Rinbad 2002
Contents of this file are the archived text of Rinbad 2002,
a newsletter about the world's railway geography and infrastructure,
for the year 2002.
______

1827][IE] (Limerick Check -) Foynes Jn - Ballingrane - Askeaton - Foynes: (R.0405, 1774) The 42km Limerick and Foynes Railway opened to Rathkeale (now Ballingrane) 12 July 1856, to Askeaton 12 May 1857 and to Foynes 28 April 1858. Passenger trains ceased 4 April 1963. General freight services were withdrawn from all stations except Foynes in 1974. The last known revenue train ran 30 October 2000. During 2001 the line seems to have seen three movements: the annual weed-spraying train on 29 May and later some scrap wagons for storage at Foynes followed by the last known movement on the branch, a visit by an inspection car on 8 November. Iarnród Éireann's weekly circular valid from 17 December 2001 reveals that the line is now effectively closed to traffic. The Limerick permanent-way inspector holds the manual staff authorising access to it, and will conduct any engineering trains over it if necessary. (irishrailwaynews@hotmail.com)

1828][IE] Dublin Connolly - Newcomen Jn - Glasnevin Jn: The Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society (#146, October 2001) recorded the last movement over the line as a ballast train in December 1997, though the same journal (#137, October 1998; BLN 839.0589) said the line closed 18 May 1998, perhaps the official date. After problems in 1999-2000 (BLN 846.0129, R.0697) the lifting-bridge over the Royal Canal just south of Newcomen Jn has it seems been fully restored, and on 15 May 2001 it was raised for perhaps the first time since the 1960s for canal-traffic reasons, allowing seven vessels to pass through from the canal to the Liffey estuary's tidal water. The first train on the line since closure ran on 30 July 2001 when a spoil train assisted with excavation work to install new drains beneath a lifted section of track between Croke Park and Binns Bridge. Though Iarnród Éireann found the line useful (R.0357), they have managed without it for four years and are now contemplating rather fewer freight trains (R.1774, 1825), so it is not clear that restoration is a priority. Perhaps IE have it in mind to increase commuter-train frequency on the Dublin - Maynooth route (not calling at Drumcondra) while minimising conflict with DART trains on the suburban lines just north of Connolly.

1829][FR] Bois de Saint-Eutrope: (R.1485; Ball 82B3 not shown) It seems the 2.5km 600mm-gauge CF de St.Eutrope in the park at Evry did not in fact run during the 2001 season. (Voie Étroite, October-November 2001)

1830][FR][DE] Lorraine colliery railway: Reumaux [FR] - Merlebach Nord [DE]: (R.1134; EGTRE FR01/110, DE02/453; Ball FR-29B3 not shown) From 7 November 2001 SNCF subsidiary Voies Ferrées Locales et Industrielles took over the 210km standard-gauge industrial system of colliery company Houillčres du Bassin de Lorraine. (Today's Railways, January 2002) Unadvertised passenger trains carrying miners may still work between nearby pitheads in France and Germany via the HBL tunnel under the frontier near Merlebach, but further information would be welcome.

1831][FR] Strasbourg trams: (Ball 30A2 not shown) Adjacent to SNCF's (Strasbourg -) Bischheim - La Wantzenau (- Lauterbourg) line, but with no extant station, is Hoenheim Gare, northern terminus of tram-route B, opened September 2000 (R.0933). It comprises a vast tram-bus park-and-ride interchange, over which a flat roof provides some shelter from vertical precipitation but none at all from wind. On 10 September 2001, only a year after opening, the unfortunate structure was being held up by scaffolding where one of its supports had been either poorly built or injudiciously placed and hit by a road-vehicle.

1832][FR] Besançon funicular: (Ball 39B1 not shown) Owned by the local council and linking the town to the Monts de Brégille, the 423m-long metre-gauge funiculaire de Brégille (or funiculaire de Beauregard-Brégille) opened 29 June 1913 but has lain out of use since 27 May 1987, the two cars having been removed to avoid vandalism. The single track with passing-loop was however still in place on 6 September 2001. The lower station, apparently complete despite 14 years of disuse, is close to the east side of the level-crossing at the north end of Besançon-Mouilličre station - and can thus be readily glimpsed from passing trains on the Besançon-Viotte - Besançon-Mouilličre (- Morteau SNCF - Le Locle-Col-des-Roches CFF) line. The funicular is illustrated, with its former connecting trams, in the reference work Funiculaires et crémaillčres de France by Jean Gennesseaux, published by La Vie du Rail, 1992.

1833][FR] La Rochelle trams: Aytré - Europe: (R.0320, 1656; Ball 43A1 not shown) The new 1.6km line is to be used only for testing Citadis trams built by Alstom's Aytré factory, which are not to carry passengers. (Alstom press notice, 22 Sep 2001)

1834][FR] Laqueuille - St.Sauves - La Bourboule - Le Mont-Dore: (Ball 54B2) The volcanic hot springs (40-44°C) of Le Mont-Dore in the Auvergne were known to the ancient Gauls and rediscovered in the 17th century, but significant development of the small town, and of nearby La Bourboule for the holiday trade, did not occur until about 1890. The Chemin de Fer Paris-Orléans opened their steep 13km branch line 1 June 1899. It survives, but must be seriously unremunerative, having only a couple of local workings plus a through train to and from the capital daily in summer, and apparently no freight. Moreover, the sparse train service is unbalanced, even by the standards of SNCF, never known to make much effort to save taxpayers money by tight diagramming of stock or staff. Laqueuille station, though 3km from the eponymous town, has its own little settlement including two hotels. The Ball atlas incorrectly shows a short tunnel between the station and the branch junction but in fact the junction is at the station, though the two lines do run parallel for nearly a km in the open before diverging. St.Sauves halt is closed, and the buses which flesh out the rail service serve the village, c.1.5km away. The only intermediate stop is now La Bourboule, whose station is right at the top of the spa town. At Le Mont Dore, the station is at the bottom of the town, and is staffed, even for the arrival of the rail-replacement bus at 21:00 (which becomes a train on Fridays). 

1835][FR] Le Mont-Dore funicular: (Ball 54B2 not shown) At the opposite end of town from SNCF is the Funiculaire du Capucin, opened as a chemin de fer d'intéręt local ŕ traction funiculaire 1 July 1898, a year before the main line arrived. In recent years it has seen major overhauls in 1979 and May 1996. Metre-gauge, 480m long, it climbs 175m to its top station at 1245m - alas, still some way below the summit of 1468m. The line is notably steep, with a maximum gradient of 561mm/m, about 1 in 1.75. It is open May to September, 10:00-12:10 and 14:00-18:40, with departures every 20min and journey time 8min. Two cars work the line, with the usual passing-loop midway. Operators are the town council. Anyone wishing to ride the funicular before catching the first SNCF train out has to walk to the top of the funicular for the first departure at 10:10, arriving 10:18 at the bottom, and then trot down through the town for 10:38 at the SNCF station, since it cannot be done by taking the first uphill funicular. 

1836][FR] Arles - Fontvieille: (R.1138, 1547; Ball 75A3) No shortcut is available between the adjacent SNCF and Bouches-du-Rhône stations, so interchanging passengers should allow enough time to head down the SNCF station-approach road, and double back under the railway bridges to the RDT depot at 17bis Avenue de Hongrie, which is the original BDR terminus. Only the Saturday Train des Alpilles is seasonal, and RDT run the Wednesday one all year. No local people seemed to be using it on 12 September 2001, however, so it does not appear to perform any 'market-day' transport function, perhaps because the five or six ungated level-crossings in town, across which the train has to be flagged by a crew-member, plus the speed-limit appropriate to a light railway, make for rather a slow (though interesting) run. 

1837][FR] Rivesaltes - Cases-de-Pčnes - Estagel - St.Paul-de-Fenouillet - Lapradelle-Puilaurens (- Axat - St.Martin-Lys - Quillan): (BLN 841.02, 844.089; Ball 73A1-72B1) Passenger trains on the 70km ex-Midi line from Rivesaltes west to Quillan ceased 18 April 1939, and when the 9km St.Martin-Lys - Quillan section saw its last regular freight movements in September 1956, it ceased to be a through route. St.Martin-Lys - Quillan was shown as 'open' in SNCF's 1980 freight atlas, but had gone by the August 1990 edition of their map Le réseau SNCF. The 10km Lapradelle - St.Martin-Lys section closed to freight 31 September 1998, but the remaining 51km Rivesaltes - Lapradelle section is thought to remain available for limited use under SNCF's TR (voie unique ŕ trafic restreint) arrangements. On Sundays 16, 23 and 30 September 2001, railcar X3944, carrying the name Le papillon (= butterfly) and the initials TPCF, ran shuttle trips for the Association Train du Pays Cathare et Fenouillčdes from St.Paul-de-Fenouillet (Pyrénées Orientales) west 17km to Lapradelle-Puilaurens (Aude). After the last trip, the railcar ran from St.Paul 27km east to Cases-de-Pčnes. Well-covered by the media, these trips presage a future tourist-train operation amid the picturesque scenery of the Corbičres coiffées and châteaux Cathares. (L'Écho du Rail, #227)

1838][NL] Amsterdam trams: Tram-line 1 extension to De Aker was to open 8 December 2001. (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 2001)

1839][DE][NL] Leer - Weener DB - Nieuweschans NS (- Groningen): (R.0627, 0713, 1142; Ball DE-15B2-15A2, NL-2A2) A local report says the cross-border rail passenger service is to be restored 1 February 2002, with three daily local trains.

1840][DE] Ulzburg Süd - Henstedt-Ulzburg - Kaltenkirchen: (BLN 826.0229; Ball 17B3) Ulzburg Süd station, the hub of the AKN system, comprises two island platforms with outer faces (served by Gleis 1 to the east and Gleis 3 to the west) and a single middle track between them (Gleis 2), accessible from both islands. Every twenty minutes the station sees an interchange between trains from three routes, and every hour trains from all four routes meet, to the following basic pattern. First, a southbound Elmshorn - Henstedt-Ulzburg - Ulzburg Süd train terminates in Gleis 2, and draws forward south into a short siding. Secondly, a northbound Norderstedt Mitte - Ulzburg Süd train terminates in Gleis 2. Thirdly, Eidelstedt - Ulzburg Süd - Henstedt-Ulzburg - Kaltenkirchen trains in each direction arrive and depart, using Gleis 1 northbound and Gleis 3 southbound. Fourthly, the Norderstedt train picks up passengers and returns whence it came. Finally, the Elmshorn train returns from its siding to Gleis 2, picks up and departs. The basic cycle takes a mere 13 minutes from the hourly Elmshorn train's arrival to its return departure. Clearly the AKN operating performance has to be (and is) impressively accurate to avoid the whole service collapsing. (Different patterns operate at times of stock change-over, when for example the Elmshorn-bound train may come into Gleis 3 attached to the rear of the Kaltenkirchen - Eidelstedt working, uncouple and depart northwards from Gleis 3.) North of Ulzburg Süd (km27 as measured from the closed terminus at Garstedt), the new AKN alignments which came into use 28 August 2000 (IBSE Telegramm 2.01) comprise some 5km of double track, mainly running west of the former alignment and below ground through the southern part of Ulzburg. The new Henstedt-Ulzburg station is in a cutting, more or less on the site of the former Ulzburg station at ground level. From the platform end, a sharp curve to the west rises steeply to take the Henstedt-Ulzburg - Elmshorn line very quickly to its previous alignment, but the Henstedt-Ulzburg - Kaltenkirchen line takes longer to get back to its original route at about km32.4, just south of Kaltenkirchen Süd.

1841][DE] Hamburg: Ohlsdorf - Ochsenzoll: (BLN 818.025; Ball 22A2) Alongside this section of Hamburger Hochbahn AG's U-Bahn line U1 much of DB's former single freight track can still be seen rotting away in the undergrowth. However, between late 1997 and late 2001 the junction points at Ohlsdorf were removed and the long goods-yard at Ochsenzoll lifted, with the land nearest the former buffer-stops now given over to non-railway commercial activity.

1842][DE][NL] Gronau (Westfalen) DB - Glanerbrug NS - De Eschmarke - Enschede: (R.1724; Ball DE-24A2, NL-5B3) This cross-border line duly officially opened on Sunday 18 November 2001. 

1843][DE] Vorwohle - Eschershausen - Bodenwerder-Linse - Emmerthal: (BLN 742.0344; Ball 26B1-26A1) The private Vorwohle-Emmerthaler Eisenbahn south of Hameln lost its regular passenger trains from 25 September 1966, but the 31.8km line, now run by Vorwohle-Emmerthaler Verkehrsbetriebe, based at Bodenwerder-Linse, retained junctions with DB at both ends. Through freight trains have not run since 1986, but DB locomotives have worked wagons in at each end (Vorwohle - Eschershausen and Emmerthal - Bodenwerder-Linse). VEV's only locomotive undertakes track work and shunting. Preservation group Dampfzug-Betriebs-Gemeinschaft eV ran seasonal excursions the full length of the line until the 1998 season (eight dates). In 1999, due to poor track, only the 26.1km Emmerthal - Eschershausen section was available for excursions: DBG ran these on four dates and another preservation group Dampfeisenbahn Weserbergland eV on seven dates. In 2000 only the latter group ran, again from Emmerthal to Eschershausen, on eight dates. For the 2001 season, trains were further cut back to run Emmerthal - Bodenwerder-Linse (14.6km) on six dates. A final train over as much of the line as possible towards Vorwohle is proposed for 26 January 2002. It is understood that at least part of the southern Vorwohle - Eschershausen - Bodenwerder-Linse section is to be given over to tourist rail-cycle use in the 2002 summer season, though the northern section may remain in use for freight and for steam excursions. 

1844][DE] Müncheberg (Mark) - Buckow (Märkische Schweiz): (BLN 822.0123; Ball 30A3) Preservation group Buckower Kleinbahn Museum plan to run tourist trains on the 5km branch during May-October 2002. (http://www.bf-buckow.de)

1845][DE] Berlin: Ostkreuz - Frankfurter Allee - Greifswalder Strasse - Bornholmer Strasse - Pankow - Karower Kreuz: (Ball 32A2-32A3) The Containerbahnhof at Frankfurter Allee has closed, but a cement terminal at Greifswalder Strasse remains. The extensive marshalling-yards at Pankow are entirely disused. The Fernbahn tracks paralleling the S-Bahn were in December 2001 fairly rusty though not entirely out of use. They are used by locomotives running light to and from Pankow depot, but since the rails were rather shinier from Pankow to Karower Kreuz and round the southwest-to-southeast curve to Abzw Karow Ost this suggests that most locomotive moves in practice use that route. 

1846][DE] Berlin: Lehrter Bahnhof - Westhafen / Gesundbrunnen: (R1659; Ball 32A2) In December 2001 earthworks were still under way in the vicinity of Westhafen and Gesundbrunnen, but new main-line track had been laid west from Westhafen to Jungfernheide. At Gesundbrunnen the S-Bahn track layout now in use appears to be the final version. S-Bahn trains use the eventual Ferngleis formation for a short distance west of Schönhauser Allee, passing under the flyover carrying the goods lines to Pankow and Schönholz, then regaining the S-Bahn formation to pass through the diveunder below the northbound S-Bahn tracks (to Bornholmer Strasse). The September 2001 S-Bahn timetable shows S8 trains running to and from Gesundbrunnen early morning and late evening, but otherwise terminating and starting at Schönhauser Allee. They do so in the westbound (outer rail) platform, requiring S4 trains to use the eastbound (inner rail) platform in both directions.

