Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 27, 2024 In the northwestern part of Arizona’s capital city of Phoenix, more than 2,000 people turned out for the opening of a 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) extension of Valley Metro Rail. This light rail system’s newest segment at the time encompassed three stations altogether. One of these stations is Metro Parkway station, which is the... Continue Reading →
January 16, 1932 After approximately three decades of operation, a leading interurban transit line in the northwestern part of Ohio launched its final passenger car runs. This service had been incorporated as the Western Ohio Railway on October 11, 1900, under the laws of the Buckeye State. By 1903, the Western Railway covered 36 miles... Continue Reading →
January 10, 1998 Operations began for a train station in the municipality of Ferraz de Vasconelos in southeastern Brazil’s state of São Paulo. This station is part of Line 11 (Coral) of the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) , which is known in English as the São Paulo State Metropolitan Trains Company. The CPTM... Continue Reading →
December 18, 1989 A commuter rail station in southeastern Florida's city of Boynton Beach was officially opened. This station is part of Tri-Rail, an 80-mile (128.7-kilometer)-long commuter rail system serving the Miami metropolitan area and managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. The line on which Tri-Rail's trains operate is owned by the Florida... Continue Reading →
November 21, 2022 On Norway’s west coast, the second line of a light rail system in the city and municipality of Bergen first went into service. This took place three days after the inaugural ceremony for this new route was held. The second line encompasses 5.6 miles (nine kilometers) between Kaigaten in Bergen’s borough of... Continue Reading →
November 19, 2022 Yerba Buena/Moscone station in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood was officially opened. This underground light rail station, which is a link in the T Third Street line of the San Francisco Municipal Railway’s Muni Metro system, owes its name to both Yerba Buena/Moscone Gardens and Moscone Convention Center in that... Continue Reading →
November 13, 2017 A newly completed train station in the San Francisco Bay Area’s city of Fairfield was opened. This station provides access for residents of both Fairfield and the neighboring city of Vacaville to Amtrak California’s Capitol Corridor rail line. The facility -- originally called Fairfield-Vacaville station -- is also a transfer hub for... Continue Reading →
November 4, 1846 A railway station in the village and community of Ruabon in Wrexham County Borough in Wales was inaugurated. This structure -- the original version of Ruabon railway station -- was built in the Italianate style. It was designed by English architect and surveyor Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818-1864). In 1860, this station was... Continue Reading →
October 23, 2015 A much anticipated Friday morning event in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca occurred when a low-floor tram (railcar) was taken out for its first test run. This vehicle was the first of several railcars to be built by Alstom, a French rolling stock manufacturer, for an electric tram line coursing through both... Continue Reading →
October 9, 1980 A railway station in the town of Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) was officially opened. This station replaced one that had first gone into service in 1929 as a link in the Central Australia Railway The present-day station was built as part of a segment spanning 515 miles (828 kilometers)... Continue Reading →
