Events
By month
February events
- February 27
– Official opening of Santo Domingo Metro.
– National Express changes the name of the railway operating company one to National Express East Anglia as part of a company-wide rebranding exercise.[1][2]
March events
March 9 – Sprinter starts service between Oceanside and Escondido, California,[3] reinstating passenger service on the Escondido branch line.
March 15 – The Osaka Higashi Line is scheduled to open in Osaka, Japan; the opening was originally scheduled for 2006, but delayed due to problems acquiring land.- March 27 – Heathrow Terminal 5 station opens in London.
- March 30 – Yokohama Municipal Subway's Green Line is opened for regular operations.
– Kolkata Metro is extended from Tollygunge station to Pranabnagar station.[citation needed]
April events
- April 1 – The Miki Railway Miki Line in Japan, which connected Yakujin Station in Kakogawa and Miki Station in Miki, is closed.
- April 26 – FrontRunner, a new commuter rail service, begins running in Utah.
- April 28 – Wrexham & Shropshire begin to run passenger services between London Marylebone station, the West Midlands, Shropshire and north-east Wales.[4][5][6]
June events
- June 2 – An unexploded bomb from World War II is found near where the District and Hammersmith & City lines cross the Prescott Channel, not far from Bromley-by-Bow tube station, causing disruption to trains.[7]
- June 2–6 – AfricaRail 2008 Conference.[8]
July events
July 5 – Meeting between Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador regarding a proposed rail link for freight and passengers between the three countries, also connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic.
August events
- August 1
– China officially opens the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway line, the first in the world regularly to host trains traveling up to 350 km/h (220 mph).[9][10][11]- – LNER-design Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado makes first official move under its own steam, the first main line steam locomotive built in Britain since 1960.[12]
November events
- November – Voter approval of Measure M in Los Angeles County, California, commits additional tax dollars to transit projects.
December events
- December 27 – The first section of the new Valley Metro Rail system, part of Valley Metro in Phoenix, Arizona, opened.[13][14][15]
By season
Summer events
- – The project to rebuild and upgrade Guiyang Southern Station to more than double its capacity is expected to be completed.[16]
Unknown date events
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- – Indian Railways expects to complete the conversion of its electrified section in Mumbai from a 1,500 volt DC system to 25,000 volts AC; this will make the Mumbai section's electrification consistent with the rest of Indian Railways' network.
– Vietnam expects to complete construction on the Hanoi–Lào Cai railway line upgrade.[17]
– The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, will begin construction of a new intercity light railway beginning with a 26.5 km (16.5 mi) section between Baltiyskaya Zhemchuzhina and the Obukhovo[ambiguous] metro station.[18]
