May 2008 in rail transport

2007, 2008, 2009

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in May 2008.

[edit] Events

– Fortescue Metals Group has won another round in its long-running quest for third-party access to Pilbara railway lines. The Federal Court of Australia yesterday rejected Rio Tinto's claim that the National Competition Council should rely on a 1999 decision denying access to Robe River instead of considering Fortescue's recent application for access. ^[1]
– The New Zealand government will pay NZ$665 million to buy back railway and sea ferry operations that were privatized in the 1990s. "The selling of our public rail system in the early 1990s and the running down of the asset afterward has been a painful lesson for New Zealand," Finance Minister Michael Cullen said yesterday. ^[2]
– The Abu Dhabi emirate is planning to construct a railway system by the year 2015, to cope with the transportation problem of its ever increasing population, a senior transport official has said. The population of Abu Dhabi is expected to increase to more than three million people by 2030, and planners say it is 'a must' for Abu Dhabi, heavily reliant on a taxi service that often cannot cope with the demand, to have its own metro by 2015.^[3]

– The toll in the trolley accident in the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, India has risen to 3 with the death a railway employee succumbing to injuries in a private hospital here on Tuesday. Two persons were killed and six others injured on Sunday when they jumped from the trolley after its brakes failed at Katteri, between Coonoor and Mettupalayam. ^[4]

Australia - Agreement to convert Seymour to Albury from 1 BG and 1 SG track to double track Standard gauge, leaving Oaklands and intermediate stations as Gauge Orphans.