1917 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1917.

[edit] Events

[edit] February events

• February 27 - The Milwaukee Road completes the electrification of its 440 miles (708 km) line from Harlowton, Montana, to Avery, Idaho.

[edit] March events

• March 9 - Official opening of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City.
• March 12 - The Pere Marquette Railroad is reincorporated as the Pere Marquette Railway.
• March 19 - The United States Supreme Court upholds the eight-hour workday for railroads.

[edit] April events

• April 21 - Colorado Midland declares bankruptcy for the second time, but the company will not be able to recover from this bankruptcy.

[edit] May events

• May 9 - Completion of the 784 km-long railway line linking the port of Djibouti in French Somaliland to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

[edit] July events

• July 31 - Simbei Kunisawa succeeds Yujiro Nakamura as president of South Manchuria Railway.

[edit] October events

• October 23 - The Canadian Railway War Board (predecessor of the Railway Association of Canada) meets for the first time at Windsor Station, Montreal.^[1][2]

[edit] December events

• December 12 - In Mouane, in the French Alps, a grossly overloaded troop train jumps the tracks after the brakes fail. At least 543 are killed, hundreds more are injured by official count. The actual count is assumed to be higher. Until 1981 it was the worst train wreck in history.
• December 26 - United States President Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to nationalize American railroads under the United States Railroad Administration during World War I.
• December 28 - The United States Railroad Administration officially takes control of American railroads.

[edit] Unknown date events

• The Tanana Valley Railroad in Fairbanks, Alaska (a predecessor of the Alaska Railroad) enters receivership.
• The Arcade and Attica Railroad is incorporated.
• The longest cantilever bridge in the world, Canadian National Railway's bridge across the St. Lawrence River at Quebec City, opens for rail traffic.^[3]
• Estación Constitución in Buenos Aires, Argentina, opens.
• Russia's Railway Worker Day national holiday, established in 1886, is abolished under Bolshevik rule.^[4]

[edit] Births

[edit] Deaths

[edit] References