1979 in rail transport - Definition and Overview

This article will list events related to rail transport that occurred in 1979.

Events

January events

• January - An electrical fire erupts aboard a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train traveling in the transbay tube; the fire kills one firefighter and closes the system for more than two months.

October events

• October 22 - The Invergowrie rail crash, in Invergowrie, Scotland, occurs when a track signal fails to switch to a stop indication that would have protected a stalled passenger train; a second passenger train collides with the stalled train, resulting in 5 fatalities.
• October - Hong Kong's first subway opens.

December events

• December - Amtrak discontinues the Floridian, Lone Star and North Coast Hi passenger trains.
• December - Union Pacific 3985, a 4-6-6-4 steam locomotive, is moved from static display in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for inspection and eventual restoration for operations.
• December - Nickel Plate 765, a 2-8-4 steam locomotive, operates under its own power after 21 years of static display.

Unknown date events

• Alan Furth succeeds Denman McNear as president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
• Amtrak's first EMD AEM7 locomotives enter service.

Births

Deaths

May deaths

• May 9 - Cyrus S. Eaton, president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the 1950s (b. 1883).