenia in the southwestern part of the state, became the first... Continue Reading →
February 26, 2017 Regular passenger train runs began for a railway line in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This inaugural segment of the line was built between Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city, and the Qassim Region in the central area of the country. The line was launched by the Saudi Railway Company (SAR), which has... Continue Reading →
February 18, 2023 Operations began for a station in the Uttara neighborhood of Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. This elevated station -- formally designated as Uttara Center -- is part of Line 6 of the city’s mass rapid transit system known as the Dhaka Metro. The first section of that line was... Continue Reading →
February 17, 2014 In the Australian state of South Australia (SA), a railway station in Wayville was formally opened to the public. (Wayville is a suburb of the City of Unley, a government area within the metropolitan region of SA’s capital of Adelaide.) This station was built as a transit link for the Adelaide Showground,... Continue Reading →
February 13, 1851 A railway station in southeastern England’s village of Hamstreet first went into service. This station was built as part of the South Eastern Railway (SER), which operated in this area of the country from 1836 to 1922. At the time of its opening, the station was spelled out as “Ham Street” rather... Continue Reading →
In 1976, Edwina Justus became the first black woman to work as a locomotive engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). Her life's journey began on July 11, 1943, when she was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Lee and Caldonia Isaiah Chaney. In one of her earliest trailblazing roles, she was the first black student... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 