1847][DE] Berlin: Lehrter Bahnhof - Potsdamer Platz - Yorckstrasse - Papestrasse - Lichterfelde Süd (- Teltow Stadt): (BLN 814.0545, 837.0553; Ball 32A2) Good progress on the cross-town north-to-south main line was evident in the city centre by early December 2001. Underground platforms at Lehrter Bhf new main-line station could be glimpsed from trains on the Stadtbahn above. Tracklaying had started on the new realigned Stadtbahn viaduct. Redevelopment has already provided extensive galleries and subsurface pedestrian walkways from which it is possible to look down at the platforms of Potsdamer Platz new main-line station, still without track (R.1576). By contrast, little sign was seen of Fernbahn reinstatement parallel to the Papestrasse - Lichterfelde Süd S-Bahn. Work had not started on replacing any of its underline bridges. Quite a significant span will be required over the Teltowkanal.

1848][DE] Berlin Innenring: Charlottenburg - Halensee - Wilmersdorf - Papestrasse - Tempelhof - Neukölln - Treptow Güterbahnhof: (Ball 32A2) In December 2001 the latterly single-track bridge carrying the Ringbahn Ferngleis over the Anhalterbahn at Papestrasse had been entirely removed, so with negligible freight traffic at Halensee and Wilmersdorf, the long-distance tracks were virtually out of use from Charlottenburg Güterbahnhof south-east round the inner ring to Tempelhof. (Innenring S-Bahn trains use a different bridge and are unaffected.) It appears that a new bridge is to be built, presumably as part of the work on the new north-to-south main line through the middle of Berlin (R.1847). The bridge work at Papestrasse had also put the Tempelhof Rangierbahnhof - Anhalter Güterbahnhof freight branch temporarily out of use. A short section of its track at Papestrasse had its sleepers tarred over and was in use as a haul-road for lorries taking away soil and rubble. By contrast, the Ringbahn's south-east quadrant retains quite extensive freight traffic centred on Neukölln, from which a truncated short section of the Ringbahn Ferngleis heads north to serve the busy container terminal at Treptow Güterbahnhof. The Treptow container trains and the Kraftwerk Rudow coal trains (R.1849) appear to work to and from Neukölln via Baumschulenweg, but the Teltowkanal rubbish trains work mainly west on the Ringbahn, heading south via the Tempelhof (Ringbahn) - Tempelhof Rangierbahnhof - Attilastrasse connection, a single freight-only track winding its way through scrub and silver birches, where the remains of the former Tempelhof Rangierbahnhof sidings can be found in the undergrowth. South of Attilastrasse they head out of the city to landfill tips in former brown-coal workings.

1849][DE] Berlin: Neukölln - Teltowkanal - Rudow Nord - Kraftwerk Rudow: (R.0759; Ball 32A2) Local private operators Neukölln Mittenwalder Eisenbahn take over at Neukölln inbound coal trains to Kraftwerk Rudow and haul outbound containerised rubbish from the Teltowkanal terminal of Berliner Stadtreinigung (= city cleansing) as far as Neukölln. The NME line south-east of Neukölln follows its original route save for a minor deviation just north-west of Rudow Nord, built to avoid a short transit of the former Soviet Zone of Germany outside the city boundary, and then runs on a reservation down the centre of Zwickauer Damm and Stubenrauch Strasse to the power-station. The separate NME Neukölln - Flughafen Tempelhof branch that crosses the Ringbahn to the west of Neukölln was in December 2001 heavily rusted and overgrown.

1850][DE] Essen trams and light rail: (BLN 824.0175; Ball 34A3) From 24 May 1998 Essener Verkehrs-AG extended their standard-gauge Stadtbahn line U11 from Universität to an underground station adjacent to DB's Altenessen Bf; withdrew their tram-route #101; cut back tram #106 to its present turning-circle on the surface outside Altenessen Bf; and removed the metre-gauge tram-tracks north of Altenessen Bf. From 30 September 2001 Stadtbahn lines U11 and U17 were extended again to run underground north to Altenessen-Karlsplatz, with U17 continuing north above ground, following the former tram #101 alignment regauged to standard, finally just crossing the Essen municipal boundary to terminate at Gelsenkirchen-Fischerstrasse. The Stadtbahn terminus is some 200m south of the former physical junction between Essen tram-route #101 and route #301 of the metre-gauge Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Strassenbahnen AG (BOGESTRA), and thus perhaps 400m south of the former EVAG turn-back point at Gelsenkirchen Schloss Horst. Final adjustments were still being made to the Stadtbahn's new train-running displays when our reporter visited on Monday 1 October 2001.

1851][DE] Saarbrücken trams: Siedlerheim - Riegelsburg Süd: (Ball 56A2; R.1145, 1218) This Saarbahn extension opened 23 September 2001. (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 2001)

1852][DE] (Karlsruhe -) Rastatt - Baden Baden - Sinsheim - Steinbach - Bühl - Achern - Renchen - Appenweier - Offenburg (- Basel): (R.0731; Ball 57A1-68A3) Quadrupling of this important main line by the addition of a pair of fast tracks was continuing to make (relatively leisurely) progress in autumn 2001. From Rastatt to Baden Baden and again between Sinsheim and Steinbach the earthworks, on the west side, were largely complete. Track had been laid from km115.2 (Bühl) to km117.6 (Ottersweier), and from there southwards four tracks were in use all the way to Offenburg, mostly contiguous with the original alignment on its west side. The section to Appenweier came into use 21 May 2000 and that beyond in 1999. The fast tracks have no platforms at Achern (where for c.1km the whole railway was moved westward from 30 June 1996; BLN 834.0440), at Renchen or at Appenweier. The single-track north-to-west chord to the Appenweier - Kehl DB (- Strasbourg SNCF) line now diverges from the fast tracks with no connection from Appenweier station, so it is no longer possible (R.0100) for a Rastatt - Kehl train to serve any platform at Appenweier without reversing. South of Offenburg, no work had begun, because of local resistance to the quadrupling of the line through a residential area. 

1853][DE] Trossingen Bahnhof - Trossingen Stadt: (Ball 68B2) Planned to become part of Baden-Württemberg's ambitious Ringzug regional rail scheme (R.0486), the little 4.3km 600V dc light-rail standard-gauge Trossinger Eisenbahn was still operating in municipal ownership when visited in September 2001, running Mondays-Fridays only. The substantial shed at Trossingen Stadt, the branch terminus, appeared still to hold various elderly items of rolling-stock used on the line over the years. With the demise of the Deutschmark in favour of the Euro, the end of 2001 was to see the end of cardboard tickets of the traditional British Edmondson type issued at Trossingen Stadt, possibly the last German booking-office to sell such tickets other than for heritage or tourist trains. 

1854][AT] Gmünd NÖ - Altnagelberg - Litschau: (R.1555; Ball 63B2-63B1) ÖBB on behalf of Niederösterreich province are to run special trains (Class 2095 diesel locomotive and four-wheeled 760mm-gauge stock) on the otherwise-closed Gmünd - Litschau section on 28 May, 8, 22 June, 3, 17, 31 August, 14, 28 September 2002. Altnagelberg - Heidenreichstein trains of preservation group Waldviertler Schmalspurbahnverein are to connect. An option will be to use the return portion of the ÖBB ticket on a postbus to allow both the Litschau and Heidenreichstein lines to be visited. (wsv-diskussion@yahoogroups.co.uk)

1855][AT] Timelkam - Ampflwang: (Ball 73A2) Opened in 1921 by Wolfsegg-Traunthaler-Kohlenwerke AG to serve new coal workings in the Ampflwang area, the 11.5km line was originally 600mm-gauge, but when a power station was constructed at Timelkam demand soon required the railway's conversion to a standard-gauge branch, in 1924-25. Up to six passenger round-trips a day ran between 1943 and 30 September 1966. Steam traction lasted until 1973. Coal production diminished in the 1980s and seems to have finished about 1995. In the early 1990s preservation group Österreichische Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte (already involved in running heritage lines in Austria) moved into a site at Ampflwang for storage of their extensive collection of locomotives and stock, both restored and under restoration. In 1995 and 1996 ÖGEG ran two excursions a year on the branch (the first was probably on 30 July 1995). In 1996 they took the line over, and from 6 July 1997 they opened for business as Museumsbahn Ampflwang - Timelkam. In 2001 ÖGEG ran three round-trips from their Ampflwang base on some 17 operating days, including every Sunday from July to mid-September and three Nikolausfahrten in December. Leaving from the exchange sidings on the north side of the Westbahn main line at Timelkam, ÖGEG trains head up a valley that is pleasantly rural until Ampflwang, when a large concrete bunker once used for loading coal comes into view. This is now the ÖGEG museum, with serried ranks of rolling-stock, some of it in covered accommodation that would make British preservation groups envious. At the level-crossing beyond the museum is Ampflwang terminus, comprising no more than a signboard and a seat, beyond which the line continues to dead-end sidings. 

1856][AT] Ampflwang - Buchleiten: narrow-gauge industrial lines: (Ball 73A2 not shown) It seems that the bunker for loading coal into standard-gauge wagons did not have its own winding-gear but was served by at least two overhead-bucket cableways, one from Lukasberg mine to the west and one from a long shed standing on the hillside c.500m to the north with its flank at right angles to the contours. Within this shed, 600mm-gauge mine-wagons discharged coal into cableway buckets beneath. Above the shed, where some old 600mm-gauge wagons were still slumbering in the undergrowth, the line formerly did a right-angled turn to the west. At this point the old 600mm-gauge track had been supplanted by a new 760mm-gauge line beginning with a run-round loop and extending for c.2km along the original trackbed. Pedestrian access was easy, taking the Ampflwang - Buchleiten minor road and turning uphill on a side-road called Buchleitenfeld to join the railway at the first level-crossing. The line followed the contour behind the houses of the hamlet of Buchleiten and across a girder-bridge above a road to arrive at its depot, where a modern shed stood empty and run-round loops lay disused. A local ÖGEG volunteer said the regauging took place c.1995, as a commercial venture, but the 760mm-gauge scheme ran out of finance and never opened. Just before the 760mm-gauge depot, where the original line dropped to one side, a rake of wagons remained in place on 600mm-gauge rails leading round to what was once a gathering site for full wagons from two collieries. A tunnel-mouth with the date 1949 above it showed where the track had once headed north to one of these mines, and a large wooden building incorporated a shed in which mine locomotives were stored. A short rake of man-riding mine-cars sitting on the 600mm-gauge line behind this building had clearly been used to give rides on a circuit of track around it, but the site seemed derelict and forlorn when visited on 2 September 2001. ÖGEG's leaflet mentions http://www.tiscover.com./ampflwang, the local tourist-office website, but not the line's own former website http://members.magnet.at/dz/museumsb.htm which seems now to be inaccessible.

1857][SE] Ĺmĺl - Finntorp - Hanefors - Kroppan - Svanskog (- Ĺrjäng): (Ball 21B2) The Ĺmĺl - Ĺrjängs Järnväg opened provisionally for freight between Ĺmĺl Östra and Svanskog 22 November 1927 and opened throughout to Ĺrjäng for all traffic including passengers 2 December 1928. From 20 April 1933 passenger trains diverted to use what is now Ĺmĺl SJ station, although the old Östra (= east) station building still stands nearby. The northern 45km Svanskog - Ĺrjäng section closed completely 10 April 1954 and was lifted in 1955. The remaining southern 24km Ĺmĺl - Svanskog section lost its passenger trains 25 September 1966. After 1971 the only traffic was from the Swanboard AB paper-mill but this ceased from 1 January 1992, though the factory remains, with isolated track within its site. The 1km Ĺmĺl - Ĺmĺl djuphamn (= deep-water harbour) branch opened for freight 22 December 1930. The ĹmĹJ line is linked by siding to, but runs independently of, the present SJ main line, crossing it by overbridge. From Ĺmĺl harbour through to Svanskog the line is all still extant and was traversed by a SMoK railcar special which carried our reporter on 24 August 2001. 

The preservation group Järnvägssällskapet Ĺmĺl - Ĺrjängs Järnväg seem to have started in summer 1997 running occasional public excursions between Ĺmĺl harbour and Hanefors, with draisines thence to Svanskog, a facility that no longer seems to be offered. JĹĹJ now run trains through to Svanskog, on a rather limited frequency. In 2001 the operating days were 22 June (from Ĺmĺl Östra at 13:30 by railbus), 7, 21, 28 July, 4, 11 August (from Ĺmĺl djuphamn at 18:00 by dining-car train). On Wednesdays from May to August Svanskog station was open as a museum, and railbus charters were available. On 6 May and 18 August Svanskog station was open and Svanskog - Kroppan public trips on a vintage railbus were on offer. The locomotive depot at Ĺmĺl houses an impressive collection of stock and was open 13:00-16:00 from 25 June to 12 August 2001. Details for 2002 may appear in the Swedish tourist-railway brochure Tĺgsommar (http://www.sjk.se). A useful map is on the JĹĹJ website at http://home.bip.net/jaaj/banan/index.html

1858][FI] Turku - Tampere; Tampere- Helsinki; and Helsinki - Turku: (Ball 16B1-17A2-24B3) The lines joining Finland's three major cities form an approximate equilateral triangle, travelled on by our reporter on Wednesday 12 December 2001. Turku, the country's oldest city and its former capital under the Swedish crown, is now a major ferry-port for sailings to Stockholm. Turku passenger station, constructed in 1939, is a striking Functionalist building resembling an oblong concrete block. To the west of it are extensive freight lines as well as a 3km single-track extension to Turku Satama (satama = harbour), which handles twice-daily boat-trains to and from both Helsinki and Tampere. Of the three lines, Turku - Tampere has the least frequent service, departures being irregular with a large morning gap. The 12:45 service offered a two-hour 168km journey in comfortable old locomotive-hauled coaches across a flat, bleak, snowy landscape. Tampere station, well located at the end of the main street, was also built in the 1930s, in a similar Functionalist style, the design being dominated by a cubiform central station-hall, with a huge square window in front. Southbound on its long trip from near the Arctic Circle, the (Rovaniemi 06:30 -) Tampere 15:00 - 17:00 Helsinki train comprised a sizeable rake of hauled vehicles including a play-area for children and a carriage showing videos. After an 187km journey to Helsinki's magnificent terminus, time was available for Christmas shopping and a meal in the capital before catching Pendolino #7106 the 200km back to Turku just after 20:00. VR's Italian-designed Pendolino tilting trainsets reduce the normal two-hour journey time to around 105min, and from 2002 are to reduce it further to 90min. All three trains ran to time, tickets were inspected immediately after departure and a trolley-service provided refreshments. Equipped with a student pass thanks to an exchange programme at the University of Turku, our reporter paid FIM194=EUR32.63, or just under GBP20 for 555km.

