Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 18, 1924 After more than three decades of service, the Belleville funicular tramway in Paris ceased operations. This railway consisted of cable cars connecting the Place de la la République (Republic Square) in the north-central region of France’s capital city with Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville, a major church on a hill in northeastern Paris’s Belleville... Continue Reading →
July 10, 1908 The Thamshavn Line, Norway’s first electric railway, made its debut. The initial segment of this trailblazing line was formally opened by Norway’s King Haakon VII (1872-1957). This railway was built to carry ore from the mines at the village of Løkken Verk in central Norway to the ports of Orkanger and Thamshavn... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1923 The Logan Valley Bus Company (LVBC) began operations in the vicinity of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in the south-central region of the Keystone State. (A portion of this area has long been known as Logan Valley.) The LVBC was formed the previous week as a subsidiary of the Altoona & Logan Valley (A&LV) Electric... Continue Reading →
July 1, 2002 On Japan’s island of Shikoku, a passenger railway station was opened in the town of Kagami in Kōchi Prefecture. (In 2006, Kagami became part of the newly formed city of Kōnan; however, the name of the station has remained the same.) Kagami Station is located on the 26.5-mile (42.7-kilometer)-long Asa Line of... Continue Reading →
June 10, 2007 The first section of the LGV Est-Européenne (LGV Est) was opened for commercial service the day after that high-speed rail line made its inaugural voyage. An extension of the French high-speed rail network, this line has significantly cut travel times between Paris and major cities in eastern France. The LGV Est has similarly reduced... Continue Reading →
May 30, 2014 In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the first part of an aerial cable car transit system serving country’s La Paz- El Alto region officially began operations. This system, known as Mi Teleférico (Spanish for “My Cable Car”), took shape in July 2012. That is when Evo Morales Avma, who was president of... Continue Reading →
Lori M.K. Kahikina is the head of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART), a semi-autonomous agency that serves the City and County of Honolulu on Hawaii’s island of Oahu. She was named HART’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer in 2021 and is responsible for the design and construction of the Honolulu Rail Transit... Continue Reading →
May 23, 2009 In New York City’s borough of the Bronx, daily operations began for a station of the suburban commuter transit system Metro-North Railroad. This new stop was the Yankees- East 153rd Street station on Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line. The station was constructed to serve both Yankee Stadium and the Bronx’s Concourse neighborhood. It... Continue Reading →
May 6, 1993 An automated people mover was officially opened to the public at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. In an article appearing in that day’s edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, reporter Scott Fornek described this new transit system for one of the biggest and busiest airports in the United States. “Picture yourself riding in something... Continue Reading →
April 24, 1949 It was the end of a transportation era in San Diego, California, at 5:45 that morning. This was when streetcar no. 446 of the San Diego Transit Company (known as the San Diego Electric Railway up until September of the previous year) completed its final run by pulling into the car barn... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 