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| Years in rail transport |
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| Timeline of railway history |
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 2012.
9 January – Shenyang Metro Line 2 opened.
14 January – The Marina Bay Extension of the Circle MRT line in Singapore opens for service. [1] 
4 February – National Express East Anglia's passenger service franchise expires; from the following day services are taken over by Abellio Greater Anglia.
22 February – Buenos Aires rail disaster: A buffer stop collision at Once railway station kills 51.
3 March – Szczekociny rail crash: A head-on collision in Poland kills 16.
25 March – The North Shore Connector extension of the Pittsburgh Light Rail system opens.
The Towada Kankō Electric Railway Line is abolished, ending 89 years of service between Misawa and Towadashi Stations in Aomori Prefecture. [2] The Yashiro Line on the Nagano Electric Railway is abolished in Nagano Prefecture after 89 years of operation. [3] 13 April – The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area) grants the Downtown San Francisco Extension top priority for federal funding. This would extend the Caltrain line 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from the current terminus at 4th & King (close to AT&T Park) to Downtown San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center and be used by California High-Speed Rail as its terminal. [4] As of 2020 [update] the extension does not have a planned completion. 23 April – Boston's MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line extension to Wickford Junction (MBTA station) opens.
– Open-access operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori begins operation of its .italo high-speed trains. [5] – The first phase of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Expo Line opens for service. The line runs from downtown LA to Culver City. The next phase of the project will extend the line to Santa Monica. [6] – Suzhou Metro opens. 30 April – Oakton-Skokie station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow Line opens.
27 May – GoRail starts operating on Tallinn–Saint Petersburg line after a four-year hiatus. [7] 13 June – The Manchester Metrolink light rail system opens the first phase of its Oldham & Rochdale Line over the former Oldham Loop Line to a temporary terminus at Oldham Mumps. [8] 15 June – The SacRT light rail Green Line Phase 1 to River District opens. A future extension is planned to extend this line to the Sacramento International Airport but is not expected to be completed until sometime during the 2020s. [9] [10] 28 June – Kunming Metro opens. 1 July – Tianjin Metro Line 2 opens. 28 July – Construction was completed and service commencing on the AirportLink line of the Miami Metrorail, extending service to Miami International Airport via the Miami Intermodal Center [11] 
27 August – Construction is completed on the north east extension of Calgary Alberta's light rail transit system, the C-Train. The extension has added 2 new stations in northeast Calgary at Martindale and Saddletowne, adding several kilometers of track to the system.
31 August – Sofia Metro Line 2 begins service. 16 September – Chengdu Metro Line 2 opens. 22 September – The 2001-opened Portland Streetcar system, in Portland, Oregon, inaugurates service on a second line, the "Central Loop" (or CL Line), serving the central east side. [12] 28 September – Phase 1 of Chongqing Rail Transit's Line 6, connecting Wulidian to Kangzhuang, opens. [13] Tianjin Metro Line 3 opens.
The Nikšić–Podgorica railway reopens to passengers after reconstruction and electrification. 3 October – The UK Department for Transport announces cancellation and rerunning of the InterCity West Coast passenger service franchise bidding process after discovering significant technical flaws in its assessment, reversing an August decision to award it to FirstGroup and following challenges by incumbent operator Virgin Trains. [14] 8 October – Seattle's Sounder commuter rail south line extension to South Tacoma and Lakewood opens. [15] 
27 October – In Seoul, Line 7 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is extended from Onsu to Bupyeong-gu Office (10.3 km (6.4 mi)). [16] 
29 October – Dar es Salaam commuter rail service commences. [17] 24 November – Hangzhou Metro Line 3 opens. 1 December – The Harbin–Dalian High-Speed Railway opens for service. [18] 3 December – Dallas Area Rapid Transit opens extensions on two lines: the Orange Line carrying passengers to Belt Line, [19] and the Blue Line extension to the Downtown Rowlett Station. [19] – Opening of West Line of the Calgary C-Train, the system's first new line in 25 years. – Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner extends service south from Salt Lake City to Provo. [20] 
15 December – Automation of Paris Métro Line 1 reaches 100%. This is the second automated line after Line 14. 16 December – The Manchester Metrolink light rail system extends its Oldham & Rochdale Line to Shaw & Crompton. [21] 18 December – Paris Métro Line 12 is extended from Porte de la Chapelle to Front Populaire.
21 December – Inauguration of the reopened Nigerian Railway Corporation's Lagos–Kano railway line in Nigeria, rebuilt by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and Costain West Africa. [22] [23] 26 December – The Beijing-Zhengzhou section of the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway is scheduled to open, completing the HSR connection from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. [24] [25] 
Manchester Metrolink is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along 64 miles (103 km) of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kingdom. Over the 2022/23 financial year 36 million passenger journeys were made on the system.