1859][PT] Porto Trindade - Bifurcaçăo da Boavista - Senhora da Hora - Póvoa de Varzim / Trofa: (Ball 7A1) The Porto - Senhora da Hora section, closed from 28 April 2001 (R.1378), was in early December 2001 served by a frequent STCP-operated bus service, which took a shortcut through Francos STCP bus-depot and for part of its route used a presumably-temporary bus-only road laid on the trackbed of the former metre-gauge line. CP had set up temporary booking-offices in portable buildings at the bus-terminus in Praça Republica, quite a distance (c.1km) from Porto Trindade former metre-gauge terminus, and at one of the two bus-stops replacing Avenida de França halt in the Boavista area. No new standard-gauge track could yet be seen on any part of the old metre-gauge route from Trindade outward, but Metro construction was much in evidence north of Senhora da Hora, including track laid for the street-running section west to Vasco da Gama, and tramway-type traffic-lights already working. At Senhora da Hora, the booking-office remained in the old station buildings, flanking the now-trackless platforms, but the temporary four-platform metre-gauge terminus occupied a new site just to the north-east. The metre-gauge route was multi-tracked for the first km or so to the junction where the Senhora da Hora - Trofa line diverges, but thereafter became single-track north through the eastern platform at Custoias station. Standard-gauge metro track began to the north of Custoias station, occupying the western half of the trackbed. The Porto-facing ramp down into Guifőes depot had its westerly track newly regauged and equipped with overhead wiring for metro operation, while the easterly one remained metre-gauge. The Senhora da Hora - Povoa / Trofa metre-gauge lines are to close completely during January 2002 and replacement buses will run while regauging and conversion to Metro standards takes place. The diesel railcar sets used on the doomed trains, latterly CP-operated on behalf of Porto Metro, were in a very poor state, anarchic graffiti having replaced the livery on virtually every car. Most of the stations however remained fully staffed and were generally in better order, except Araujo, first station north on the Senhora da Hora - Trofa line, where the once-attractive tiled building appeared to have fallen down. Looking to the future, Porto Metro demonstrated to the media the first Eurotram car to run there under power, at Guifőes on 3 December 2001. 

1860][PT] (Porto - Trofa - Lousado -) Santo Tirso - Guimarăes: (R.0565; Ball 7A1-7B1) Worked by three two-car metre-gauge railcars based at a temporary depot at Guimarăes, the latterly-isolated and mainly single-track Santo Tirso - Guimarăes section is to close in January 2002 for regauging to broad-gauge. Replacement buses with main-line connections are to run Lousado - Santo Tirso - Guimarăes, suggesting that the Trofa - Lousado - Santo Tirso broad-gauge shuttle trains may be withdrawn until regauging of the whole branch is complete.

1861][PT] Porto Campanhă - Săo Romăo - Senhora das Dores - Trofa - Lousado - Famalicăo (- Nine - Valença do Minho): (R.0564; Ball 7B1) In December 2001 double track on the Linha do Minho extended as far north as Senhora das Dores station, rebuilt south of its previous site, with single track beyond north to Trofa. The Trofa - Lousado section, formerly single track with three rails for metre- and broad-gauge trains, was double and broad-gauge only, following its original alignment to just south of the relocated four-platform junction station at Lousado. The main line was double on the c.2km deviation from Lousado north, reverting to single where it rejoined the old alignment. At Famalicăo, empty trackbed indicated the location of the metre-gauge Famalicăo - Póvoa de Varzim line, lifted during 1999 (R.0450), but at Póvoa station its track was still in place. 

1862][PT] Portugal: closed lines: Portugal's rail infrastructure authority REFER (Rede Ferroviária Nacional) have declared the Beja - Moura Ramal de Moura (Ball 26B1-27A1) and the Estremoz - Vila Viçosa Ramal de Vila Viçosa (27B2) closed to all traffic. The Castro Verde-Almodôvar - Aljustrel Ramal de Aljustrel (Ball 33B3 not shown), washed out during 2000, is to be retained since a Canadian firm may take over the closed mine it served and may restart rail traffic. (Portuguese Traction Group newsletter, December 2001

1863][ES] Salamanca - Guijuelo y Campillo - Plasencia: (R.0606; Ball 19B3-19A1) Closed to passengers in 1985, the line from Salamanca south latterly saw only ballast trains, and only on the northern section as far as Guijuelo. RENFE say a few of these trains ran earlier in 2001, but had ceased by December due to the state of the track and the level-crossings. The line to the north (Salamanca - Valdunciel - Zamora; Ball 19B3-9B1) last saw regular passenger trains in 1995 when Talgo workings used it as a diversionary route. RENFE say the southern end as far as Valdunciel is still officially open, though without traffic, and that reopening as a through route remains a long-term possibility. 

1864][CH] Neuchâtel funicular: Gare CFF - Université: (Ball 91B3) Opened in April 2001 (R.1427), the line is called Fun'ambule (funambule = tightrope-walker). The upper station is concealed beneath the CFF booking-hall, and is invisible from the street outside. The 330m-long 1600mm-gauge line descends 46m entirely in tunnel to Université, beneath the east end of Jardin Anglais, short of the present lake-shore. The lower station has an interesting display-case showing it to be built on the site of a c.3500BC lake-village-on-stilts, the ground-level here having been rather lower in Neolithic times. The cars, controlled from the lower station, comprise four articulated compartments which remain horizontal while the gradient varies (from 0-34%). Operators are Transports Publics du Littoral Neuchâtelois, who also run the local tramway, trolleybuses and buses. Journey time is two minutes, at a fare of CHF1 one-way, also valid for a round-trip within 30 minutes. In early September 2001 the line was operating 05:33-20:15SuX, 06:33-20:15SuO, every 6min between xx:15 and xx:45 and every 3min between xx:45 and xx:15. The service quoted in CFF table 2010 is every 6min, with the note cadence accélérée aux heures de fort traffic ferroviaire, which may account for this curious interval pattern each hour. The funicular was built to help serve Expo.02, an exhibition open from 15 May to 20 October 2002. (partly from http://www.funimag.com)

1865][CH] Chur - Arosa: (R.1586; Ball 95B2) After repair of landslide damage, this metre-gauge Rhätische Bahn line reopened throughout from 16 November 2001. (Today's Railways, January 2001)

1866][CH] Bex - Bévieux - Gryon - Villars - Bouquetins - Col-de-Bretaye: (R.1815; Ball 98B3) The CF Bex - Gryon - Villars opened their metre-gauge rack-and-adhesion line Bex - (10 September 1898) - Bévieux - (4 June 1900) - Gryon - (10 June 1901) - Villars. The BGV extended the line a further 1.3km to Chesičres 12 August 1906, becoming the BGVC, but the Villars - Chesičres section closed 30 November 1963. The CF Villars - Bretaye opened to Bretaye-Bouquetins 18 December 1913, and extended to the present terminus at Col-de-Bretaye 15 December 1937. BGVC and VB merged to form BVB on 1 January 1943. Through running occurs, but the different sections operate rather different kinds of service, especially since Villars is the railhead for the popular Col-de-Bretaye ski area, not served by road. While Bex - Villars has hourly local trains for the general public, Villars - Col-de-Bretaye carries a limited number of tourists in the summer, runs only every two hours in spring and autumn, has very frequent trains for skiers in good snow conditions in winter, and can see the whole timetable cancelled in bad weather. Villars station, remodelled in 1968, was equipped with sturdy queuing-barriers to control the many passengers for Col-de-Bretaye handled there during the winter-sports season, these arrangements being geared to trains leaving from the straight platforms, not the tightly-curved platform 5. (partly from Schmalspurparadies Schweiz, Band 1, Schweers+Wall, 1986, and Schienennetz Schweiz - Ein technisch-historischer Atlas / Réseau ferré suisse - Atlas technique et historique, AS Verlag & Buchkonzept AG, 1999)

1867][CZ][PL] (Tanvald -) Harrachov CD - Nowy Swiat PKP - Jakuszyce - Szklarska Poreba Górna (- Jelenia Góra): (BLN 838.0586; Ball 36A1) Notwithstanding the CD timetable supplement dated 15 November 1998 which promised a new scheduled service from a date to be announced, no regular traffic used this very steep cross-border route during 2001. Occasional specials operate, and full reopening is still planned. A Czech railcar braved the dilapidated track to run a Harrachov - Szklarska Poreba Górna excursion to a sports event on 21 September 2001. (Today's Railways, January 2001)

1868][EE] Tallinn - Keila - Klooga - Paldiski and Klooga - Klooga-Rand: (R.1644, 1819) Tickets for Elektriraudtee's local electric trains are on sale in Tallinn station building from the information office, which also supplies free local timetables. Every carriage has a validating machine, and the passenger has to validate his ticket by inserting it the right way round in the machine. One of our reporters had to be shown how to do this by the conductor, causing good-humoured hilarity among nearby passengers and staff, including one of the four inspectors on the four-coach train. In summer 2001 trains were running hourly during the day to Klooga-Rand.

1869][UZ][AF] Termez/Termiz [UZ] - Kheyrabad [AF]: (R.1734) The Friendship Bridge from Termez in Uzbekistan was built by the Soviet Union during their 1979-1989 invasion to transport military supplies south across the broad river Amu Darya to a railhead at Kheyrabad in Afghanistan. When Taliban forces later became dominant in Afghanistan, the Uzbeks, seeking to improve the security of their southern frontier, closed and blocked off the 1km-long bridge, so that no rail traffic passed after 1996 or 1997 (reports vary). Reassured by recent events, Uzbekistan agreed to reopen the bridge, and on 9 December 2001 an Uzbek 1520mm-gauge diesel locomotive hauled over it a fifteen-wagon train of grain and flour as food aid 'from the Uzbek people to the Afghan people'. Media pictures showed the train leaving the girder bridge, which appears to have a single line of rails set tramway-style into a roadway. The name of the railhead within Afghanistan was variously reported as 'Kharitom' and 'Hairaton'. (Financial Times, Independent, Guardian, 10 December 2001)

1870][AU] Sydney - Wollongong City - Coniston - Unanderra - Dapto - Kiama (- Nowra): With completion of Dapto - Kiama wiring, electric services through to Kiama began 18 November 2001. On the same date all passenger services that formerly operated via the west-to-east Unanderra - Lysaghts curve to join the Coniston - Lysaghts - Port Kembla branch were diverted to run north to Wollongong, leaving the Unanderra - Lysaghts curve without passenger trains. (http://www.railpage.org.au/railmaps/devel.htm)

1871][AU] Melbourne - St.Albans - Keilor Plains - Watergardens (- Bendigo): (R.1820) The 1500V dc electric suburban trains beyond St Albans starting on 27 January 2002 are to serve two new stations, but the names of these have changed. The new intermediate station is now Keilor Plains and the terminating station (a few hundred metres south of the existing Sydenham station, to be closed) is now Watergardens, after a local shopping-centre. (http://www.railpage.org.au/railmaps/devel.htm)

1872][NZ] Aramoho Jn - Wanganui - Castlecliff: The original layout necessitated a reversal at Wanganui, but the dead-end station there closed some time after 1983 and was replaced by a direct northwest-to-southwest chord via Wanganui goods-yard, a significant installation in NZ terms, supplemented by private sidings. When visited by road on 30 October 2000 the branch was definitely still in use, with evidence of recent - but far from regular - rail movement down to the harbour at Castlecliff. However, from 3 December 2001 Tranz Rail have apparently 'mothballed' the line, together with the Hawkens Jn - Awakeri - Taneatua freight branch, out of use since June 2001. Occasional freight trains or passenger excursions may be allowed to run under special arrangements. 

1873][NZ] (Hamilton - Morrinsville - Waharoa -) Putaruru - Rotorua: This section closed completely with the cessation of the Geyserland Express from 7 October 2001 (R.1623), though Tranz Rail are reported to run a maintenance rail vehicle over the line about once a week to check on its safety. A special train for the Rotorua Enthusiasts Society is booked to run on 23 February 2002. (Rotorua Review, 28 December 2001)

1874][NZ] Christchurch - Rolleston - Dunedin - Invercargill: (R.1703, 1735) A government-backed study has found that the loss-making Southerner makes little economic contribution to the South Island, so it is planned that it will not run after 10 February 2002. Christchurch - Rolleston will retain the successful Christchurch - Rolleston - Greymouth TranzAlpine passsenger train, and Rolleston - Dunedin - Invercargill will still have freight trains. Taieri Gorge tourist trains from Dunedin (Dunedin - Wingatui Jn - Taieri - Pukerangi - Middlemarch; R.0546) should also continue during summer 2002.

1875][CA] Calgary light rail: Anderson - Canyon Meadows - Fish Creek-Lacombe: This southward extension opened 9 October 2001, adding Calgary's 21st and 22nd C-Train stations. (http://www.calgarytransit.com)

1876][CA] Halifax, NS - Windsor Jn - Truro - Port Hawkesbury - Sydney, NS: (R.0510, 1567) VIA say their tourist train Bras d'Or is expected to run again in summer 2002 (4 June-16 October, north on Tuesdays, south on Wednesdays; Halifax 07:30 - 18:30 Sydney 07:30 - 18:15 Halifax)

1877][US] (Stockton, CA -) Pittsburg - Nichols - Port Chicago (- Mococo - Martinez - Oakland, CA): (R.0837, 1326) Amtrak's Bakersfield - Stockton - Oakland San Joaquin trains are, it seems, to leave their present Burlington Northern Santa Fe route at Pittsburg and use the parallel ex-Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific, Mococo line for c.16km along the Sacramento River estuary to Port Chicago, California. West of Port Chicago they already use the Mococo line to the junction with the ex-SP, now UP, transcontinental main line at Martinez. The new route would avoid the speed-restriction on the BNSF flyover across the UP at Nichols as well as BNSF freight congestion around Port Chicago. UP have been rebuilding the BNSF/UP link line in Pittsburg to allow a facing connection for the Amtrak trains, and working on the relevant part of the Mococo line, replacing switches and switch-stands (= points and ground-frames) in the ex-SP Pittsburg yard, replacing lineside poles and wires, trimming bushes and clearing out culverts. 

1878][US] Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal - Pasadena, CA: light rail: (BLN 821.0112, R.1237, 1342, 1345) Originally envisaged as a northern prolongation of the Metro's 35km south-to-north Long Beach - Los Angeles light-rail Blue line, the 22km light-rail route now under construction to Pasadena was on 29 November 2001 renamed the Gold line, since it is not now planned to run directly through from the existing Blue line. (Transnet newsletter) Interchange will be available at LAUPT with the Metro's heavy-rail Red line, which in turn connects with the Blue line. 

1879][US] Los Angeles, CA: Redondo Junction: (R.1741) The new flyover saw Amtrak and Metrolink passenger trains from 8 July though its formal inauguration by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority was not until 21 August 2001.

1880][US] Salt Lake City, UT light rail: The junction at Main & 400 South is triangular. Most Trax services for the University branch, opened 15 December 2001 (R.1802), are from the downtown area and use the north-to-east curve, but one peak-hour trip runs from Sandy via the south-to-east curve to the University in the morning and back in the afternoon. (Transnet newsletter)

1881][US] Buffalo, NY - Erie, PA - Cleveland, OH: Railway Magazine for July 2001 had an article on railways running along public highways, but one not included was the ex-New York, Chicago & St.Louis ('Nickel Plate'), later Norfolk & Western, now Norfolk Southern, main line along the south shore of Lake Erie. The 1882-built single track ran for 2km straight down the middle of 19th Street in the town of Erie, carrying passenger trains until the late 1960s and freight, including heavy coal trains, until 2001. After the last ordinary train (#526 Shire Oaks, PA - Binghamton, NY coal) had passed on 27 September 2001, NS diverted their c.15 freights a day to an 8km new route alongside the former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, later New York Central, now CSX, main line on elevated right-of-way with bridges over the town's streets. The old Nickel Plate street track was to be removed completely in 2002. 

