|
1 October | • | Earthquake hits southwest
Turkey, killing at least 68 and
injuring 240
|
|
3 October | • | Accord signed between
French National Railways,
German Railway and Italian
State Railways to coordinate
common introduction of
planned European Railway
Traffic Management System
|
|
4 October | • | Total International Union of
Railways (UIC) membership
now 104 organizations in 78
countries as new applications
ratified during annual meeting.
Applications came from
national railways of
Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Botswana, Sudan, Tanzania,
Uganda along with European
Passenger Services and
Finnish Rail Administration
RHK
|
|
9 October | • | Terrorism blamed for train derailment
causing 100 casualties
in Arizona. Amtrak train
derailed and overturned in
Arizona, killing one and injuring
99, either seriously or
slightly. Rail spike found
pulled out and memo believed
written by right wing group
claiming responsibility discovered.
Federal FBI investigating
incident as indiscriminate
terrorist attack
|
| • | More than 30 killed by earthquake
in western Mexico.
Earthquake measuring 7.5 on
Richter scale occurred on Pacific
coast of Mexico. Hotels,
churches and school buildings
flattened in states of
Colima and Jalisco
|
| • | Small biplane crashed into
Tokachigawa river bed,
Hokkaido, leaving one dead
and one seriously injured
|
|
13 October | • | Sightseeing bus collision in
China leaves one dead and
eight injured
|
|
14 October | • | Bus carrying 29 people including
Korean tourists hijacked
near Red Square in
Moscow. Suspect took passengers
hostage at gun point
and demanded $10 million
ransom. Russian security officials
shot hijacker dead in
surprise attack
|
|
17 October | • | French government awarded
Shuichiro Yamanouchi, Vice
Chairman of East Japan Railway
Co., “l'Order National du
Merite” for long contribution
through railway business to
stronger bilateral ties between
Japan and France.
Ceremony took place at official
residence of French Ambassador
to Japan
|
| • | Bomb exploded under seat on
regional subway train near
Orsay Museum, Paris during
morning rush hour, injuring 25
people
|
|
18 October | • | US fighter crashed about 100
km off coast of Naha,
Okinawa. Single crew member
ejected and rescued by
helicopter of Japanese Self
Defense Forces
|
| • | Export-Import Bank of Japan
to extend ¥12 billion in untied
loans to national railway of
Czech Republic, by teaming
up with Fuji Bank, Sakura
Bank, Industrial Bank of Japan
and Long-Term Credit
Bank of Japan. Loans allocated
for building Czech portion
(445 km) of trunk line railway
facilities connecting Germany
and Austria
|
|
19 October | • | Hot air balloon crashes in
New Zealand, killing 3. Two of
seven Japanese aboard killed
|
|
24 October | • | Up to 17 people killed and 100
injured in Indonesia when
overnight passenger train left
rails travelling from Bandung
to Central Java
|
|
25 October | • | Rear-end collision involving
large truck, overnight bus and
five other vehicles on Tomei
Expressway in Shizuoka Prefecture,
Japan, leaves two
dead and 44 people injured
|
|
26 October | • | One of world's fastest ferries
launched by Ishikawajima-
Harima Heavy Industries Co.,
at Tokyo Shipyard. 17,900-
tonne ferry, Suisen, to service
route between Tsuruga and
Otaru from June 1996. Accommodates
up to 515
people, 122 trucks and 80
passenger cars
|
|
28 October | • | Subway disaster in Baku,
Azerbaijan kills 288 people
when fire swept subway train.
Malfunction of subway's outdated
electrical system sent
sparks from high-voltage
cables as train left station
|
|
29 October | • | Japan's longest junction comp
leted for Hokuriku
Shinkansen in Takasaki city,
Gunma Prefecture. Point
measures 135-m long, almost
double length of conventional
points, and designed to enable
trains to pass at speeds
as high as 160 kph
|
|
1 November | • | Eurotunnel loses £2.6 million
claim. Arbitrator International
Chamber of Commerce dismissed
call by Eurotunnel for
complete revision of 1987
contract with SNCF and British
Rail finding both railways
had met contract obligations.
Eurotunnel claimed for costs
of delays in starting services,
inadequate infrastructure and
poor marketing
|
|
3 November | • | Typhoon caused 344 deaths
in Philippines and leveled
about 38,000 homes. Damage
estimated at cost 1.2 billion
pesos
|
|
7 November | • | British government agreed to
sell three leasing companies
owning state railway's 11,000
passenger cars for nearly
£1.8 billion. Sale marks major
step in selling separate track,
train and route operating
companies to private sector
|
|
10 November | • | Bad weather sinks ferry carrying
180 people including foreign
tourists in Gulf of Thailand.
Ferry sailing for Samui
Island located 600 km south
of Bangkok, and popular tourist
destination
|
|
11 November | • | Nigerian plane carrying 130
people crashed on landing in
northern Nigeria, killing 77
passengers
|
|
28 November | • | New head office of Hokkaido
Railway Co., under construction
since May 1994, completed
in front of Soen station
of Hakodate Line in Sapporo.