Metrolink is a commuter rail system in Southern California, serving Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties, as well as to Oceanside in San Diego County. The system consists of eight lines and 69 stations operating on 545.6 miles (878.1 km) of track. This includes Arrow, which Metrolink operates under a contract with the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA).
The San Bernardino Line is a Metrolink line running between Downtown Los Angeles east through the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to San Bernardino, with limited express service to Redlands. It is one of the three initial lines on the original Metrolink system, along with the Santa Clarita Line and the Ventura County Line.
The 91/Perris Valley Line, formerly known as the 91 Line, is a commuter rail route operated by Metrolink that runs from Los Angeles to Perris in Southern California, mostly paralleling State Route 91 between Riverside-Downtown and Buena Park stations. Operating since May 2002, the route runs on the Southern Transcon line owned by BNSF Railway, as well as the Riverside County Transportation Commission-owned San Jacinto Branch Line. Services are primarily operated along the entire route between L.A. Union Station and Perris–South, while some trips use Riverside–Downtown as a terminus.
The A Line is a 48.5-mile (78.1 km) light rail line in Los Angeles County, California. It is one of the six lines of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The A Line serves 44 stations and runs east-west between Azusa and Pasadena, then north-south between Pasadena and Long Beach, interlining and sharing five stations with the E Line in Downtown Los Angeles. It operates for approximately 19 hours per day with headways of up to 8 minutes during peak hours. Since 2023, the line has been the longest light rail line in the world.
The E Line is a 22-mile (35 km) light rail line in Los Angeles County, California. It is one of the six lines of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The E Line runs east-west and serves 29 stations between East Los Angeles and Santa Monica. It interlines and shares five stations with the A Line in Downtown Los Angeles. Service operates for 21 hours per day with headways of up to 8 minutes during peak hours. The E Line, the second-busiest light rail line in the system, saw an average of 41,902 passengers on weekdays in October 2023.
The Oldham Loop Line was a suburban-line in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail.
The C Line is a 19.3-mile (31.1 km) light rail line running between Redondo Beach and Norwalk within Los Angeles County, California. It is one of six lines forming the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and opened on August 12, 1995. Along the route, the line serves the cities of Downey, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Norwalk and Lynwood, the Los Angeles community of Westchester, and several unincorporated communities in the South Los Angeles region including Athens, Del Aire, and Willowbrook. A free shuttle bus to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is available at the line's Aviation/LAX station.
Rochdale railway station is a multi-modal transport hub in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It consists of a Northern-operated heavy rail station on the Caldervale Line, and an adjoining light rail stop on Metrolink's Oldham and Rochdale Line. The original heavy-rail element of the station was opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1839 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the south of Rochdale town centre. The Metrolink element opened in February 2013. Further changes to the station are planned as part of the Northern Hub rail-enhancement scheme.
Shaw and Crompton is a tram stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 16 December 2012 and is located in Shaw and Crompton, a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, England.
Central Park is a tram stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 13 June 2012 as part of Phase 3a of Metrolink's expansion, and is located in the Newton Heath area of Manchester, England.
East Didsbury is a tram stop on Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system and the terminus of the system's South Manchester Line (SML). It is on the east side of Kingsway in East Didsbury, close to Manchester's boundary with Heaton Mersey in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport. It was built as part of Phase 3b of the network's expansion and opened on 23 May 2013.
The history of Manchester Metrolink begins with its conception as Greater Manchester's light rail system in 1982 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, and spans its inauguration in 1992 and the successive phases of expansion.
The Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong high-speed railway or Jingguangshengang high-speed railway from its Chinese name is a high-speed railway corridor of the CRH passenger service, connecting Beijingxi station in Beijing and Futian station in Shenzhen, Guangdong in less than nine hours of travel time. It is 2,230 kilometres (1,390 mi) long, and is the only Chinese high-speed railway to cross a border that requires immigration and customs clearance. The existing, conventional Jingguang railway runs largely parallel to the line.
This timeline lists significant events in the history of Greater Manchester's light rail network called the Manchester Metrolink.
The San Bernardino Transit Center is an intermodal transit center in downtown San Bernardino, California, United States. It is owned and operated by Omnitrans, the area's public transportation agency. Opened in September 2015, the center consolidates three Metrolink commuter rail services and more than a dozen local bus services, including the sbX bus rapid transit service into one central location.
The Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) is a light rail/tram line on the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester, running from North Manchester to Rochdale town centre via Oldham, reusing most of the trackbed of the former Oldham Loop railway line which closed in 2009. The line was re-opened in a modified form as a tramway from 2012 – 2014, as part of Phase 3 of the Metrolink's expansion.
This is a list of confirmed or proposed future developments of the Manchester Metrolink light rail system in Greater Manchester, England.