1882][US] Washington, DC - Point of Rocks, MD - Monocacy/Frederick Jn - Frederick, MD: (R.0593, 0884) Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) trains were to begin their much-delayed revenue service beyond Point of Rocks to Frederick on 17 December 2001. They leave the Washington - Brunswick line using the tight southeast-to-northeast avoiding curve at Point of Rocks and do not call at the attractive historic station there. They then take the B&O's 1832 Old Main Line, part of the 'first long-haul railroad in the United States', now owned by CSX, for 16km north-east to Frederick Jn. Near Frederick Jn is a new passenger station, Monocacy, adjacent to the river and the 1864 Civil-War battlefield of that name, and provided with free parking for 800 cars. Now owned by Maryland Transit Administration, the 5.6km Frederick Jn - Frederick branch leads to Frederick station, downtown at B&O Avenue and East Street, with no parking. Journey-time is c.85min for the three evening outbound workings (15:55, 17:10 and 18:25 from Washington Union Station) and three early-morning inbound ones (05:17, 06:10 and 07:15 from Frederick). To encourage usage the Washington - Frederick fare is to be the same as the Washington - Point of Rocks fare until 30 June 2002. (http://www.mtamaryland.com)

1883][US] New York, NY: World Trade Center - Exchange Place, NJ (- Hoboken, NJ / Newark, NJ): (R.1744) The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in mid-December 2001 authorised finance to build a temporary PATH station beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center by December 2003 and to begin planning of a new permanent Port Authority Trans-Hudson terminal in Lower Manhattan with more and better connections to city subways, buses and ferries. (New York Times)

1884][US] New York, NY subway: Queensbridge - 36th Street: (R.1650) The new short '63rd Street connector' line was to open for full-time service on Sunday 16 December 2001. (Transnet newsletter)

1885][EC] (Quito - Cotopaxi -) Riobamba - Alausí - Sibambe (- Huigra - Bucay - Durán): (BLN 843.078, R.1352) In early November 2001 passenger service was still clinging to life on the moribund 1067mm-gauge Guayaquil & Quito railway. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays a timetabled train (Riobamba 07:00 - Alausí - Sibambe - 13:00 Alausí - Riobamba) was running down and up the famous switchbacks on El Nariz del Diablo (= the Devil's Nose). On this section autoferro railbuses were still operating as charters, for one derailed and held up our reporter's train for an hour, and another new or rebuilt autoferro reportedly yet to enter service was also seen. Station staff at Quito, which has no regular passenger or freight traffic, said the next train from the capital would be in December 2001, presumably a charter, and train-crew said a Quito - Cotopaxi run was planned. On the Quito - Ibarra - Lita - San Lorenzo section, an autoferro was said to be running only from Ibarra to Lita (about halfway between Ibarra and San Lorenzo), with no fixed schedule or set days of operation. 

1886][AR] Buenos Aires Retiro (Mitre) - Rosario - San Miguel de Tucumán: (R.1652) From 5 January 2002 Noroeste Argentino Ferrocarril are to restore a long-distance passenger train, El Tucumáno, running twice a week from the capital over the ex-Mitre 1676mm-gauge route to the northern city of Tucuman. (El Clarin, Buenos Aires, 26 December 2001)

1887][BR] Brasilia metro: Rodoviária - Águas Claras - Taguatinga / Samambaia: Delayed from 1999, official inauguration of Brasilia's metro was on 31 March 2001, and full revenue service on the first 32km, the Green line (linha verde) to Taguatinga and the Orange line (linha laranja) to Samambaia, was yet further delayed to 24 September 2001. (Tramways & Urban Transit, November 2001; http://www.metropla.net)

1888][FR] (Kehl DB -) Strasbourg Neudorf Poste 1 - Bifurcation Graffenstaden: (BLN 837.0544; EGTRE FR01/117; Ball 30A2) In summer 2001 the Raccordement du Gliesberg, the east-to-south Strasbourg avoiding line, had one booked passenger-carrying train in one direction only, the March-October Wednesdays-only AZ13562 (SNCF train #19020) München Ost 15:22 - Kornwestheim 19:47 - Kehl 22:05 [unadvertised stop] - Narbonne. This overnight AutoZug (for travellers accompanying a car) is scheduled to be the only booked passenger train again in summer 2002. The northbound working returns by a different route.

1889][FR] Tournemire-Roquefort - Lapanouse-de-Cernon - Ste.Eulalie-de-Cernon - Le Rouquet - L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac (- Le Vigan): (Ball 63A1-64A1 not shown) This ex-Midi cross-country link closed to passengers 15 May 1939 and commercial freight ceased in the mid-1950s (BLN 775.0132). By 1964 the 20km Tournemire - L'Hospitalet western section had been transferred to the French military to serve the large Camp du Larzac, and the 42km L'Hospitalet - Le Vigan section had been abandoned. The military line became disused and, together with the nearby Tournemire - St.Affrique line, was in the early 1990s proposed to become the Chemin de Fer Touristique Causée et Rougier. Special passenger trains ran on 5 and 6 August 1995, but no established tourist operation seems to have begun. The military line was deleted from 1966 and 1974 editions of 1:200,000 Michelin maps, but by the September 1995 edition it had reappeared, terminating at Le Rouquet, c.1km west of L'Hospitalet. Track has remained and since July 2001 rail-cycles have been available for hire by prior reservation all year round from Ste.Eulalie c.5km east to Le Rouquet level-crossing. Later it is intended to allow the vélorails on the section from Ste.Eulalie 4km west to Lapanouse. Information: Vélo-Rail du Larzac +33 5 6558 7210.

1890][NL] (Bilthoven -) Blauwkapel Oost aansluiting - Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum - Utrecht Lunetten: (BLN 833.0415; Ball 4A3-4A2) Passenger-carrying special trains may operate on this freight-only line as part of an event over the weekend 30 August-1 September 2002 run by the Netherlands national railway museum at the former Utrecht Maliebaan station. Preserved rolling-stock is to be moved to storage elsewhere before the museum closes for rebuilding from early September 2002 until 2004. 

1891][DE] Regis-Breitingen - Haselbach - Wintersdorf - Schnaudertal-Auholz - Meuselwitz: (Ball 42B2) The 900mm-gauge Kammerforstbahn opened in 1942, taking brown-coal from Tagebau Waltersdorf (later also Gröba) to briquette-factories at Haselbach and Regis. Originally steam-worked, the line was electrified in the 1960s, but the wires were later removed, leaving only occasional evidence of their presence, such as supports under a road overbridge. Evidence of former loops and branches or sidings can also still be seen. Tourist trains started in summer 2000 run by preservation group Verein Kohlebahnen eV, and the present 14.5km line is marketed as Kohlebahn Haselbach.

From the southbound DB platform at Regis-Breitingen on the Leipzig - Zwickau main line, a walk of c.150m down a footpath leads past allotments to the Kohlebahn station, a simple platform and shelter with no run-round loop. Narrow-gauge track extends north from the platform over a substantial road bridge into a factory alongside the main line to the north of the DB station. From a DB train various narrow-gauge locomotives and wagons can be seen, all apparently used for moving structural steelwork around within the plant, owned by STAMAG (Stahl- und Anlagenbahn AG). However, the Kohlebahn train does not proceed north of its platform, nor is it stabled within the STAMAG site. On 16 September 2001 the stock to form the first tourist train of the day (Regis departure 12:45) arrived empty from the south, with a locomotive at each end like all Kohlebahn trains. The main depot is at Haselbach, the first 'station' south of Regis, which has a passing-loop, a yard containing a significant collection of rolling-stock, and the beginnings of a 'wild-west village' for the Westerntag held on three weekends in August each year. Kammerforst is shown as a station on the line's publicity-leaflet but no such facility yet exists. Wintersdorf, shown as Wintersdorf Wasserturm on the website (http://www.schnaudertal.de/kohlebahn), has a loop and is south of its village. A road overbridge beyond is apparently the only one on the line. Schnaudertal-Auholz (or Auholz-Schnaudertal; both versions are used) has a platform beyond the loop. 

The tourist trains in 2000 seem to have run to a point just short of the narrow-gauge bridge under the trackbed of the former Meuselwitz - Gaschwitz - Lucka - Groitzsch DB line, now lifted, but from the 2001 season a new curve has enabled trains to climb up to the standard-gauge trackbed, upon which 900mm-gauge track has been laid right through to the branch platform at Meuselwitz DB station. The narrow-gauge track west of the new curve is no longer accessible. (The 2000 Schweers+Wall Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland is therefore inaccurate in this regard.) Publicity shows the new Kohlebahn alignment with a halt, Meuselwitz Breitscheidstrasse, but no sign of platform or nameboard was seen nor was any stop made on this 1.9km section, laid by contractors with financial support from the province of Thüringen. At Meuselwitz Bf the Kohlebahn part of the station had been smartened up, but the DB part remained a classic ex-Reichsbahn facility in decay, with rain pouring through the platform canopy. Interchange with the DB railbus was however easy.

1892][AT] (Wien -) Sollenau Lokalbahnhof - Steinabrückl - Feuerwerksanstalt - Bad Fischau - Brunn an der Schneebergbahn (- Puchberg an Schneeberg): (BLN 840.0621; Ball 75B2) Traces remain of three closed parts of this original Eisenbahn Wien-Aspang route from Wien to Puchberg (R.1810). From Sollenau Lokalbf, an Aspangbahn station now closed, north of the present Sollenau station, the vanished route was westwards to Steinabrückl. From a special excursion on 15 April 2001 over the now-freight-only Wittmansdorf - Steinabrückl - Wöllersdorf line the former Sollenau Lokalbf - Steinabrückl trackbed could clearly be seen trailing in. The former north-to-south Steinabrückl - Feuerwerksanstalt chord, avoiding Wöllersdorf, had had its southern-end points removed many years before so was no longer a through running-line, but much of it remained as part of an ÖBB track-maintenance depot. The course of the short north-to-west Bad Fischau - Brunn an der Schneebergbahn chord, avoiding Bad Fischau Brunn station, was not easy to identify from the train, but since it formed the north-western boundary of a small industrial yard it could be clearly followed on foot.

1893][DK] Ĺrhus - Langĺ - Struer - Thisted; Ĺrhus - Skanderborg - Herning - Struer; and Herning - Skjern - Esbjerg - Třnder: (Ball 2B1-1B3; 2B1-1B2; 5B3-5B1) Not noted for their success in running franchised local passenger trains in northern England during 2001, UK transport group Arriva have been awarded franchises to run passenger trains in northern Jutland during 2003-10. (partly from Erik's Rail News)

1894][FI][RU] Kontiomäki - Vartius VR - Kostomuksha RZD - Ledmozero - Kochkoma: (R.0915; Ball 10A2-10B3). Built in the 1970s, the cross-border 1520mm-gauge line from Vartius to Kostomuksha carries iron-ore from Russia to Finnish plants at Kokkola (Ball 8B2) and Raahe (9A3), as well as some timber traffic. On 29 December 2001, Russia's October Railway (OktZhD) opened their new link from the existing junction of Ledmozero east to Kochkoma on the Sankt-Peterburg - Murmansk main line, providing a new west-to-east freight route from Finland to the northern cities of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. A map is at http://parovoz.com/maps/supermap/B2.html. On the Kemijärvi - Kelloselkä VR - Alakurti RZD - Ruchi-Karelskie cross-border line further north (R.0917, 1000; Ball 4B2), the Finnish rail infrastructure authority decided during 2001 to dismantle the track between Kemijärvi and the frontier as it was in poor condition and no longer needed for local traffic. On the Russian side the line is in some places already dismantled. (5feet@yahoogroups.com)

1895][FI][RU] Joensuu - Onkamo - Niirala VR - Vyartsilya/Värtsilä RZD - Matkaselkya - Petrozavodsk: (R.0337; Ball 18B3) Due to start in August 1999, the new passenger service on this currently freight-only route from Finland into (formerly-Finnish, now Russian) Karelia has been much delayed. VR announced in late 2001 that a night train using Russian October Railway stock is to run twice-weekly from 2003. Cross-border passenger traffic has been buoyant in winter 2001-02, with Russian passenger vehicles to be seen in various parts of Finland on OktZhD-operated charter trains for Russian holidaymakers, especially those celebrating New Year and the Orthodox Christmas on 6 January 2002. (5feet@yahoogroups.com)

1896][PT] (Porto -) Lousado - Santo Tirso - Guimarăes: (R.1860; Ball 7A1-7B1) The Santo Tirso - Guimarăes isolated metre-gauge section closed 7 January 2002 for conversion to broad-gauge. The whole Lousado - Guimarăes branch is to be electrified, with upgraded stations and through Porto - Guimarăes trains, with new stock and reduced journey-times. Plans are to complete the works by autumn 2003. (http://www.ptg.co.uk)

1897][PT] Aveiro - Agueda - Sernada do Vouga: (Ball 17A3) In the first weeks of 2002 as in autumn 2000 (R.1148), Aveiro - Sernada had two trains a day each way plus remaining workings running Aveiro - Agueda only. Faced however with the need to repair a bridge near Sernada, CP plan to close the whole Aveiro - Sernada metre-gauge section from 15 January 2002, with buses replacing the trains. It is not clear whether this closure, previously threatened, is to be permanent. (http://www.cp.pt)

1898][PT] Lisboa monorail: Paço de Arcos - Oeiras Parque: Starting from Paço de Arcos station on CP's Lisboa Cais do Sodré - Cascais line (Ball 25A1), the first phase of the Oeiras monorail is planned to open December 2002. 

1899][PT] Entroncamento - Abrantes - Mouriscas-A - Castelo Branco - Guarda: (BLN 819.060, R.1222; Ball 26A3-18A2) Portugal's rail infrastructure authority REFER (Rede Ferroviária Nacional) plan to extend electrification of the Linha da Beira Baixa beyond Mouriscas-A (junction for the wired Ramal do Pego power-station branch) a further 79km to Castelo Branco. In early January 2002 some work had begun to consolidate retaining walls along the scenic Tejo river valley, but no significant realignment is planned. Work is expected to be completed by the end of 2003. (http://www.ptg.co.uk)

1900][PT] Ermidas-Sado - Sines (R.0537; Ball 26A1) A new c.1km south-to-east curve avoiding Ermidas-Sado station opened for freight 10 December 2001, linking the main Linha do Sul (Poceirăo - Ermidas-Sado - Funcheira - Tunes) with the Linha de Sines branch. It is used not only by Sines - Loulé coal trains heading south, but some coal trains from Sines for the north are running via the new curve, heading south on the Linha do Sul, then via the north-to-east Funcheira avoiding line (R.0449) and northward on the Linha do Alentejo (Funcheira - Beja - Vendas Novas). CP have found it useful thus to divert traffic off the main line from the capital south to the Algarve while it is being upgraded and electrified for high-speed tilting passenger trains. (http://www.ptg.co.uk)

1901][ES] Puente Poncebos - Bulnes: underground funicular: (R.0576; Ball 4A1 not shown) The tiny village of Bulnes in northern Spain's spectacular Picos de Europa national park has no road access, only a steep mule-path, so the underground Funicular de Bulnes was built to reach it. When the somewhat-delayed line saw limited opening in summer 2001, local inhabitants made great use of it to ferry up building materials that previously had to be transported by a mule or a helicopter. Fearful that Bulnes would swiftly expand into a tourist resort, authorities soon closed the line, and later it seems set stricter rules for its use. The line opened fully on 17 September 2001. It is 2227m long, climbing 400m, with a journey-time of 7min, and fares of EUR12 one-way, EUR15 round-trip. 

