1962 in rail transport

• January 4 – New York City Subway introduces a driverless train.
• January 8 – The Harmelen train disaster, the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands, occurs when one passenger train driver misses a warning signal and passes a red signal to collide nearly head-on with another passenger train. 93 are killed.
• January 28 – The last lines of streetcars in Washington, D.C., end operations.{{cite web|url=http://www.dcnrhs.org/dc_rail_history.htm |title=Washington, D.C. Railroad History: Railroad History Timeline |author=Washington D.C. Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society |accessdate=January 28, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627200958/http://www.dcnrhs.org/dc_rail_history.htm |archivedate=June 27, 2007 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }} {{cite web| url=http://nrhs.avenue.org/histjan.htm| title=This Month in Railroad History: January| author=Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society| date=January 15, 2006| accessdate=January 28, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722144342/http://nrhs.avenue.org/histjan.htm| archive-date=July 22, 2011| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}

File:Bodø stasjon.jpg

• February 1 – The Nordland Line in Norway is completed and opened to Bodø.

• March 15 – Canadian Pacific Railway receives authorization to discontinue passenger train service between Ottawa and Chalk River.{{cite web|url=http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm |title=Significant dates in Ottawa railway history |work=Colin Churcher's Railway Pages |date=February 23, 2007 |accessdate=March 15, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205234437/http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm |archivedate=February 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }}
• March 23 – In Tokyo, Japan, the Marunouchi Line branch is extended from Nakano-fujimicho to Honancho.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/corporate/profile/history/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605063443/https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/corporate/profile/history/index.html |archive-date=2023-06-05 |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=tokyometro.jp}}

• May 3 – Mikawashima train crash in Japan kills 160.
• May 22 – SNCF in France completes electrification from Strasbourg through to Paris.
• May 23 – Drilling for the new Montreal Metro system commences.
• May 31
• Toei Subway Line 1 (present-day Asakusa Line) opens between Asakusabashi and Higashi-Nihonbashi in Tokyo, Japan.{{Cite web |title=東京都交通局,交通局について,都営地下鉄 |trans-title=History of the Transportation Bureau |url=https://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/about/ayumi/subway.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223031608/https://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/about/ayumi/subway.html |archive-date=23 February 2024 |access-date=12 July 2024 |website=kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp |language=ja}}
• The Hibiya Line is extended north from Minami-senju to Kita-senju and south from Naka-okachimachi to Ningyocho.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/corporate/profile/history/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605063443/https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/corporate/profile/history/index.html |archive-date=2023-06-05 |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=tokyometro.jp}} Through service to the Tobu Isesaki Line also begins.

• June 30 – The Norfolk and Western Railway discontinues electrification on the former Virginian Railway.{{Middleton-Electrified-2nd|page=202}}

• July 17 – Canadian National Railway debuts a new paint scheme on its transcontinental passenger train, the Super Continental.

• August 29 – In Tokyo, Japan, the Hibiya Line begins service between Kasumigaseki and Higashi-ginza.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/corporate/profile/history/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605063443/https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/corporate/profile/history/index.html |archive-date=2023-06-05 |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=tokyometro.jp}}

• September 1 – Port Authority Trans-Hudson assumes operation of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad.{{Cite Cudahy-Hudson}}{{Rp|58}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/23/archives/2-states-agree-on-hudson-tubes-and-trade-center-new-york-and-jersey.html|title=2 States Agree On Hudson Tubes And Trade Center|last=Wright|first=George Cable|date=January 23, 1962|newspaper=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|access-date=May 1, 2017}}
• September 7 – The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway, in England, is closed by the Western Region of British Railways.
• September 30 – Toei Subway Line 1 (present-day Asakusa Line) is extended from Higashi-Nihonbashi to Ningyocho in Tokyo, Japan.

• October 3 – British railway unions call a one-day strike in protest of workshop closures.{{cite book |last1=Bagwell |first1=Philip Sidney |title=The beeching era and after: the history of the National Union of Railwaymen |date=2023 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781000818215 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQ-fEAAAQBAJ&q=Bagwell+railwaymen+volume+2 |access-date=26 August 2024}}
• October 11 – Colorado and Southern Railway 2-8-0 number 641 pulls the last steam locomotive-operated regular daily service revenue train on a standard gauge railroad in the United States when it pulls a train from Leadville to Climax, Colorado.
• October 28 – The Lake Street Elevation of the Chicago Transit Authority rail system is placed in operation, relocating 2.6 miles of the former at-grade portion of the route onto the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company's elevated right-of-way, with new stations at Central, Austin, Ridgeland, Oak Park and Harlem. The improvement eliminated a total of 22 grade crossings in Chicago, Oak Park and Forest Park.

• Railway extended to Wau, South Sudan.
• New York Central purchases the first electric multiple unit passenger cars from Pullman-Standard for use on the Metro-North railroad.
• Union Pacific 3985, a Challenger locomotive, is removed from revenue service on the Union Pacific Railroad.
• First Indian Railways Class WDM-2, from ALCO, introduced. The class will eventually exceed 2,800 units.{{cite web|first=Joydeep|last=Dutta|title=The WDM-2 loco – a tribute|publisher=Indian Railways Fan Club|year=2001|url=http://www.irfca.org/articles/jdutta-20010523-tribute.html|accessdate=December 21, 2009}}
• ALCO closes the ALCO Thermal Products Division (formerly Brooks Locomotive Works) plant in Dunkirk, New York.
• Harry A. deButts is succeeded by D. William Brosnan as president of the Southern Railway.
• The Northern Refrigerator Car Line is combined with Merchants Despatch.

{{1962 railway accidents|state=uncollapsed}}

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• February 2 – Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway 1919–1932 and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1932–1949 (b. 1879).

• {{cite web| year=2000| url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/streamliners/peopleevents/p_rbudd.html| title=American Experience / Streamliners / People & Events / Ralph Budd| website=PBS| accessdate=February 22, 2005| archive-date=March 9, 2005| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309160358/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/streamliners/peopleevents/p_rbudd.html| url-status=dead}}
• {{cite web|url=http://pages.ivillage.com/generaljim1/theerielackawannalimited/id19.html |title=Norfolk Southern Railway |accessdate=December 2, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050206090247/http://pages.ivillage.com/generaljim1/theerielackawannalimited/id19.html |archivedate=February 6, 2005 }}
• {{cite web|author=President and Fellows of Harvard College |year=2004 |url=http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/108/ |title=20th century great American business leaders – Ralph Budd |accessdate=February 22, 2005 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205103522/http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/108/ |archivedate=February 5, 2005 |df=mdy }}
• {{cite web| author=Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society| year=2005| url=http://avenue.org/nrhs/histoct.htm| title=This Month in Railroad History – October| accessdate=October 11, 2005}}
• {{cite web|date=April 3, 2005 |url=http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm |title=Significant dates in Canadian railway history |accessdate=July 12, 2005 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060125022708/http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm |archivedate=January 25, 2006 }}
• {{White - America's most noteworthy railroaders}}

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