Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 20, 2015 After more than a half-century without any tram (streetcar) service in Medellín, the transit system known as the Ayacucho Tram was formally launched in that major Colombian city. The Ayacucho Tram, which is operated by the rapid transit network Medellín Metro, is currently the only tram service in all of Colombia. For... Continue Reading →
October 17, 1849 Railroad entrepreneur William Mackenzie was born near the settlement of Scott’s Plain (now the city of Peterborough) in what was then the British colony known as the Province of Canada. When Canada achieved its independence as a federal dominion in 1867, the area that had been the Province of Canada was divided... Continue Reading →
October 13, 1974 In southeastern India’s state of Andhra Pradesh, construction officially began on Dwaraka Bus Station (DBS) Complex in the eastern part of the city of Visakhapatnam. The inaugural ceremony for this project included having Jalagam Vengal Rao (1921-1999), who was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1973 to 1978, lay the foundation stone... Continue Reading →
October 10, 1848 The first railroad locomotive to operate in Chicago arrived in the city via schooner. This steam locomotive, aptly named the Pioneer, had been built in 1837 for the Utica and Schenectady Railroad (U&S) in New York. Originally called Alert, this locomotive was used by the U&S for nine years before being sold to the... Continue Reading →
On June 10, 2021, Nuria I. Fernandez was confirmed by the U.S Senate as administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). This Senate confirmation by voice vote made Fernandez the first Afro-Latina to lead FTA. (An agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation [USDOT], FTA provides both financial and technical assistance to a wide range... Continue Reading →
September 7, 1985 A five-story structure serving as both a passenger rail station and transportation center was officially dedicated in the city of Santa Ana in Southern California. (Santa Ana is one of the most populous cities in the Greater Los Angeles region and the county seat of Orange County.) Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center... Continue Reading →
September 6, 1871 John A. Poor, whose accomplishments included helping to develop and enrich Maine’s railroad network, died in Portland, Maine, at the age of 63. A lifelong Mainer, Poor had a deep appreciation for the potential of railroads within that state. This appreciation could be traced as far back as 1834, when he first... Continue Reading →
September 2, 2014 A station serving the Orange Line of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s subway system was opened in Somerville, a city located directly northwest of Boston. This above-ground station was built to provide access to Somerville’s Assembly Square neighborhood, an area that includes a super-regional shopping center known as the Assembly Square Marketplace.... Continue Reading →
August 24, 2005 In the Greater Tokyo Area of Honshu (the largest and most populous of Japan’s islands), a railway station was officially opened in the city of Kashiwa. (The Greater Tokyo Area is the world’s most populous metropolitan region.) This station is specifically located in the section of Kashiwa that had once been the... Continue Reading →
August 15, 1893 Construction was completed on a passenger train station at Ninth and Spruce Streets in Terre Haute, Indiana. Terre Haute Union Station was designed by Cincinnati-based architect Samuel Hannaford. In the course of its 67 years of existence, this three-and-a-half-story building served the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad; the Terre Haute & Indianapolis... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 