Modern intelligent building
has nine stories above
ground and one in basement,
with total floor space of about
17,000 m²
|
|
30 November | • | Japan Association of Travel
Agents (JATA) held 10th Japan
Congress of International
Travel and Travel Show in
Osaka between 30 November
and 3 December entitled,
“Navigating toward New Era
in Tourism”. Four-day congress
attracted over 1,500
participants from 78 different
countries
|
|
1 December | • | JR East revised timetable,
and launched new train,
Nasuno, dedicated to short
distances of up to 100 km on
Tohoku Shinkansen. Also increased
number of carriages
of Yamagata Shinkansen
Tsubasa from six to seven
|
|
2 December | • | China and Vietnam reached
agreement to restore railway
links interrupted since 1979
when two countries clashed
|
|
3 December | • | More than 60 dead in passenger
plane crash into mangrove
in Cameroon
|
|
5 December | • | Tupolev 134 Azerbaijan Airlines
crashed after take-off at
Nakhichevan airport killing 49
passengers and crew members
and injuring 33 others
|
|
8 December | • | Macao, Europe's oldest
colony in Asia, formally
opened new international airport
corresponding with start
of direct flights to Taiwan and
China. Represents Macao's
first major competition with
Hong Kong, signing air service
agreements with 24
countries
|
|
12 December | • | Japanese Transport Ministry
called for reinforcement
“within 3 to 5 years” of tracks
of Shinkansen network and
other major railway lines to
protect passengers from possible
effects of major earthquake.
Also called for improvements
to structure of elevated
bridges and railway
tunnels constructed in future
to withstand shock of earthquake
with intensity comparable
to Great Hanshin Earthquake
|
|
13 December | • | Rumanian Antonov 24 plane
crashed in snow just after
takeoff at Villafranca, northern
Italy. Second major accident
involving Romanian carrier
this year. In March,
Tarom Airlines Airbus A310
crashed near Bucharest, killing
all 60 passengers and
crew.
|
|
18 December | • | French railway returned
slowly to normal after 22-day
public transport strike.
French government eventually
forced to withdraw SNCF
restructuring plan
|
| • | Passenger plane crashed in
Angola, killing 139 with five
miraculously uninjured.
|
|
20 December | • | Tower Airlines B747 plane
carrying 467 people bound for
Miami slipped on runway taking
off at Kennedy airport in
New York. Heavy snow since
previous day blamed for incident,
which injured 28 passengers
slightly. Airport
closed for nearly 4 hours
|
| • | Four out of 164 aboard American
Airlines Boeing 757 en
route from Miami survived after
plane slammed into mountain
in Colombia and burst
into flames. Accident most
deadly involving US carrier
since 1988 bombing of Pan
Am flight over Lockerbie,
Scotland
|
|
21 December | • | More than 130 injured in train
collision 20 km south of Cairo,
Egypt. At least 66 people
dead, and more than 65 others
injured, making it one of
worst railway accidents in
Egypt
|
|
22 December | • | JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku
and JR Kyushu, obtained approval
for fare increase from
Ministry of Transport in response
to recommendation
made by transport advisory
panel. Increase to take effect
from 10 January 1996, and
first such increase since
privatization in April 1987
|
| • | Japanese domestic airlines
allowed to offer up to 25% discounts
on fares at own discretion
with so-called standard
costs used as ceiling
|
|
1 January | • | Bus plunged into ravine outside
Zairean capital, killing 72
people on way back home
from New Year's celebration.
Worst road accident in
country's history.
|
|
8 January | • | 297 people killed and 160 injured
when Russian-built
Antonov An-32 slammed into
ground seconds after lifting
off from Kinshasa's Ndolo Airport.
Plane skidded across
busy street and thundered
through crowded open-air
market
|
| • | New Eurostar train station
opened in southeast English
town of Ashford, saving hour
of travel time for passengers
bound for Paris or Brussels.
Ashford-Paris and Ashford-
Brussels routes take 2.25
hours each, 1 hour less than
trains leaving from London.
New station offers 9 roundtrip
trains daily, five serving
Paris and four Brussels
|
|
10 January | • | Eurotunnel claimed first place
as leading cross-Channel operator
in 1995 on Calais-Dover
route. 8 million people
and 391,000 trucks took tunnel
route last year, while more
than 5,300 freight trains belonging
to various railway
companies also used tunnel.
Strikes severely affected
freight trains with only 88 running
in December compared
to 464 in previous month
|
|
21 January | • | Concorde celebrated 20th
birthday at Heathrow Airport.
Since inaugural service from
Heathrow to Bahrain in 1976,
seven Concordes made
42,000 flights, clocking up
over 120,000 hours of flying
time and travelling 125 million
miles
|
|
22 January | • | 130 people missing and 54
dead after overloaded ferry
sank off Sumatra in northern
Indonesia with 210 passengers,
including 11 foreigners,
and 16 crew. Ship hit coral
reef in storm
|
