1972 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1972.

Events

January events

• January - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD SD40-2.

February events

• February 5 - Last steam locomotive built in India, Class YG #3573 at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.

March events

• March 24 - The Gilchrest Road crossing accident occurred on a level crossing in Clarkstown, New York, Five people were killed, and 44 injured.
• March 30 - The Milwaukee Road discontinues its Limburger Special service to New Glarus, Wisconsin.
• March 31 - Official last day of steam locomotive operation on Statens Järnvägar, Sweden.

April events

• April 1 - The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) pulls out of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, becoming a terminal road in New Jersey; this does not affect their Lehigh and New England Railway operations, however. The Lehigh Valley Railroad assumes operation of the former CNJ lines in Pennsylvania.
• April 30 - British Rail suspends operation of the Brighton Belle passenger train between London and Brighton, England.

June events

• June 11 - Eltham Well Hall rail crash - An excursion train from Margate to Kentish Town derailed at Eltham Well Hall station, Eltham, London. The driver and five passengers were killed.
• June 16 – 108 die as two passenger trains hit the debris of a collapsed railway tunnel near Soissons, France.

July events

• July 21 - A collision between two trains near Sevilla, Spain kills 76 people.

August events

• August 10 - The Illinois Central Railroad and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad merge to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.

September events

• September 11 - Revenue service begins on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• September 18 - São Paulo Metro is inaugurated.
• September 27 - Commemorating the opening of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) two weeks earlier, United States President Richard Nixon rides a BART train.

October events

• October 6 – A train crash at Saltillo, Mexico kills 208 people.
• October 30
  • The driver of a fast train does not notice a stop signal due to heavy fog and collides with another train in Schweinsburg-Culten, East Germany. 22 die and 70 are injured.
  • Illinois Central Gulf commuter rail crash - The accidental tripping of a signal at 27th Street Station on the Metra Electric system in Chicago, Illinois, causes an IC Electric express train to telescope another, killing 45 and injuring over 300.

December events

• December 15 – Amtrak introduces the Vacationer passenger train service between New York City and Miami, Florida.
• December 16 – Yokohama Municipal Subway, part of section between Isezaki-chojamachi and Kamiooka, officially open.^{[citation needed]}

Unknown date events

• The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Western Maryland Railway become parts of the Chessie System.
• The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway is officially merged into the Chicago and North Western Railway railroad.
• Donald Russell steps down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Southern Pacific Company, the parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The position remains vacant until 1976.
• General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces computer control systems in its line of diesel locomotives with the EMD SD40-2.
• Fred Burbidge succeeds Ian David Sinclair as president of Canadian Pacific Railway.
• The Family Lines System is formed as a common marketing strategy of several eastern and southeastern United States railroads.
• The Pacific Great Eastern Railway changes its name to British Columbia Railway.