1902][ES] Zaragoza - Tardienta - Huesca (- Canfranc): (BLN 831.0362; Ball 13A2) RENFE are adapting this existing broad-gauge (1668mm) branch with three-rail track to allow standard-gauge trains to use it once the Madrid - Zaragoza - Lleida section of the new high-speed standard-gauge line is complete. Target-date for both projects is said to be 15 December 2002, the next international timetable-change date, though 2003 is quoted for the main-line opening on the website http://euroweb.es/avefuturo/dif.html. 

1903][ES] Barcelona metro: (R.0683) On 21 September 2001 standard-gauge metro line L3 was extended 2.4km north, serving three new stations (Montbau - Mundet - Valldaura - Canyelles). The city plans to extend L3 further from Canyelles to Trinitat Nova on line L4, which will be the interchange also for the future standard-gauge Trinitat Nova - Can Cuiŕs metro lleuger (= light metro), begun in spring 2001 to serve the hilly area of Ciutat Meridiana. (http://www.metropla.net)

1904][ES] Alacant/Alicante - Albufereta - Condomina/Lucentum - Discotecas - El Campello - Vila-Joiosa - Creueta - Benidorm - Denia: (Ball 32A1-32B2) Trams work local services from Alacant on the wired southern end of this metre-gauge line of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Válenciana, otherwise worked by diesel railcars. In March 2000 the trams ran as far north as Lucentum but electrification seemed to be under way beyond to Discotecas (R.0577). From 3 December 2001 until 22 March 2002 the line is closed between El Campello and Creueta with buses replacing trains on that section during trabajos de renovación y electrificación, so presumably further wiring and northward extension of the tramway operation is in prospect. Heavier rail (54kg/m instead of 45kg/m) is also being laid, and some easing of curvature is being undertaken. 

1905][ES] (Sevilla - Utrera - Jerez de la Frontera -) Cádiz Cortadura - Cádiz Término: (R.1203; Ball 34B1) On 25 June 2000 Cádiz Término passenger station closed temporarily so that its access line could be relocated in a new tunnel, and a new station Cádiz Cortadura (= 'cutting') opened to serve the city. The Cortadura - Término section is to reopen 4 February 2002. 

1906][SI][IT] (Jesenice -) Kreplje SZ - Villa Opicina FS (- Trieste): (Ball SI-45B2-45A1; IT-44A3) Though recent SZ working timetables show one freight-train path on this cross-border section of the original Austrian main line (R.1762), in January 2002 it remained out of use by any traffic, and the Slovenian end of the running line was still being used for storage of surplus ex-JZ goods-vans, as in 1998 (BLN 842.044). 

1907][AL][YU] Shkodër - Bajzé HSH - Hani i Hotit - Tuzi JZ - Podgorica: (R.1765; Ball 52) Closed in 1990, Albania's only rail link (via Montenegro, Yugoslavia) with the European network reopened for freight on Friday 28 December 2001. 

1908][AF] Afghanistan: minor railways: (R.1734, 1869) During the reign of king Amanullah of Afghanistan (1919-29) a roadside tramway was built from Kabul south-west for c.4km to Darulaman, and operated by two Henschel steam locomotives. The line was short-lived, closing when the king was exiled, but the locomotives survived, being reported stored indoors at Darulaman in 1974 and later still outdoors. In 1951 three 600mm-gauge Henschel diesel-hydraulic locomotives were delivered to Afghanistan for power-plant construction, variously reported as being at Saabrie or Saarbic, an unidentified location. In 1979 Bedia Maschinenfabrik of Bonn supplied five 600mm-gauge diesel-hydraulic locomotives to an unspecified customer in Afghanistan. Any information about these lines would be of interest. (world-diesel-loco@yahoogroups.com)

1909][AU] (Bunbury -) Brunswick Jn - Collie - Premier Mine - Bowelling - Darkan - Narrogin: Once an important cross-state line of 1067mm-gauge Western Australian Government Railways, most of this route closed 1 June 1986. However a new balloon-loop was installed at Premier in 1998 and the (Bunbury -) Brunswick Jn - Premier Mine section remains open. In late 2001 it was announced that the trackbed from Premier east to Darkan is to become a 63.5km cycleway.

1910][CA] Victoria - Esquimalt - Malahat - Nanaimo - Parksville - Courtenay, BC: (R.1821) RailAmerica are withdrawing freight trains on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway, the isolated 225km standard-gauge line on Vancouver Island, sold to them by Canadian Pacific in January 1999 (R.0497). The VIA passenger trains on the line (#198/199 Malahat Victoria - Courtenay) seem likely to run for the last time on 10 March 2002. 

1911][CA] Vancouver metro: (R.1438) After preview operation on Saturday and Sunday 5-6 January, the first short section of the city's SkyTrain Millennium Line opened for revenue service on Monday 7 January 2002 from Columbia station in New Westminster north via Sapperton to Braid. The main part of the Millennium line from Broadway/Commercial via Lougheed to Braid is to open by mid-2002, but the western terminus Vancouver Community College will open later. Like the original Expo line (Waterfront - Broadway/Commercial - New Westminster - Columbia - King George) the Millennium line (Vancouver Community College - Broadway/Commercial - Lougheed - Braid - Columbia) has standard-gauge linear-induction-motored driverless cars. (Transnet newsletter; http://www.metropla.net)

1912][CA] Montréal Windsor - Montréal West - Lasalle - Saint-Catherine - Saint-Constant - Delson, QC: (R.1113, 1540) Montréal's Agence Métropolitaine de Transport opened their fifth commuter-rail line on 4 September 2001. AMT operate other diesel-hauled services on the Montréal Windsor - Dorion - Rigaud (R.0694); Montréal Windsor - Blainville (R.1264); and Montréal Centrale - St.Hilaire (R.0649) routes, plus Montréal Centrale - Mont-Royal - Deux Montagnes electric trains (R.0122, 1264). (Transnet newsletter)

1913][US] Denver light rail: (R.0839) The branch from Platte Valley Jn to Denver Union Station is to open in April 2002. (Transnet newsletter)

1914][US] (Chicago, IL - Indianapolis, IN - Jeffersonville, IN -) Louisville, KY - Nashville, TN): Since its 13km extension from Jeffersonville into Louisville's Union Station on 4 December 2001 (R.1805), Amtrak's Kentucky Cardinal train-set sits idle at Louisville for more than 12 hours, which would be sufficient time for it to make a revenue-earning run the 290km to Nashville, Tennessee, and back (R.1608). On 20 December 2001 a test train for a possible extension of the service was to run over CSX's ex-Louisville & Nashville main line. (http://www.ptweekly.8k.com)

1915][US] Boston, MA - Portland, ME: (R.1018, 1743) Inaugural run of Amtrak's Downeaster was on Friday 14 December, with revenue service from Saturday 15 December 2001. Freight railroad Guilford, the track owners, are still resisting higher speeds over their ex-Boston & Maine route, so the Downeaster is restricted to 94km/h rather than 126km/h, and the 182km run therefore takes 165min instead of 140min. On one end the trains have a Class P42 diesel locomotive and on the other a 'cabbage-car' (= non-powered cab+baggage car, converted from an F40PH locomotive). (http://www.ptweekly.8k.com)

1916][US] Syracuse, NY: (Regional Transit Center/Amtrak station -) Carousel Mall - Armory Square/Downtown - University - Colvin Street: (EGTRE US19) Since reports in 1997-98 (BLN 801.0220, 804.0297, 820.085) the 11km shuttle service worked by vintage (ex-Metro North) Budd rail diesel cars of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway has been branded OnTrack City Express, and extended from Syracuse University one stop south to Colvin St. Unusually, the Colvin St extension operates only on request, and customers have to telephone for the northbound RDC to come and pick them up. In January 2002 trains were advertised to run hourly from 11:15 to 18:30 Wednesday to Sunday (not Monday, not Tuesday). Details and a route-plan were at http://www.syracuseontrack.com. NYS&W have begun construction of a further OnTrack extension from Carousel Mall north-east across Park Street on a bridge and beneath Interstate highway I-81 to terminate at Syracuse Regional Transit Center. (http://www.nyswths.org/news.htm) The new NYS&W track is to parallel the curving west-to-east alignment north of downtown used by Amtrak's Buffalo - Syracuse - New York, NY trains. From 16 November 1998 these Amtrak trains ceased to call at the former East Syracuse station and now call at the Regional Transit Center. 

On NYS&W's (Oswego -) Syracuse - Cortland - Marathon - Binghamton, NY main line, normally freight-only south of Colvin St, a special passenger service for the Central New York Maple Festival appears to have become established, so should run for the 2002 event over the weekend 6-7 April (http://www.maplefest.org). The pattern in earlier years has been one excursion train from Syracuse Armory Square 80km south to Marathon, plus a Cortland - Marathon shuttle service. Train details are at http://www.nyswths.org/marathon.htm.

1917][GP] Guadeloupe: Beauport - Gaschet - Payen - Petit-Canal: This Caribbean island group, an overseas département of France, should see the Chemin de Fer Touristique du Pays de la Canne running in June 2002. On the course of an old 1200mm-gauge railway on the north coast of the island of Grande-Terre, metre-gauge track is being relaid from a sugar-industry visitor-centre at the former Beauport sugar-factory for 7km through the cane-fields and across the Ravine de Gaschet, with two intermediate stations. Extension of the line is envisaged in later years. A standard-gauge draisine-set acquired from the Guîtres - Marcenais heritage line in France (Ball FR-51B1) is being regauged, and a locotracteur and passenger stock have been ordered from Socofer of Tours. Information: Conseil Général de la Guadeloupe, Morne Miquel, 97110 Pointe-ŕ-Pitre, Guadeloupe; fax +590 93 78 01. (http://www.trains-fr.org)

1918][EG] Cairo/Al-Qahira - Ismailiya - El Ferdan - El Qantara - El Arish - Rafah - Gaza: (BLN 784.0345, 797.0121, 802.0246) Five railway bridges have spanned the Suez Canal at El Ferdan or El Firdân, just north-east of Ismailiya, a strategic location much visited by the destruction of successive wars. The first (1920-43) bridge was 146m long. The second (1943-52), built by the British during World War II, was 151m long. The third (1952) bridge, 210m long, was put of action in 1956 during attacks on Egypt by British, French and Israeli forces. The fourth bridge, built 1962-63 and 218m long, was destroyed during the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967. (http://www.sis.gov.eg) No train crossed the Qanât El Suweis thereafter for 34 years. 

Since the 1960s, the Suez Canal has been significantly widened to take very large ships, and the main navigational channel at El Ferdan is now no less than 320m across. An innovative 640m-long design with twin swing-spans, at 320m the longest in the world, pivoting on piers in the canal 320m apart, was required for the fifth and present El Ferdan bridge, built by a consortium including the British firm Halcrow and the German firm Thyssen Krupp. After the first test train on 12 September 2001, the Egyptian transport minister crossed the bridge by train on 13 September, travelling north to El Qantara to see the new stayed-girder high-level road-bridge over the canal at that point. (http://www.halcrow.com; http://www.krupphannover.de) On 14 November 2001 President Mubarak of Egypt officially opened the El Ferdan bridge, restoring a rail link to the east bank of the canal and the Sinai peninsula. Egyptian National Railways now aim to improve, restore and extend their Sinai lines to the north (El Ferdan - El Qantara along the canal, then east to El Arish and onward to Rafah on the border with the Gaza strip of Palestinian territory) and south (El Ferdan - El Shatt along the canal, and later a new El Shatt - Sharm-el-Sheikh line south-east down the Gulf of Suez coast). (International Railway Journal, January 2002)

1919][ZW] Zimbabwe: commuter trains: National Railways of Zimbabwe said on 9 January 2002 that their five experimental suburban commuter services introduced from October 2001 (R.1769) were still running, and should continue. The three now operating in the Harare area (routes unspecified) are fully loaded. In the Bulawayo area, the Luveve train (Bulawayo - Luveve - Victoria Falls line) loads to eight or nine coaches, and is fuller than the Umganin one (Bulawayo - Umganin - Plumtree line) one, which has seven or eight. The trains simply pick up passengers from the ground at stopping-places, like a bus. NRZ are not planning to build stations or other infrastructure for the new services nor do they have the spare stock to run more trains. A few Bulawayo commuter trains may run with steam as part of the August 2002 Zimfest. (zimfest@yahoogroups.com)

1920][RE] Réunion: This island in the Indian Ocean, an overseas département of France, once had 127km of metre-gauge railway (St.Benoît - St.André - St.Denis - St.Paul - St.Pierre anti-clockwise round the coast from the north-east to the south-west). From the station at La Grande Chaloupe on the west coast, preservation group Ti Train Lontan (= petit train d'antan = little train of yesteryear) organise 6km trips by railcar over the remaining section of line to La Possession. For more than 4km, the track runs along beneath the cliffs, tunnelling through a honeycomb of caves filled with bats. Beyond the useable section, as far as the military camp at St.Denis, the island's préfecture, track was being lifted during 2001. The preserved stock comprises two Billard railcars, a trailer, a draisine, several wagons and an 1878-built Schneider 0-6-0T steam locomotive #8, cosmetically restored and now a historical monument. The railcar runs on demand all year, and for the public on local holidays. Telephone +262 45 60 87, or Mr Gérard Chotard +262 44 73 85. For the future, a 70km St.Benoît - St.Denis - St.Paul coastal tramway (transport en commun en site propre) is proposed, but its route is still being studied. The Grande Chaloupe cliff section might use either the existing tunnel or a new tunnel wide enough for double track. The tramway would not open until maybe 2010-2012.

1921][NL] (Hilversum -) Naarden-Bussum - Almere Muziekwijk (- Lelystad): (Ball 4A3 not shown) Many passengers for the Flevolijn to Almere and Lelystad have at present to change trains at Weesp, where the layout does not permit the reversal that would be necessary to provide through trains from directions other than Amsterdam. However, the Gooiboog, a southeast-to-northeast curve avoiding Weesp, was under construction in January 2002 (R.1525) and should in 2003 allow through and faster journeys from Utrecht or Amersfoort via Hilversum to the Flevolijn. Later, perhaps by 2009, Netherlands track-authority Railinfrabeheer hope to extend the Flevolijn branch for some 50km as the through Hanzelijn from Lelystad to Zwolle (BLN 773.091; Ball 1B1-2A1), not only connecting these two towns but also improving rail links between Amsterdam and the northern Netherlands, bypassing busy Amersfoort. (http://www.rib.nl)

1922][NL] (Amsterdam Centraal -) Amsterdam Duivendrecht - Amsterdam Bijlmer - Abcoude - Breukelen - Maarssen - Utrecht: (R.1524; Ball 4A3) At the bi-level Duivendrecht station, the north-south Amsterdam - Utrecht main line, opened in 1843 and one of the earliest railways in the Netherlands, crosses above the much newer west-east (Leiden - Schiphol -) Amsterdam RAI - Diemen Zuid (- Weesp) Zuidtak (= south branch), and a normally freight-only double-track east-to-south link avoiding Duivendrecht is already in place (BLN 822.0121, 827.0254). Under construction nearby is the Utrechtboog (= Utrecht curve), a west-to-south double-track link enabling through-running of Schiphol - RAI - Bijlmer - Utrecht trains. The southbound track is to be 1.3km long, the westbound track 1.9km, both mainly on viaducts or bridges across roads and other railways, including the Amsterdam Metro. Earthworks and some bridges seemed to be nearing completion in January 2002. 

