2000 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2000.

Events

February 4 – German railway saboteur Klaus-Peter Sabotta is sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder and extortion.

April – In Ireland, the DART system is finally extended southwards from Bray to Greystones.
April 11 – CSX Transportation chairman and CEO John W. Snow succeeds Ronald J. Conway as president of the railroad.^[2]
April 20–28 – 3801 and 3830 head to Melbourne, Victoria called the Millennium Aurora by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum during the Easter Long Weekend. This would be the last time that NSW steam will ever visit Victoria.

May 23 – General Motors Electro-Motive Division delivers to the Union Pacific Railroad the first five EMD SD70M diesel locomotives in the largest single order (1,000 locomotives) for diesel locomotives ever by a single railroad.^[3]

June 7 – The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, originally built for rail traffic in 1943, opens for combined rail/highway traffic, making it the longest combined rail/highway tunnel in North America.

July 1 – Opening of the Oresund Bridge bridge-tunnel carrying road traffic and the Oresund Railway between Denmark and Sweden.^[4]
July 4 – Amtrak's new Bakersfield Station opens.
July 9 – Metro-North Railroad restored service on the Harlem Line between Dover Plains and Wassaic, a move the railroad billed as its first service expansion since it was created in 1983.
July 11 – Via Rail Canada announces that it will use five sleeping cars leased from Amtrak for runs between Winnipeg and Churchill, Manitoba.
July 14 – The United States Surface Transportation Board's temporary moratorium on railroad mergers is upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; the ruling contributes to the failure of the proposed BNSF/CN merger.
July 20 - The Manila MRT Line 3 commenced full commercial operations by opening the remaining segment from Buendia Station up to Taft Avenue Station.
July 21 – Manchester Metrolink, in Manchester, England, is extended to Eccles.

October 2 – Via Rail operates a funeral train for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau between Ottawa and Montreal; the train's journey, which was frequently slowed through towns for the numerous well-wishers, was documented by a CBC news helicopter.^[5]
October 29 – Amtrak upgrades service on the California Zephyr to daily.

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway and Canadian National Railway file for a merger, but the merger is denied by regulatory agencies.
In Ireland, the Dublin Area Rapid Transit system is extended northwards from Howth Junction to Malahide.

January 4 – The Åsta accident, a northbound BM92 multiple unit and a southbound passenger train headed by a Di 3 locomotive collided on Norway's Rørosbanen line near Åsta station, killing 19 people.
February 6 – The Brühl train disaster; in Brühl, Germany killed 9 when a train negotiated a low speed turnout at three times the correct speed and derailed, on the West Rhine Railway.
March 8 – Tokyo train disaster: a sideswipe collision of two Tokyo Metro trains kills 5 people near Naka-Meguro Station.
October 17 – The Hatfield rail crash, south of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK, occurs when a train traveling at 115 mph derails due to a rail that breaks under it. 4 people are killed, and there is considerable disruption to the national rail network as the infrastructure is reviewed.^[7]
November 11 – An faulty heater aboard a funicular train in Kaprun, Austria, starts a fire in the train's brake fluid while the train is in a tunnel; only four of the train's 155 passengers survived the fire in the Kaprun disaster.
December 2 – The Sarai Banjara rail disaster in the Punjab, India killed 46 and injured at least 150 when a freight train derailed into the path of a passenger train.
December 30 – The Rizal Day bombings occurred around Metro Manila in the Philippines leaving 22 dead.

Group	Gold medal	Silver medal
A	Norfolk Southern Railway
B	Kansas City Southern Railway
C	Gateway Western Railway
S&T		Belt Railway of Chicago

Some of the events listed here were translated from 2000 dans les chemins de fer, the equivalent French-language Wikipedia article.
Green, Timothy C. (September 1, 2004), Train Scan August 2000. Retrieved July 7, 2005.

^ Cudahy, Brian J. (2003). A Century of Subways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York's Underground Railways. New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 9780823222957.
^ Stephens, Bill (July 2000). "CSX still struggling; Snow re-assumes reins". Trains. 60 (7). Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing: 16–18. ISSN 0041-0934.
^ General Motors Electro-Motive Division (May 23, 2000). "General Motors' Electro Motive ships first five locomotives for huge Union Pacific order". Archived from the original on March 14, 2006. Retrieved April 13, 2005. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Øresund Bridge". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Significant dates in Ottawa railway history". Colin Churcher's Railway Pages. September 7, 2005. Archived from the original on October 4, 2005. Retrieved September 30, 2005. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Amtrak’s new Hit-Speed Service is Derailed by Mechanical Problem, ‘’LA Times’’/AP, December 13, 2000
^ Left, Sarah (January 15, 2002). "Key dates in Britain's railway history". The Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved July 7, 2007.