Once again it's time to recap what happened in the past year regarding trains, those we gained and lost, and what we did this past year on the rails.
First, as for scheduled openings, what did NOT happen that was supposed to take place this year?
- The
subway extension in Manhattan has been postponed many times, and now the latest target date is the 2nd quarter of 2015. - Houston's HCMTA was supposed to have its Southeast (Purple) and East End (Green) Lines open by mid 2014, but that has been postponed until April 2015. And we are not going to get the entire Green Line, only a portion of it up to a controversial bridge that is now finally under construction.
- Miami Central Station was supposed to have fully opened in 2013, and then 2014, but now the can has been kicked to 2015. It still only serves the MiamiMover people mover to the airport, and the Metro Orange Line heavy rail.
- In Dallas, DART has been building both an extension of the McKinney Avenue Streetcar (M Line) and a new streetcar to Oak Cliff. Both now have target opening dates in the first quarter of 2015.
- DC Streetcar also had targets repeatedly postponed, although no definitive dates were ever announced. It is not looking like it will make it in 2014 given the number of days that remain.
Now, what did take place? Lots! While the first quarter of 2014 was relatively quiet, overall the year was jam packed with new rail lines, new stations, and even an Amtrak reroute.
Amtrak
Starting with Amtrak, the only significant "new" trackage is really older trackage as the Vermonter comes off a long time detour and returns to a route via Northampton that was last served by the old Montrealer. The reroute will take place during the last week of this year on December 29th.
The rest of the Amtrak news related to stations.
- St. Paul Union Depot, while it had opened previously for buses, in 2014 began hosting Amtrak's Empire Builder on May 7th (and light rail later, see below).
- A new Amtrak station opened in Hermann, MO serving the Missouri River Runner on September 12th.
- Grand Rapids, MI opened its Vernon J Ehlers Station, serving Amtrak's Pere Marquette, on October 27th -- relocating service about a mile east of the previous location.
- Amtrak moved from its former Anaheim, CA station to the new Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) on December 6th. Also served by Metrolink.
Commuter Rail
- The biggest news for Commuter Rail was the startup of SunRail between Sand Lake Road in Orlando and DeBary on May 1st. In a few years there will be extensions in both directions.
- MBTA opened a new modern commuter rail station in Salem, MA on October 24th.
- In Canada, Montreal's AMT opened the new Mascouche Line on December 2nd.
Rail Transit
Much to report in rail transit on all fronts, including heavy rail, light rail, streetcars, airport connections, and stations.
- On June 24th, Metro Transit opened its Green Line light rail between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
- July 25th saw the first modern streetcar line of the year as SunTran opened its SunLink route within Tuscon, AZ.
- On July 26th, the long awaited startup of the Metro Silver Line finally took place.
- The next big event was the third and final phase on the DART Orange Line between Irving, TX and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on August 18th.
- On August 28th, Greater Cleveland RTA opened its new Cedar-University station along the heavy rail Red Line.
- September 2nd saw the MBTA open its in-fill Assembly station on the Orange Line.
- In New York, two RE-openings of sort on lines that had been closed for rehabilitation following Superstorm Sandy damage. The Greenpoint Tube returned
service to Queens and Brooklyn on September 2nd, and a few weeks later the Montague Tunnel rehabilitation between Brooklyn and Manhattan was completed, bringing 
service back to its regular route. - The big event in California this year was the airport connector known as BART to OAK, which went into revenue service November 22nd. It represented the first non-heavy rail service run by BART since its inception.
- Atlanta Streetcar goes into service December 30th, yet another modern downtown streetcar to come online.
If there is anything I missed from this list, please let me know and I will add it.
Me
Personally, Amtrak Guest Rewards Select Plus status was achieved by mid-September, and despite use of many points for this past summer's Rail Fest, I still managed to already accrue enough for one two-zone redemption next year. Besides that Fest (and the memorable 34-hour ordeal on the Cardinal) my other trips involved many points runs along the Northeast, Keystone, and Empire Corridors.
OTOL Fests
Speaking of Fests, our OTOL group did the East Coast RailFest 2014 in January, where we visited different rail lines in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Then in the summer we took the Rockies RailFest 2014, over which we were together for over a week in July visiting Salt Lake City, Reno, and Denver, and experiencing life on extremely late Amtrak trains. Particularly significant was that we both entered and exited Salt Lake City in the wee hours of the morning.
So it was a jam-packed year. What are your train memories of the year gone by?
Edited by KevinKorell, 29 December 2014 - 09:08 PM.
Added Amtrak move to ARTIC
