Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 18, 1947 The streamlined passenger train Silver Comet was inaugurated with a great deal of fanfare by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) at Penn Station in New York City. Prior to its first-time run between New York City and Birmingham, Alabama, this newly built train was christened by film and stage actress Jean... Continue Reading →
On January 12, 2022, Amitabha “Amit” Bose was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). This Senate confirmation by a vote of 68-29 made Bose the first person of South Asian descent to lead FRA, which is an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Bose was born... Continue Reading →
May 9, 1896 The Nord Express (Northern Express) train service was introduced by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). This train transported passengers from Paris, France, to Saint Petersburg, Russia, traveling between those two points via the cities of Brussels, Cologne, Hanover, Berlin, Konigsberg (present-day Kalingrad), and Dvinsk (now known as Daugavpils). Following World War... Continue Reading →
April 26, 2015 EverLine, an automated driverless guideway transit line (also known as a people mover) in South Korea’s city of Yongin in the Seoul Capital Area -- the fourth largest metropolitan region in the world -- was formally opened to great fanfare. This transit line serves as a key link between Everland, which is... Continue Reading →
April 21, 2015 A still-intact world speed record for rail vehicles was established in Japan when a seven-car L0 Series train reached a maximum of 375 miles (603 kilometers) per hour. This record-breaking trip took place on a test track in the city of Tsuru in Yamanashi Prefecture, which is part of the Chūbu region... Continue Reading →
April 18, 1965 A funicular railway serving Greece’s capital city of Athens was inaugurated. Regular operations for this means of public transit began the following day. This railway, which is located in the central section of Athens, was built by the Greek National Tourism Organization to carry people up and down a steep limestone hill... Continue Reading →
April 14, 2011 In the western region of the Federal Republic of Germany, a newly completed railway station was inaugurated in the city of Koblenz in the state of Rhineland Palatinate. Construction on Koblenz Stadtmitte station had begun in January 2008, and this facility ultimately opened the day before numerous people would be traveling via... Continue Reading →
April 13, 2012 In northwestern Illinois, an intercity train station serving Amtrak (the national passenger railroad company in the United States) in the city of Kewanee was officially opened. This depot replaced a small brick shelter that had been built there in 1986. The current version of Kewanee station, which was designed by the Peoria-based... Continue Reading →
April 12, 1890 Nearly three decades after becoming the first streetcar company to operate in Washington, D.C., the Washington and Georgetown Railroad achieved a new milestone by switching from horse-drawn streetcars to cable cars. “CABLE CARS RUNNING,” proclaimed a headline in that day’s edition of the Washington Critic. This change took placed due to a... Continue Reading →
April 7, 2018 On New Zealand’s North Island, a bus station in Manukau (a suburb of the city of Auckland) was officially opened. Those on hand for this inaugural ceremony included Phil Twyford, New Zealand’s minister of transport from 2017 to 2020; and Phil Goff, mayor of Auckland between 2016 and 2022. Construction on Manukau... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 