In association with investment in the Utrechtboog, the double-track main line from Duivendrecht south for some 30km to Utrecht is being quadrupled, involving major reconstruction at Bijlmer, Abcoude, Breukelen and Maarssen. At Bijlmer, the cross-platform interchange station with the Metro is to become a stop for inter-city trains, and construction had begun of new facilities. South of Bijlmer to Breukelen, only preliminary work had started, including cable re-routing and demolition of houses. Abcoude's old station remained, but major work is in prospect, for a movable bridge is to be replaced by a tunnel taking the four tracks beneath the small river Gein, and the station is to be relocated. At Breukelen, the old station had been demolished. Here a new flying junction is to minimise conflicting movements with trains for the Breukelen - Harmelen aansluiting - Woerden line. Between Breukelen and Utrecht earthworks were mostly complete. Maarssen's old station remained, largely hidden by enormous piles of sand, but it is to be demolished and replaced. Some 2km north of Utrecht, massive steelwork on the bank of the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal presaged a second bridge (the Demka bridge) which is to parallel the existing one and take the quadrupled line over this major waterway. Completion of the whole project is expected in 2006. 

1923][NL] Rotterdam - Zevenaar: (Ball 3B2-5A2) Construction was well under way in January 2002 of the politically controversial Betuwelijn, a dedicated freight-only railway from the huge port of Rotterdam on c.160km of mostly new alignment due east across the Netherlands to a junction at Zevenaar with the existing (Arnhem -) Zevenaar NS - Emmerich DB cross-border line. From near Barendrecht past Kijfhoek marshalling-yard for several km towards Dordrecht, Betuwelijn trains will parallel the existing Rotterdam - Dordrecht main line. (http://www.betuweroute.nl)

1924][DE][NL] Leer - Weener DB - Nieuweschans NS (- Groningen): (Ball DE-15B2-15A2, NL-2A2) Restoration of the cross-border rail passenger service seems to have slipped beyond 1 February 2002 (R.1839). It is reported that German operators DB Regio and Nordwestbahn showed no interest in running trains on this section, while NoordNed, Dutch operators of the Groningen - Nieuweschans section, have no suitable rolling-stock fitted with German Indusi signalling equipment.

1925][DE][NL] Gronau (Westfalen) DB - Glanerbrug NS - De Eschmarke - Enschede: (R.1724; Ball DE-24A2, NL-5B3) Both Gronau and Enschede sport European Union blue plaques with gold stars saying that this cross-border line 'officially' opened on Friday 16 November 2001, the date the inauguration ceremonies took place. Posters still on display at Gronau in January 2002 confirm that a free Gronau - Enschede shuttle service ran on the Saturday. DB Regio trains began revenue service on Sunday 18 November 2001, the date quoted in R.1842. 

Enschede station comprises bay platforms 1-3 at the west end, with the station building on platform 4, one of the two former through platforms. NS Inter-City electric trains terminate twice hourly (with lengthy xx:02-xx:28 and xx:32-xx:58 lay-overs) at platform 4. At its east end a level-crossing is the sole means of passenger access to what presumably used to be platform 5, now replaced by a brand-new unnumbered platform served by the DB trains. East of the crossing, track #4 simply peters out, while the track used by the DB trains has been slued to take up the alignment of the single running-line down the middle of the formation towards the frontier. At the west end of the 'DB' platform, a casual glance might suggest that continuous track has been blocked by two back-to-back sets of buffer-stops to prevent through running from the DB system to the NS, but in fact the rails have a gap a little longer than could be bridged by fishplates, so the 'DB' platform has no physical connection to the Dutch network. Despite the 'European unity' message of the blue plaques, the cross-border service was not obviously mentioned on Enschede's NS departure posters, and indeed no sign was to be seen saying that trains to Germany were available, or indicating whence they departed. Passengers for the DB trains were in evidence, however, though the only information about the service was a timetable displayed on the unnumbered platform. The ticket-machine there (as also at the two NS halts De Eschmarke and Glanerbrug) issues tickets only for journeys east of Enschede. Neverthless, an NS pass was accepted on the DB train for an Enschede - Glanerbrug journey. Despite physical separation from the rest of the NS, all the restored infrastructure on Netherlands soil, including signals, is of Dutch pattern, while that in Germany is DB standard. The Gronau - Enschede line is a single 'one-train-working' section, so the signalling presumably relates to the level-crossings rather than to block-working. 

1926][DE] (Magdeburg -) Wolmirstedt - Zielitz Ort - Zielitz (- Stendal): (R.1630; Ball 28A2; KBS309) New halt Zielitz Ort on Magdeburg S-Bahn line 1 eventually opened on 21 September 2001. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 6/2001)

1927][DE] Erfurt trams: Domplatz - Benaryplatz: (Ball 41B1 not shown) This 1.2km reopened section was inaugurated Friday 23 November and route #4 revenue service began on Saturday 24 November 2001. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn)

1928][DE] Görlitz trams: (Ball 45A2 not shown) The short north-eastern branch extension to Königshufen/Am Marktkauf was to open on 18 January 2002, served by tram-route #3. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn)

1929][DE] Stuttgart S-Bahn: Flughafen - Filderstadt-Bernhausen: (Ball 58A1) This 4km extension to line S2 opened 29 September 2001. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn)

1930][DE] Trossingen Bahnhof - Trossingen Stadt: (R.0486, 1853; Ball 68B2) Municipally-owned Trossinger Eisenbahn's 600V dc light-rail service on this 4.3km standard-gauge branch is to end on Friday 13 December and be replaced on Saturday 14 December 2002 by Hohenzollerische Landesbahn diesel RegioShuttle workings. (Tramways & Urban Transit, Jan. 2002)

1931][IT] Torino trams: (Ball 45A2 not shown) Tram-route #4 was extended from Piazza Caio Maia south to Mirafiori Sud on 5 November 2001. (Tramways & Urban Transit, February 2002)

1932][HU] Balatonfenyves - Somogyszentpál / Táska / Csiszta: (BLN 777.0177; Ball 47A2) Track on this 760mm-gauge system is very poor, and while MÁV have been prevented from closing it on 1 February 2002, it may close later in 2002.

1933][HR][BA] Ploce - Metkovic HZ (- Gabela ZBH - Capljina - Mostar - Sarajevo): (R.0352, 0920; Ball 51B2) A short walk from the ferry-terminal at the Croatian port of Ploce is the Hrvatske Zeleznice station, with plinthed narrow-gauge 0-8-0 steam locomotive #83.106. It is adjacent to the bus-station, whence buses run every 60-90 minutes to Dubrovnik, a 90-120-minute journey. Ploce's rail-served harbour lines, not electrified, were in December 2001 being shunted by a Bo-Bo diesel locomotive, and the locomotive-shed c.1km away, with an unadvertised staff-halt, held two more Bo-Bo diesels and a few electric locomotives. The daily international train inland to Bosnia comprised three bogie coaches, electrically hauled, while HZ's shuttle trains over the c.20km Ploce - Metkovic section within Croatia comprised two four-wheel coaches and a substantially heavier electric locomotive. Both Ploce and Metkovic stations were fully staffed and issued HZ Edmondson-style card tickets, duly inspected and punched on the train.

1934][HR] (Capljina - Hum -) Dubrovnik (- Zelenika): (R.1565; Ball 51B2 not shown) On this closed (1901-1975) 760mm-gauge line, Dubrovnik's modest station building still stood in December 2001, in mixed residential and office use some distance north-west of the town-centre, adjacent to disused quayside transit-sheds alongside Gruz harbour. The substantial stone retaining-walls that protected the line as it climbed out of Dubrovnik can still be seen from across the coastal inlet in Mokosica (bus-route #1) or in the distance inland from Fort Srd on the hill above the town. The trackbed does not appear to be used as a farm-road or a footpath, perhaps because of the locally-alleged risk of land-mines. Fighting in 1991-92 destroyed the Dubrovnik - Fort Srd cableway. The reinforced-concrete upper station at Fort Srd (also known as Fort Imperial) was shelled and is in ruins, and one of the cable-cars lies wrecked a short distance below on the hillside.

1935][HR] Ston salt-pans railway: (R.1565) North-west of Dubrovnik, on Croatia's Peljesac peninsula, the part-walled small town of Ston is at the head of an inlet where sea-water evaporates naturally in a series of salt-pans. Salt deposits are removed and taken to a main building for storage and processing by a light industrial railway of c.600mm-gauge, using a small number of wooden-bodied wagons with sloping floors to facilitate gravity discharge, and a single four-wheel diesel locomotive. Although salt collection is presumably restricted to the summer months, crushing and packing goes on all year. In December 2001 rails running parallel to the salt-pans for c.400m to a separate store at their far end were only lightly rusted, indicating use within the previous week, though the whole operation looked very run-down. A second diesel locomotive lay derelict.

1936][AU] Rockhampton - Townsville - Cairns: At the end of 2001 through trains from the Rockhampton direction on the south-to-north coastal main line of 1067mm-gauge Queensland Rail were still taking a sinuous and slow (15-25km/h) route through the city of Townsville. From Boundary Street, south of the city centre, they traversed a bridge north over Ross Creek to arrive at the west end of the handsome old passenger station, circled round to cross Ross Creek again at the east end of the station, crossed the inbound line on the level at right-angles to join the Northyard bypass line heading west through Reid Park, and finally crossed Ross Creek for a third time to head west over Charters Towers Road level-crossing before turning north on the main line to Cairns or continuing west inland on the Townsville - Charters Towers - Mount Isa line. The Northyard bypass was built in 1992 to give a direct run to the north or the west from the Jetty branch serving Townsville's developing port, but its Ross Creek bridge has exacerbated local flooding problems. A new line is therefore being built leading direct from Boundary Street north-west across Reid Park on a new alignment to yet another railway bridge over Ross Creek and on westward to Charters Towers Road to rejoin the old alignment. A new Townsville passenger station is to be built, partly on this new bridge, partly to the north of it. The old station on its circular loop will be cut out, although a west-facing curve will be built from Charters Towers Road through the former Northyard site into the old station for special trains. The present layout should be replaced and the new station opened early in 2003. (Railway Digest, November 2001)

1937][CA] Vancouver metro: (R.1438, 1911) Revenue service on the short Columbia - Braid section of the SkyTrain Millennium Line, with a train every six minutes from 7 January 2002, followed test running that began 26 November 2001 and from 3 December was extended from Braid through Lougheed Town Centre station to a point west of Production Way-University station. 

1938][CA] Victoria - Esquimalt - Malahat - Stockett - Nanaimo - Parksville - Courtenay, BC: (R.1910) On 8 January 1999 Canadian Pacific Railway, owners of the isolated 225km standard-gauge Esquimalt & Nanaimo line on Vancouver Island, leased to RailAmerica the sections from Victoria to Stockett (just south of Nanaimo) and from Parksville to Courtenay, and sold to them outright the Stockett - Parksville section, plus the freight-only Parksville - Port Alberni branch, closed to passengers in 1953. However freight traffic failed to match expectations, and on 29 November 2001 E&N employees were given 30 days notice of the island system's closure to freight. RailAmerica also gave 90 days notice to VIA Rail either to give up their running rights for the single daily passenger train (#198/199 Malahat Victoria - Courtenay), or else face a very steep increase in track-access charges as the only remaining users of the line. VIA argue that CPR have a continuing responsibility to ensure the line stays open, but unsurprisingly CPR dispute this, and the Malahat may run for the last time on 10 March 2002. Ironically, VIA's Budd 1950s rail diesel cars that work the service are being refurbished, car #6133 having arrived back on the E&N only in mid-December 2001, releasing car #6148 to go to Moncton, NB, on the far side of the Dominion, for overhaul by mid-February 2002 (R.1821). In late January, with a final decision on the passenger trains still pending, a small amount of freight was said still to be moving between Victoria and Parksville. A mainland casualty of the E&N closure will be CPR's transfer traffic from Coquitlam Yard via New Westminster over the BNSF/CN line to the Tilbury Barge Slip of Washington Marine Group on the Fraser River in Delta, BC, whence ferries have taken freight cars for the island to Wellcox near Nanaimo.

1939][CA] North Vancouver - Squamish - Lillooet - Exeter - Williams Lake - Prince George: (BLN 776.0165, R.0114, 1163, 1439) After operating since 1975, albeit in 2001 hauled by ex-CPR 'F-unit' diesel #4069 when no steam locomotive was available, the Royal Hudson North Vancouver - Squamish summer tourist train is not to run in 2002. In January 2002 elderly Budd rail diesel cars were maintaining the classic timetable of BCR's Cariboo Prospector (daily North Vancouver - Lillooet, running forward to Prince George Monday, Thursday, Saturday, returning south from Prince George Wednesday, Friday and Sunday; http://www.bcrail.com/cariboo), but BC Rail are again considering cutting back or ending their ordinary passenger service, and will also be reviewing their weekly Whistler Northwind North Vancouver - Prince George locomotive-hauled tourist train (http://www.whistlernorthwind.com) after its 2002 summer season (19 May-2 October). BC Rail are also said to be considering total abandonment of their main line between Squamish and Exeter (100 Mile House), leaving CN to work the Exeter - Prince George section as a branch.

1940][CA] Prince George - Odell - Wakely - Kennedy - Chetwynd - Fort St.John - Fort Nelson; and four branches Odell - Fort St.James - Chipmunk; Wakely - Teck - Tumbler Ridge - Quintette; Kennedy - MacKenzie; and Chetwynd - Dawson Creek: BC Rail's normally freight-only lines north of Prince George are to see railtours on 20-28 April and 7-15 September 2002. The April tour (http://www.mp1.com/events/event17.htm) may be the last opportunity to go from Fort St.John north to Fort Nelson, since the September tour (http://www.wcra.org/tours/inland.htm) is booked not to visit this section, allegedly because of unsuitable track. The April route is Vancouver (ex-CN, now VIA, station) - (CN freight-only line) - North Vancouver - Prince George - Tumbler Ridge (reverse) - Wakely (reverse) - MacKenzie (reverse) - Kennedy (reverse) - Fort Nelson (reverse) - Odell (reverse) - Fort St.James (reverse) - Prince George - Terrace (reverse) - (CN freight-only branch) - Kitimat (reverse) - Prince Rupert (reverse) - Prince George - Jasper (reverse) - Kamloops - Vancouver. The September route is North Vancouver - Prince George - Tumbler Ridge (reverse) - Wakely (reverse) - Dawson Creek (reverse) - Chetwynd (reverse) - Fort St.John (reverse) - Odell (reverse) - Fort St.James (reverse) - Prince George - North Vancouver. As in previous years, neither tour will run north-west of Fort St.James to Chipmunk (on the never-fully-opened branch to Dease Lake, thought still to be seeing only limited use; BLN 776.0165), nor east of Tumbler Ridge (on the 50kV 60Hz electrified coalfield line, the last section of which is thought to have been out of use since the closure of the Quintette mine in 2000; BLN 809.0427, R.0720).

