1978 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1978.

Events

February 9 - Budd unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
February 22 - The Waverly tank car explosion was an explosion that occurred in Waverly, Tennessee, following a train derailment incident days earlier. The explosion killed 16.

March 1
- Australian National takes over Tasmanian Government Railways and freight and non-metropolitan operations of South Australian Railways.
- Amtrak opens Midway station in Saint Paul, Minnesota and closes the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot. The Twin Cities Hiawatha and Arrowhead trains are combined into the North Star.
- The M-K TE70-4S makes its first revenue run, handling a Southern Pacific Seattle–Los Angeles trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) train between Portland and Los Angeles.^[1]
March 16 – An extension of the Tozai Subway Line from Kita-Nijūyo-Jō Station to Asabu Stationin Sapporo, Japan, opens for service.^[2]
March 31 – A 1-kilometre long (0.62 mi) extension of the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line to Yoyogi-Uehara station is opened.
March - Pacific Fruit Express dissolves its fleet of refrigerator cars, which is distributed between Southern Pacific and Union Pacific.

July 6 - A plastic bag of dirty linen carelessly placed against the electric heater in the vestibule of a British Rail sleeping car traveling between Penzance and London Paddington, England causes the Taunton train fire.

September 12 - The longest tunnel in New Zealand (8,896m), the Kaimai Tunnel on the East Coast Main Trunk opened.

November 7 - The Illinois Railway Museum celebrates its 25th anniversary.^[3]
November 18 - The Merivale Bridge is opened connecting South Brisbane and Roma Street and unifying the Brisbane suburban network. Originally designed to carry both narrow gauge and standard gauge tracks, the latter was not added until 1986.

December 3 - The Southern Crescent passenger train derails at Shipman, Virginia, killing 6, injuring 60.^[4]
December 4 - Union Pacific and Chicago & North Western jointly announce an agreement to build into Wyoming's Powder River Basin to access the numerous coal mines in the area.^[5]
December 31 - The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad operates its last passenger trains, the Peorian and a Chicago to Rock Island train.

The Stone Arch Bridge built by the Great Northern Railway across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota sees its final use as a railroad bridge; the bridge is later converted for pedestrian and bicycle use.
The Itel Corporation purchases the Green Bay & Western.

Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This month in railroad history - October. Retrieved October 31, 2005.

^ Fearon, Joseph G. (1978). Application of Sulzer 12ASV 25/30 Diesel Engines to M-K TE70-4S Locomotives. Energy Technology Conference & Exhibition, Houston, Texas, November 5–9, 1978. American Society of Mechanical Engineers. pp. 10–11. 78-DGP-15.
^ "地下鉄（高速電車）の概要" [Overview of the subway (high-speed train)]. city.sapporo.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
^ Illinois Railway Museum (May 5, 2005), History of the IRM. Retrieved November 7, 2005.
^ "Investigators probe fatal train wreck". Anchorage Daily News. 1978-12-05. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13.
^ Feurer, Keith (Summer 2004). "Look who came out on top". North Western Lines. 32 (1). Chicago and North Western Railway Historical Society: 16–39. ISSN 0279-5000.
^ Marshall, John (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers (2nd ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901461-22-9.