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1 September | • | Usui Pass Railway
Monument Park in Matsuida City, Gunma
Prefecture, Japan started offering visitors
chance to drive EF63 electric locomotive on
300-m track for ¥30,000 tuition fee. Village
opened as new facility accompanying
closure of Shin'etsu Line due to opening of
Nagano-bound Shinkansen
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5 September | • | Small airliner of Necon Air
crashed near Katmandu, Nepal, killing all
10 passengers and five crew onboard
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10 September | • | Tokyo Metropolitan
Government announced start of full
operations of Tama Intercity Monorail on
10 January 2000 with newly opened 10.6-
km section between Tama Centre and
Tachikawa Kita
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16 September | • | First phase of Pudong
Airport opened in Shanghai, China, with
4000-m runway and large terminal building
to handle 20 million passengers and
750,000 tonnes of freight annually
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| • | 17 railway companies in
Kanto district, Japan, unveiled plan to
introduce shared prepaid card system in
October 2000 with further three companies
to join scheme in 2001
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18 September | • | First generation Series-0
shinkansen cars retired from Tokyo–Shin
Osaka section of Tokaido Shinkansen.
Total of 3216 cars manufactured carrying
about 2.5 billion passengers during 35
years. JR West to continue operating 259
Series-0 cars on Shin Osaka–Hakata
section until about 2005
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| • | Runaway locomotive
collided with express train bound for
Karachi killing 23 passengers and crew
and injuring at least 75
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19 September | • | Long-distance bus from
Madrid to Gerona left road and rolled over,
killing 28 passengers and injuring 25
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21 September | • | Richter-7.6 earthquake
hit central Taiwan killing about 2000 people
and injuring some 10,000 others
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27 September | • | Maintenance car derailed
on east-bound line of JR San'yo Shinkansen
between Shin Kobe and Nishi Akashi
stopping 25 trains and 10,000 passengers
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29 September | • | Passenger car driven
onto JR West Shimonoseki Station
platform. Driver then stabbed people
waiting on platform killing three and
injuring 12 others
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30 September | • | Nuclear chain reaction
accident in nuclear-fuel processing company
at Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan,
exposed workers and nearby residents to
radiation. Widespread emergency
restrictions stopped both Joban and Suigun
lines of JR East, affecting more than 200
trains and about 100,000 commuters
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2 October | • | Electrification of Maizuru Line (26.4 km between Ayabe and Higashi Maizuru) of JR West completed with debut of Maizuru electric express between Kyoto and Higashi Maizuru
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3 October | • | Kanbara Railway between
Gosen and Muramatsu in Niigata
Prefecture, Japan, closed after 77 years
of operations
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5 October | • | JR East and Tokyo
Metropolitan Government announced
agreement to restore Marunouchi side of
Tokyo Station to condition at opening in
1914 with three-story domed roof. Station
rebuilt to present two-stories after damage
by bombing in WWII
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| • | JR East announced plan to
introduce new ticketing system using IC card
in metropolitan and suburban areas in
January 2001. Experimental implementation
to be conducted on Saikyo Line from June
to August 2000
|
| • | Rush-hour commuter express
and two-car suburban train collided and
caught fire in west London killing more
than 30 passengers
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|
6 October | • | Japanese Ministry of
Transport announced increase in
maximum number of departures/arrivals at
Haneda Airport by 114 in two phases
beginning July 2000
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9 October | • | Another concrete block
weighing 226 kg fell from tunnel roof onto
track between Kokura and Hakata of
San'yo Shinkansen. To confirm tunnel
safety, JR West stopped operations
between Hiroshima and Hakata from early
morning to late afternoon affecting 62,000
passengers. Followed earlier fall of
concrete block from tunnel roof on carriage
in June
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12 October | • | Large trailer truck stalled on
railway crossing in Saitama Prefecture,
Japan, hit by semi-express train derailing
front car and injuring 17 passenger
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16 October | • | Richer-7 earthquake near
Los Angeles, California, derailed Amtrak
train
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18 October | • | Japanese Ministry of
Transport opened public hearing into
construction of temporary runway at Narita
Airport
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22 October | • | Japanese Ministry of
Transport announced that number of
railway passengers in 1998 held at 22,010
million, down 1% from previous year and
marking three consecutive annual
decreases. Six JR companies carried
8,760 million passengers, down 1.1% over
previous year
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27 October | • | Shinkansen Through-
Operation Committee of Ministry of
Transport announced seven sections for
feasibility study into free-gauge train
operations
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29 October | • | Massive typhoon hit eastern
India killing more than 3000 people
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30 October | • | ANA joined Star Alliance of
eight international airline companies
including United Airlines (USA) and
Lufthansa (Germany). First Japanese
airline to participate in such alliance to
expand network through joint operations
|
| • | Joshin'etsu Expressway
(203 km) fully opened to link Niigata,
Nagano and Gunma prefectures
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31 October | • | Boeing 767 of Egypt Air,
bound from New York to Cairo crashed into
Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts, USA,
killing all 217 people onboard
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9 November | • | DC9 airliner of TAESA
Airline crashed immediately after takeoff
in western Mexico killing all 23 onboard
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10 November | • | JR Freight announced
integration of Onagigawa Station in Tokyo
with Sumidagawa Station of Joban Line
by end of fiscal 2001. Present site of
Onagigawa Station to be redeveloped by
public subscription
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12 November | • | Richter-7.2 earthquake hit
northwestern Turkey killing 705 and
injuring 5108
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22 November | • | Air Self Defense Force
trainer jet crashed into power transmission
line in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, killing
two crew and cutting power to 800,000
households, subways and private railways
in metropolitan Tokyo and southern
Saitama
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24 November | • | 9000-tonne ferry sank off
Yantai, Shandong Province, China,
drowning 150 people and leaving more
than 100 missing
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28 November | • | Two-tonne concrete block
fell from roof of Rebunhama Tunnel (1232
m) between Rebun and Ogishi on Muroran
Line of JR Hokkaido derailing freight train
bound from Nagoya Cargo Terminal to
Sapporo Cargo Terminal
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