1941][US][CA] (Toronto, ON -) Sarnia, ON - Port Huron, MI (- Chicago, IL): In January 2002, four months after the attacks on New York and Washington, the US federal government and their nationalised railway were regrettably still preventing westbound travellers from using this rail border-crossing to enter the USA. Passengers on the supposedly-through Toronto - Chicago International trains (#7085/365 on weekdays and #7685/367 Sundays) have been compulsorily detrained with all their baggage at Sarnia in Canada, taken by bus across the border, put through customs and immigration inspections at the highway crossing-point, and reboarded at Amtrak's Port Huron station. Thanks to the usual slack built into the schedules of America's third-world passenger railway, this rigmarole, highly inconvenient for passengers, does not normally delay the train! It seems demoralised Amtrak have no plans to address the problem with their country's government, so it continues until further notice. Canada's authorities are less prone to panic, and passengers remain aboard the eastbound International #364/7088 for the entire journey as advertised, including the border-crossing, over track owned by Canadian National on both sides of the frontier. Anyone wanting to travel this track needs to do so eastbound, therefore - though a better idea might be to deny the USA the benefits of one's tourist spending until the authorities improve customer care on their railway!

1942][US] Chicago metro: Howard - Dempster: The Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow line, better known as the Skokie Swift, runs from Howard station on the Red and Purple lines near the Lake Michigan shore inland to the west for some 8km non-stop to Dempster station in the suburb of Skokie. Part of the route uses CTA's standard 600V dc third rail, but part is still equipped with overhead catenary, some of it supported by masts erected in 1925 by the former North Shore interurban. The 3200 Series heavy-rail cars are similar to others elsewhere on the CTA system but are able to operate on both types of supply, the change-over taking place without the train stopping. Between summer 2002 and the end of 2003 CTA plan to replace this last section of catenary with third rail, enabling the use of standard cars and facilitating eventually a proposed extension of the line from Dempster north to Old Orchard Shopping Center. (Chicago Sun-Times, 15 January 2002) 

1943][MX] México: passenger trains: Passenger trains have declined dramatically since 1987, when several other state-owned railways were merged into Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (National Railways of Mexico, as they had styled themselves in English-language advertising material). The time-honoured abbreviation NdeM gave way to FNM, accompanied by a new livery. Though at about the same time FNM were purchasing cast-off North American passenger-cars and new Japanese-designed stock, this was all too little, too late, for speeds were not commercially competitive, and losses mounted, with the inevitable consequences: downgrading of service by withdrawal of sleepers and dining-cars (BLN 696.013), then wholesale withdrawal of trains, the latter mainly following privatisation in the late 1990s. FNM ceased to run trains in November 1999, although on paper they remained an operating railway until 5 June 2001. At the turn of 1999-2000 (one report says November 1999, at the effective demise of FNM, another implies it was after the Christmas 1999 / New Year 2000 holiday), the majority of Mexico's passenger train services simply came to an abrupt halt. 

The Mexican federal government had during 1999 provided special finance to the individual states for construction of roads to most rural communities previously linked only by rail, and would not intervene to provide passenger trains in areas where alternative means of transport were available. Two states responded by financing some passenger trains: Zacatecas supported a Felipe Pescador - Torreón - Chihuahua service on part of the Ciudad Mexico - Ciudad Juarez main line, and Coahuila a Sierra Mojada - Ciudad Frontera service. By spring 2000 Mexico City's huge Buenavista station (BLN 822.0134) saw a mere three trains weekly, running Ciudad Mexico - Apizaco. (http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/dt/dttrainsout.html) Some trains reportedly still ran in the states of Oaxaca, Campeche, Chiapas and Tabasco, but were expected to cease when new roads were built. Surviving passenger workings were generally basic, comprising one or two carriages, usually attached to freight trains, operated essentially at the behest of state governments as subsidised social services for specific local communities, outside which information remains difficult to obtain. In 1987 some 140 of these mixed trains (mixtos) augmented the extensive full-service passenger network but by 2001 services were believed to run only on the following routes. No centrally-published timetable seems to exist, and three sources (http://www.mexlist.com/pass.htm; http://www.ferrolatino.ch/FLBEng.htm and the November 2001 Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable) show some disagreement, so the maximum likely extent is shown below: Chihuahua - Los Mochis (R.1944); Guadalajara - Tequila (R.1944); Mérida - Izamal (Saturday and Sunday, seemingly another tourist operation); Ciudad Mexico - Apizaco (thrice-weekly); Tehuacán - Oaxaca (thrice weekly); Coatzacoalcos - Tenosique - Campeche (thrice weekly); Coatzacoalcos - Medias Aguas - Ixtepec - Tapachula (thrice weekly); Felipe Pescador - Torreón (weekly; this two-coach train was observed, northbound, on a Friday in April 2001, and was stated to continue to Chihuahua); and Matamoros - Reynosa (irregular). The Sierra Mojada - Cuatro Cienegas (- Ciudad Frontera) service seems to have been truncated. Indeed, any of these services could have been altered or discontinued, so up-to-date information would be welcome. 

1944][MX] Chihuahua - La Junta - Minaca - Creel - Divisadero - Temoris - El Fuerte - Los Mochis - Topolobampo: By spring 2001, apart from urban metro operations, only one route in Mexico had proper passenger trains with modern equipment. The route of the Ferrocarril de Chihuahua al Pacifico (ChP or Chepe, a phonetic rendering of the initials) uses the tracks of an earlier ChP (later Ferrocarril Nor-Oeste de México) for the first 193.5km from Chihuahua to Minaca, opened 31 March 1900. The 102.7km Minaca - Creel section, completed 1907, started life as part of the grandly-titled Kansas City, Mexico & Orient, but in March 1912, while Mexico was deep in revolution, the KCMO went into receivership. The Santa Fe bought the KCMO on 24 September 1928, but they sold on the Mexican lines to United Sugar of Los Mochis. The latter in turn sold out in 1940 to the Mexican federal government, which in 1952 acquired the FC Nor-Oeste and merged the two in 1955 to form the ChP. Meanwhile, at the other end of the line, the 102.1km section from the port of Topolobampo eastward via Los Mochis to El Fuerte had opened by mid-1903, leaving a long gap still to be bridged, over difficult terrain. By 1951 the line had extended c.24km eastwards from El Fuerte, but the section completing the line was not officially opened until 23 November 1961, with regular services the next day. The 274.8km Creel - El Fuerte section includes two horseshoe spirals near Temoris, a 2460m summit, no fewer than 86 tunnels (of which the longest is 1818m; four additional false tunnels for rock-slide protection were later added), and 37 major bridges (the longest is 500m, over the Rio Fuerte). At Divisadero, the scenic Copper Canyon can be viewed, though the train does not actually pass through or over the canyon. The Chihuahua - Los Mochis train El Chihuahua Pacifico, precursor of the present Chepe, began running 30 July 1987, using new Japanese-designed cars on a twelve-hour schedule, but passenger services from Los Mochis (whose station is inconveniently sited several km from the downtown area) to Topolobampo (20.3km) ceased 10 November 1987, and the railcars (autovias) which formerly supplemented the through locomotive-hauled trains over other parts of the route no longer run. 

In February 1998 Grupo Ferroviario Méxicano, a private-sector joint-venture between two Mexican firms and US railroad Union Pacific, took over the routes of the former ChP, plus the Ferrocarril del Pacifico (FCP, the former Southern Pacific of Mexico, which the Mexican government had purchased from SP on 21 December 1951 and had merged into FNM in 1987) and other FNM main lines across a whole swathe of country north of Ciudad Mexico, though excluding the main lines from Ciudad Mexico to Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Tampico (BLN 822.0135). GFM trade as Ferrocarril Méxicano or Ferromex. In 2001 Ferromex were running two Chihuahua - Los Mochis trains daily: the first-class-only Chepe aimed at the foreign tourist market (inaugurated 20 July 1999, and also marketed as Tren Express del Cobre), and, running one hour behind, the economy-class Tarahumara, still assured of state support because of its rugged route and the dearth of alternative roads. Various cruise trains serving leisure rather than transport markets continue to run to and over the ChP. Ferromex also run twice-weekly weekend Tequila Express tourist trains on the Guadalajara - Tequila route. (http://www.ferromex.com.mx/gfm2000.html). 

1945][AR] Buenos Aires Retiro (Mitre) - Rosario - San Miguel de Tucumán: (R.1886) The long-distance train restored from 5 January 2002 on the 1676mm-gauge Mitre route was launched as El Jardín de la República rather than El Tucumáno. 

1946][AR] Buenos Aires: Puente Alsina - Aldo Bonzi (- Marinos del Cruzero): (BLN 767.0515, 793.028) The Tren Metropolitano Belgrano service on the metre-gauge line from the minor (and not very centrally-situated) city terminus of Puente Alsina out to the inner suburban junction of Aldo Bonzi in the Tapiales area has been 'suspended indefinitely' according to a locally displayed notice dated 21 December 2001, and no trains were running in January 2002. Since Buenos Aires General Belgrano station offers an alternative metre-gauge city terminus, and trains can change routes by a curve near Aldo Bonzi to reach outer suburban stations on the Belgrano Sur line to Marinos del Cruzero (63km out), it seems unlikely that Puente Alsina will again see a passenger service.

1947][AR] (Viedma - Ingeniero Jacobacci -) Perito Moreno - San Carlos de Bariloche: (R.1654) This 30km section of ex-Roca 1676mm-gauge main line, already traversed by Servicios Ferroviarios Patagónicos Viedma - Bariloche trains (R.1355), has since 13 July 2001 seen a steam-hauled tourist train about twice a week, usually Wednesday and Friday, with approximate timings Bariloche 14:00 - Perito Moreno - 19:00 Bariloche. Information: El Histórico Tren a Vapor +54 2944 423858. 

1948][NL] (Rotterdam -) Barendrecht - Zwijndrecht (- Dordrecht): (Ball 3B2) Construction work continues, probably associated with the Betuwelijn project (R.1923). Of the four tracks at Barendrecht (BLN 827.0251) the two passenger tracks formerly serving platforms 1 and 2 have been removed, and four new tracks are being laid on a parallel alignment to the east, incorporating a brand-new station, though in January 2002 only two of these tracks were in use. For some 200-300m, including but not restricted to the station area, all four new tracks had been covered over by a concrete 'tunnel' whose walls rise above the present ground level, but whose purpose was not yet clear. Meanwhile, on the west side of the 'tunnel' and not covered by it, the two old freight tracks remained in use, passing the remains of Barendrecht's 'temporary' wooden platform 3, now rotting and unusable. On 26-27 January and 2-3 February 2002 weekend southbound non-stop trains were booked to use the freight track from Rotterdam Zuid to just beyond the flyover north of Zwijndrecht. This track and its northbound equivalent both run as a pair on the east side of the big Kijfhoek freight yard, but are separated by a watercourse from the now quadruple main line. 

1949][NL] Amsterdam Centraal - Westerdoksdijk: (Ball 4A3) At the north-west end of Amsterdam Centraal station, a swing-bridge gave access to Westerdoksdijk carriage-sidings, which were at the same level above ground as the huge station itself. The sidings have been out of use since around 1998, but in January 2002 the access tracks remained in place as far as the swing-bridge, itself still in place though swung closed for rail traffic. Beyond the far abutment of the bridge, however, the area had been cleared down to the original ground level and awaited redevelopment,.

1950][NL] Amsterdam Centraal - Amsterdam Muiderpoort: (Ball 4A3) Our 1998 report (BLN 828.0282) explained the usage of the three pairs of running-lines from Amsterdam Centraal (then known as Amsterdam CS) east to Muiderpoort, and noted that the most northerly pair ran at ground level. By January 2002 these two tracks had been raised, enabling at least one under-rail bridge to replace a former level-crossing, and they now follow a new alignment closer to, but still slightly lower than, the other tracks. The disused Dijksgracht carriage-sidings remain between the middle and southern pair of running-lines. At Muiderpoort station the Weesp lines serve platforms 2 and 3, the Amstel lines serve platforms 8 and 9, while tracks 1 and 4-7, all on the Weesp alignment, are without platform faces.

1951][DE] Vorwohle - Eschershausen - Bodenwerder-Linse - Grohnde - Emmerthal: (R.1843; Ball 26B1-26A1) The layouts at Vorwohle and Emmerthal are very similar: double-track main line; station building on a single-faced platform next to one track; island platform alongside the second track; outer face of the island, Gleis 3, accommodating branch trains and doubling as a bi-directional overtaking loop; and a further loop allowing branch trains to run round. As long as no train is being overtaken, branch trains can thus come and go without fouling the main lines. However Vorwohle station is closed to passengers, with its building in residential use, and its single signal-box switched out most of the time, while Emmerthal is still open and has a Stellwerk at each end of the layout to control level-crossings. DB own the main-line tracks at Vorwohle, but though Vorwohle-Emmerthaler Verkehrsbetriebe in 2000 acquired the redundant loop and sidings, VEV do not have an operating permit for them from Niedersachsen's state railway authority, and VEV train movements are restricted to the branch Hauptsignal (= home-signal).

Uerdingen railbus VT224 of local preservation group Interessengemeinschaft Schienenbus Seelze, its 59 seats well filled, worked a special train over the full length of the VEV line on 26 January 2002. It left Emmerthal at 11:15 at a fine speed, along well-maintained track for the first 2.5km to Grohnde, track on which DB Cargo occasionally carry nuclear material. To the south-east, by contrast, the line condition and speed confirmed that the VEV is indeed a disused secondary railway, with all but one of its level-crossing light signals now inoperative. No sign was seen of recent freight traffic, and not a single freight wagon was in any of the sidings, which looked generally unusable. VEV, like other secondary lines, used to store surplus hire-fleet tank-wagons, but this too had ceased. The only item of stock seen outside was an ex-DB shunting locomotive minus its cab, at Bodenwerder-Linse, though the shed there may shelter items other than the ISS railbus. After reversing at Vorwohle 13:05-13:20, the returning railbus diverged at the east-facing junction at Linse, venturing down the 300m siding to Bodenwerder hafen on the east bank of the river Weser opposite Bodenwerder-Kemnade, and also at the east-facing junction to take the short branch to Grohnde nuclear power-station, 1km to the security-gate. Return to Emmerthal was at 15:45. An earlier trip on 8 December 2001 had covered the whole VEV line including the Grohnde branch but not Bodenwerder hafen. In the meantime, charter specials continue, not especially aimed at the rail-enthusiast market, with the ISS railbus running several trips during February and March 2002 on the section from Emmerthal to Buchhagen, near Bodenwerder. 

The future of the line looks to be as follows: Vorwohle - Eschershausen (out of use, abandonment possible); Eschershausen - Bodenwerder-Linse (VEV board resolved to close, but yet to submit a formal request to Land Niedersachsen); Bodenwerder-Linse - Grohnde - Emmerthal (trains to continue as required). It is not clear how railway and rail-cycle operations will in future be segregated at Bodenwerder-Linse, where the station area has been handed over to a firm hiring pedal-driven draisines, who are now assembling their rolling-stock in the old workshop and renovating the station building with a view to opening for business in summer 2002. Draisines based in Linse will be able to run to a point east of Eschershausen. 

