November 2007 in rail transport

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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in November 2007.

Events

November 2

• – Members of the Madheshi Labourers’ Forum trade union in Nepal go on strike, closing Nepal's only rail service, in an effort to force the railway to accede to the union's demands. The union is seeking seven concessions from management including permanent status for employees that have been working for the railway for as many as 15 years and improved salaries and benefits for all employees. Nepal's only railway connects the southern border city of Janakpur to Jainagar, India, a total distance of 59 kilometres (37 mi).

November 6

• – Queen Elizabeth presides over the opening ceremonies for a newly rebuilt St Pancras railway station to inaugurate service over the new High Speed 1 line formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL). The ceremonies included the arrival of two Eurostar trains and a Hitachi Bullet Train. The new connection cuts 20 minutes off the travel time to Paris and 25 minutes off the travel time to Brussels via the Channel Tunnel.

November 7

• – The European Union has approved the proposed sale of EWS to Deutsche Bahn (DB) on the condition that DB would continue EWS's expansion plans. DB is also required to allow access to some EWS facilities to European competitors except SNCF. Canadian National Railway's 32 percent stake in EWS was previously sold to DB.

November 8

• – The United States Surface Transportation Board rules that the proposed purchase of Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad by Canadian Pacific Railway is a significant transaction, necessitating a more thorough review before a decision can be made. Such a decision is not expected before October 2008.

November 11

• – West Midlands train operating company franchise is taken over from Silverlink and Central Trains by London Midland (a Govia company) and the East Midlands franchise from Midland Mainline and Central Trains by East Midlands Trains. National Express Group is the principal loser in these changes. Arriva Trains Cross Country Limited (Arriva Group) takes over a revised Cross-Country franchise from Virgin CrossCountry, branding services as CrossCountry. The London Overground rail franchise commences operation, effectively returning the lines involved to state control.

November 13

• – Officials with Bay Area Rapid Transit, AC Transit and the city of Union City, California, hold groundbreaking ceremonies for a new multimodal passenger facility at the Union City BART station. The project includes a conversion to solar power generation for the station's energy needs, which could make it the first station in the United States to be powered by solar energy. The construction is expected to cost $100 million and be completed in 2015.

November 14

• – Regular Eurostar services begin using the newly refurbished St Pancras railway station in London, England. The first southbound train left London at 11:03AM GMT, arriving in Paris at 1:17PM GMT. Speaking at the inauguration of the service, Richard Brown, Eurostar's CEO, called it "a new dawn for short haul travel in Europe."
• – The German locomotive engineers union, Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL, or German Train Drivers' Union) begins the largest strike in history (as of 2007) against Deutsche Bahn. The union was demanding a 31 percent wage increase from Deutsche Bahn asserting that German locomotive engineers are paid less than their counterparts in other European countries. See also: 2007 German national rail strike.

November 16

• – Following a three-day meeting in Seoul, North Korea's Kim Yong-il and South Korea's Han Duck-soo agree on a schedule to restore rail freight services across their shared border. Under the agreement, the first regular train would travel on December 11 between Munsan, South Korea, and Kaesong, North Korea; South Korean workers will also assist in rebuilding road and rail connections in the North to facilitate transportation to the rest of the country.

November 21

• – At a ceremony in Marabda, Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili, Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev jointly preside over the groundbreaking of the Kars-Baku-Tblisi railway that will link the three nations. The new line is expected to help create jobs and spur economic development in the region.