1952][DE] Düren - Jülich - Linnich (- Baal): (Ball 37B1) Land Nordrhein-Westfalen delayed granting the necessary finance, so reopening of the Dürener Kreisbahn Jülich - Linnich section, planned for 21 October 2001 (R.1496), had to be postponed till 26 May 2002. Trains are to run hourly, at up to 80km/h, with a journey time of 14 minutes.


1953][DE] Grünstadt - Eisenberg (Pfalz) - Ramsen - Eiswoog (- Enkenbach): (R.1756; Ball 57A3) The timber platform opened 10 June 2001 on an embankment in the middle of a wood is not the original Eiswoog station, which lies a short distance to the west beyond a dilapidated viaduct still unsafe for trains to cross. Neither the old nor the new station was really intended to serve local residents, but rather to facilitate access to the countryside. Our reporter, visiting on 9 September 2001, was astounded at the money spent on extending the branch to Eiswoog for a limited-purpose summer-Sundays-only service. 

1954][DE] Böblingen - Sindelfingen - Renningen: (Ball 57B1) Some peak-hour Mon-Fri passenger trains run from Böblingen 2.3km north to the run-down three-platform station at Sindelfingen, for workers at the nearby DaimlerChrysler car-factory. Freight may cover the infrastructure costs of the electrified line but the train used by our reporter in December 2001 was not well loaded. The service might be thought 'at risk', though in 1999 (R.0239) Land Baden-Württemberg were said to have longer-term plans to reopen the rest of the 14.3km line as a passenger route through to Renningen, maybe in 2006.

1955][DE] Stuttgart S-Bahn: Flughafen - Filderstadt: (R.1929; Ball 58A1) The S2 extension (opened 29 September 2001) beyond the airport lies entirely in tunnel for the 4km to its new terminus, whose name has been shortened to Filderstadt.

1956][AT][CZ] Summerau ÖBB - Horní Dvoríšté CD: (R.1428; Ball AT-63A1, CZ-40B2) The final 4km cross-border section of wiring linking Austrian 15kV 16.7Hz and Czech 25kV 50Hz electrification came into use from 10 December 2001. (Today's Railways, #74, February 2002)

1957][PT] Lisboa: Alcântara Terra - Alcântara Mar: (R.0569; Ball 25B1, electrification not correctly shown) This short still-unelectrified freight-only link between the 25kV 50Hz Campolide - Alcântara Terra single-track branch and the 1500V dc Lisboa Cais do Sodré - Alcântara Mar - Cascais double-track passenger line was traversed on 26 January 2002 by a Portuguese Traction Group railtour. The tour train, at that point comprising a diesel locomotive and a single coach, then reversed from the Cascais line south across the main road into the port area, heading east on one of the three holding tracks into the Lisboa container depot for a photographic stop. Later that day the augmented tour train visited the Soporcel and Celbi industrial branches at Louriçal (R.0764) on the (Lisboa -) Cacém - Figueira da Foz Linha do Oeste.

1958][ES] Medina del Campo - Salamanca - Salamanca La Alamadilla - Fuente de San Esteban - Ciudad Rodrigo - Fuentes d'Ońoro RENFE (- Vilar Formoso CP): (Ball 10A1-19B3-18B2) Once a five-way junction, Medina retains its fine but rusting overall roof, its huge station buildings, and quite a complex layout with a classic signal-box at the southern (Madrid) end. The Segovia - Medina del Campo line, closed to passengers 26 September 1993 (BLN 725.061) is out of use but remains connected with catenary in place, awaiting its possible role in the Variante de Guadarrama high-speed line project (BLN 844.0102). Westward to Portugal, the provincial authority, Junta de Castilla y Leon, heavily supported by the European Union Cohesion Fund, are financing realignment, and in January 2002 the Medina del Campo - Salamanca section had some middle-of-the-day local trains substituted by buses during engineering work. At Salamanca the five-platform main station now includes a new shopping-mall. South-west of the main station, on the north-west side of the line, a single platform without a nameboard had recently been constructed. According to the local timetable obtained at Salamanca, this platform, Salamanca La Alamadilla, has a single departure, the 14:40 Regional to Avila, but six arrivals, one ordinary Regional from Avila and five Tren Regional Diesel workings through from Madrid. To the south, the Salamanca - Guijuelo y Campillo - Plasencia line was still physically connected and though well-rusted showed slight signs of use, consistent with the report (R.1863) that the section to Guijuelo had been used in the earlier part of 2001 by ballast traffic. Local traffic is light, as in most of rural Spain. Nevertheless, at Fuente de San Esteban, the former junction for Barca de Alva, the main building on the northernmost of the three passenger platforms still had a station-master in his office, and the whole place was clean and tidy. A goods-shed and several sidings lay south of the platforms. Ciudad Rodrigo station, with two passenger trains a day, still had three platforms, as well as a goods-shed and a couple of sidings. The section from Fuente de San Esteban west to Fuentes d'Ońoro, gateway to Portugal, has seen very substantial recent realignment, amounting to giving RENFE virtually a new line, and in places the route now in use cuts across the old formation at a significant angle. At Fuentes d'Ońoro, the main single-storey station building looked in good repair.

1959][ES] Fuente de San Esteban - Fregeneda RENFE (- Barca de Alva CP): (Ball 19A3-18B3 not shown) This long-disused cross-border route was in January 2002 still physically connected to the RENFE network, with the junction points locked. The line may have been retained to serve a Spanish army training-ground, and may also see an occasional weed-killing train, but the track was well rusted and had clearly seen no recent use. A 2001 report in the London Times on Salamanca, European City of Culture 2002, mentioned guided walks along 'a former railway line' in the vicinity of the Portuguese border. The track is thought to be in place and in a reasonable state all the way to the 200m-long international bridge, the Ponte do Agueda, also in good condition (R.1636). 

1960][ES] Madrid suburban: (BLN 785.0358; Ball 20B2-21A2-22) RENFE's Cercanías (= suburban) route C7 starting in the east (Alcalá de Henares - Atocha - Chamartín - El Tejar - Las Rozas - Príncipe Pío - Delicias - Atocha - Chamartín - Tres Cantos) is unusual in making both a complete circuit out to the west of the city and two passes north through the city-centre main-line stations, Atocha and Chamartín, before terminating to the north. C7 trains are the only ones to use the east-to-south curve of the El Tejar/Las Rozas/Pinar de las Rozas triangle north-west of Madrid. This has quite a complex layout of burrowing and flying junctions at each vertex, not only to minimise conflict and allow frequent trains, but because right-hand running applies on the lines close to the city, while left-hand running applies to main-line and suburban trains out north-west to Villalba de Guadarrama. 

1961][ES] Puertollano - Almorchón - Villanueva de la Serena - Mérida - Badajoz RENFE (- Elvas CP): (Ball 29B2-27B2) At Puertollano the Madrid - Ciudad Real - Puertollano - Córdoba - Sevilla standard-gauge Alta Velocidad Espańola line, opened for Sevilla's Expo in April 1992, lies to the east of the classic 1668mm-gauge tracks. A broad-gauge track serves the west face of the island platform used by northbound AVE trains. Westbound trains for Badajoz dive under the AVE line to emerge on the south-east side, where the Puertollano - Calvo Sotelo freight branch diverges eastward. West of La Nava de Puertollano the unelectrified broad-gauge line crosses back over the top of the (now east-west oriented) AVE line to run on its north side as far as Brazatortas, where the AVE finally diverges to head south. At Almorchon, the rails were shiny on the Almorchón - Obejo (- Córdoba) line, now freight-only and severed as a through route to Córdoba in 1991 when the AVE was under construction (R.0607; Ball 28B2-36A3). At Villanueva de la Serena the trackbed of the former Villanueva de la Serena - Talavera de la Reina cross-country line can be seen diverging north (Ball 28A2-20A1 not shown). The border-crossing at Badajoz is one of two with a daytime train from Spain to Portugal, CP train R5506 leaving at 15:25 Spanish time. Though RENFE regional train #07850 Puertollano - Badajoz is booked to arrive at Badajoz 15:15, passengers are not encouraged to regard this as a connection, since CP say their train is not held if the RENFE one runs late. On 24 January 2002 train #07850 was indeed delayed, by crossing a late-running Badajoz - Barcelona train at La Nava de Puertollano, but even with a 15:23 arrival at Badajoz our reporter made the international connection successfully. On the rare occasions that #07850 is late, the Spanish taxis at the station stand ready to take prospective passengers over the border to Elvas for CP's later departure westward at 17:00. The line across the border is not in good condition. The CP train encountered a lengthy 30km/h speed-restriction, just on the Spanish side, at a point where the track had clearly been repaired after a bad derailment, evidenced by a number of severely-damaged ballast wagons on their sides on the ground.

1962][IT] Messina - Villafranca Tirrena (- Palermo): (BLN 820.075; Ball 60B3) The major realignment using the new much longer (12.8km) double-track Peloritana tunnel opened 25 November 2001. (Today's Railways, #74, February 2002)

1963][PL] Sroda - Zaniemysl: (R.1535; Ball 37A3) This 750mm-gauge line closed to all traffic from 11 June 2001.

1964][AU] Western Australia: charter trains: Ownership of all connected 1067mm-gauge and standard-gauge tracks west of Kalgoorlie remains with Western Australian Government Railways, as does operation of intra-state passenger services, including the 1067mm-gauge Transperth suburban system (Perth - Fremantle; Perth - Currambine; Perth - Claisebrook - East Perth - Midland; and Perth - Claisebrook - Armadale; R.1321). However, freight-train operation has been privatised and the whole WAGR network outside the Perth suburban area is leased by WestNet Rail, who run the former Westrail freight services, trading as Australian Western Railroads. Significant track-access fees are now chargeable, as in Great Britain. The preservation group Hotham Valley Railway have in recent years operated special trains over the WAGR system, including freight-only lines, but consumer resistance to fares reflecting much higher costs, especially for track-access on an occasional basis, threatened to confine HVR in 2002 to their own short 1067mm-gauge (Pinjarra -) Dwellingup - Etmilyn line, running the Dwellingup Tramway and the Etmilyn Forest Diner. In March 2001 the Western Australia state government lent HVR AUD70,000 and offered to waive repayments for up to five years to allow new sources of finance to be secured. (partly from Railway Digest, December 2001) HVR's website http://www.hothamvalleyrailway.com.au/events.html, updated 18 January 2002, shows a full-year programme of tours, suggesting that financial problems have been resolved at least for the moment. 

1965][CA] Montréal, QC: Gare Windsor becomes Lucien-L'Allier: (R.1912) The Canadian Pacific's distinguished city terminus stood on what was Windsor Street, and kept the name Windsor even when that section of street was renamed Peel. Gare Windsor ceased to host transcontinental trains from 29 October 1978, when the Canadian/Canadien began to use Montréal's Canadian National station, Gare Centrale. VIA's last trains at Windsor were the Montréal - Québec north-shore rail diesel cars, which moved to Centrale 29 April 1984. The last non-commuter train was Amtrak's New York - Montreal Adirondack, which moved to Centrale 12 January 1986. Commuter trains last ran from the CP Gare Windsor on 11 October 1993. CP still have offices in the building, but the tracks were removed from the old Windsor station proper, and the Molson Centre ice-hockey rink was built immediately west of it, with a new 'Terminus Windsor' commuter-train station constructed next to the rink complex on Rue de la Montagne, where the tracks now end. At the beginning of 2002 Montréal's commuter-rail Agence Métropolitaine de Transport renamed this terminus Lucien-L'Allier, the same name as the nearby Métro station, one block further west, which itself commemorates the distinguished railway engineer responsible for constructing the city's first metro lines in the 1960s. For the moment, AMT's website refers to the station as Lucien-L'Allier (Windsor). Three AMT commuter services use it, all with diesel traction: Montréal Lucien-L'Allier - Delson, QC (R.1912); Montréal Lucien-L'Allier - Dorion - Rigaud, QC (R.0694); and Montréal Lucien-L'Allier - Blainville, QC (R.1264). Meanwhile, too, with the merger of several smaller municipalities into the city on 1 January 2002, the operators of the Métro are now simply Société de transport de Montréal (STM) rather than Sociéte de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal (STCUM). (canadian-passenger-rail@yahoogroups.com)

1966][US] Yuma, AZ - Wellton - Maricopa - Picacho - Tucson, AZ: In 1996 Southern Pacific were proposing to abandon their Wellton - Phoenix - Picacho 'Phoenix line' west of the major city of Phoenix, Arizona, and Amtrak did not want to pay for being its sole user. Thus from 3 June 1996 Amtrak trains ceased to serve Phoenix and were diverted over SP's alternative 'Gila line', with the promise of a new alternative stop between Yuma and Tucson at Maricopa, formerly Phoenix Jn, some 50km south of downtown Phoenix. By the timetable of 25 October 1998 the Maricopa stop was still hopefully shown as 'to commence on a date to be announced', but in fact it took five years for Amtrak trains #1/2/421/422 Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle 'departing their origin-points from Sunday 28 October 2001' to begin calling at Maricopa. Amtrak's Tucson - Phoenix connecting contract buses were withdrawn, and Amtrak passengers now require to make their own way from Maricopa's 'basic waiting facilities comprising two old railway-cars turned into a station' northwards to Phoenix. 

1967][US] (Los Angeles, CA - Barstow, CA -) Daggett, CA - Las Vegas, NV (- Salt Lake City, UT): Amtrak withdrew the Los Angeles - Las Vegas - Salt Lake City Desert Wind 11 May 1997 (BLN 792.0529) and their plans in 2000 to restore an experimental Los Angeles - Las Vegas train using a leased Talgo set (R.0548) seemed to have stalled. However, four public excursion trains are to run in April-May 2002, sponsored by tourist firm Key Holidays in conjunction with Amtrak, restoring a vestigial passenger service to the Union Pacific's Daggett - Las Vegas line. Enquiries to Key Holidays, Walnut Creek, CA. 

1968][US] (Chicago, IL -) Dallas, TX - Fort Worth, TX (- Temple, TX - Los Angeles, CA): (R.1822) Amtrak's south-and-westbound Texas Eagle runs from Dallas Union station via the ex-Texas & Pacific, now Union Pacific, line to Fort Worth Tower 55, takes the east-to-south curve at this 'grand junction' (flat diamond crossing with chords in each quadrant) and reverses north over the diamond into the (ex-Santa Fe) Fort Worth Union Depot at 1501 Jones Street, a dead-end station now used only by Amtrak. After its Fort Worth call, the Eagle heads south over the diamond to continue on the ex-Santa Fe, now BNSF, line to Temple, TX. The east-and-northbound Eagle performs this manoeuvre in reverse. Amtrak have been negotiating for the Eagle in future to run from Dallas sharing with Trinity Railway Express commuter trains the ex-Rock Island route to the north of the T&P route, calling at the city's new Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center at 1001 Jones Street (a through station fully opened for TRE trains, and long-distance buses, on 12 January 2002), bypassing the present Amtrak station and proceeding without reversal on the BNSF line to Temple. TRE trains continue from the ITC west a short distance to terminate at Fort Worth's 1931 art-déco Texas & Pacific Railway Terminal at 221 West Lancaster Avenue. 

1969][US] Boston (North Station), MA - Wilmington - Lowell, MA (- Nashua, NH - Concord, NH): Lowell - Concord passenger trains ceased 1981, but Massachusetts