1969 in rail transport

• January 1
• As ordered by court, Penn Central takes over the assets and operations of the bankrupt New York, New Haven and Hartford ("New Haven") for $22 million; new passenger timetables over the new PC New Haven Region take effect February 2.
• The Pullman Company is dissolved, having ceased to operate sleeping car services in the United States.

File:PATCO train at Lindenwold station, January 1969.jpg train on the first day of service at Lindenwold station ]]

• January 4 – The PATCO Hi-Speedline, in southeastern Pennsylvania, opens.
• January 5 – Last trains over the Waverley Route from Edinburgh in Scotland to Carlisle in England.{{cite web|url=http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/raildiary/waverley|title=Last Day of the Waverley Route|accessdate=August 2, 2007}}

• February 16 – Căile Ferate Române, in Romania, completes its systemwide electrification project.

• March 7 – The Victoria line of the London Underground is formally opened, between Warren Street and Victoria, by the Queen.{{cite book|author=Green, Oliver|title=The London Underground - An Illustrated History|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1988|page=59|isbn=0-7110-1720-4}}

• April 5 – The South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh in England, reopens as a preserved steam railway, the Dart Valley Railway.

• May 5 – The Lewes-Uckfield (or Wealden Line) railway line is closed under British Rail and Richard Beeching's Beeching Axe in East Sussex, England.
• May 6 – The Chicago Transit Authority's Englewood 'L' service is extended to the new Ashland/63rd Terminal, replacing the former Loomis terminal.
• May 7 – A northbound passenger train from London, England, bound for Aberdeen, Scotland, takes the curve in Morpeth too quickly and derails in the Morpeth rail crash (6 killed).
• May – Union Pacific Railroad takes delivery of General Motors Electro-Motive Division EMD DDA40X, the most powerful and largest diesel locomotive to date.

• June – Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, on the United States Atlantic coast, discontinues the Silver Comet passenger train service.
• June 1 – The Catalan Talgo Trans Europ Express begins providing a through service between Barcelona (Spain) and Geneva (Switzerland) with a wheelset change at Portbou station to overcome the break-of-gauge at the Spanish–French border.

File:010410 R458 012 FUNCIONANDO EL STC METRO SEPTIEMBRE 05 1969 (31678407041).jpg the day after opening of the Mexico City Subway. ]]

• September 4 – Mexico City Metro Line 1, Chapultepec to Zaragoza route officially starts operation, a first section of Mexico City Subway.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}
• September 28 – The Dan Ryan Extension of the Chicago "L" system is placed in operation between 17th and State Streets and 95th Street in the median of the Dan Ryan Expressway. The new line is originally combined with the Lake Street 'L' to form the West-South Route (Lake-Dan Ryan) providing through service between 95th Street and Harlem Avenue, Forest Park, using the first of the 2200-series rapid transit cars (2201–2350) built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nine stations, designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owens and Merrill, are opened at Cermak-Chinatown, Sox-35th, 47th, Garfield, 63rd, 69th, 79th, 87th, and 95th. The Dan Ryan branch later becomes the southern half of the Red Line.

• October 14 – Seibu Railway's Chichibu Line opens in Japan.

• November 3 – Kansas City Southern's Southern Belle passenger train service between Kansas City, Missouri, and New Orleans, Louisiana, makes its final run.{{cite web|work=Trains News Wire|date=2005-04-27|url=http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/005/872uxhif.asp|title=Miss Southern Belle' dies|accessdate=2005-05-04}}{{dead link|date=September 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite book|series=Images of Rail|title=Kansas City Southern Railway|page=60|last=Carter|first=Thad Hills|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4jdtHCY-soC|accessdate=2013-11-02|location=Charleston, SC; Chicago, IL; Portsmouth, NH; San Francisco, CA|isbn=978-0-7385-6001-4|others=(Reprint of an article by Philip Moseley originally published in the May 1986 issue of Arkansas Railroader)|quote=I was working that night November 3, 1969, when the last southbound run of the Southern Belle made its way into DeQueen.}}
• November 29 – Opening of standard gauge link between Broken Hill and Port Pirie, completing the East–West rail corridor, Australia, on standard gauge between Sydney and Perth.{{cite web|url=http://www.natrailmuseum.org.au/common/nrm_a01_index.html|title=National Railway Museum Port Adelaide – Rail History|publisher=natrailmuseum.org.au|accessdate=2008-03-29|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323003951/http://www.natrailmuseum.org.au/common/nrm_a01_index.html|archivedate=2008-03-23}}

• December 6 – The Sakaisuji Line in Osaka, Japan, is opened between {{STN|Tenjimbashisuji Rokuchōme|x}} and {{STN|Dobutsuen-mae|x}}.{{Cite web |date=7 December 2019 |title=堺筋線・阪急京都線の相互直通開始50周年記念列車運転 |url=https://railf.jp/news/2019/12/07/203000.html |url-status= |access-date=1 February 2024 |website=Japan Railfan Magazine Online |language=ja}}
• December 12 – First section of RER suburban rail network in Paris opened.
• December 15 (00:50) – The last train departs Paris Gare de la Bastille,{{cite magazine|title=Bastille, Part 1 - a living museum|first=David|last=Thomas|magazine=Continental Modeller|publisher=Peco Publications|location=Beer|date=February 2011|pages=78–85|issn=0955-1298}} hauled by SNCF class 141TB-432{{cite web|url=http://ajecta.unblog.fr/2009/10/13/141-tb-407-une-abonnee-aux-anniversaires/|title=141 TB 407: Une abonnée aux anniversaires…|publisher=AJECTA|language=French|accessdate=2011-04-08}} on the Ligne de Vincennes to Boissy-Saint-Léger. The Gare de la Bastille is the last terminus in Paris operated entirely by steam locomotives.{{cite web|url=http://ajecta.unblog.fr/2009/12/14/attention-le-14-decembre-1969-fermeture-de-cette-gare/|title=Attention le 14 décembre 1969 fermeture de cette gare…|publisher=AJECTA|language=French|accessdate=2011-04-08}}
• December 20 – The Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line is opened between {{STN|Kita-Senju|x}} and {{STN|Ōtemachi|x|Tokyo}} stations.

• ALCO ceases new diesel locomotive manufacturing.
• The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway operates the last freight train on its subsidiary Grand Canyon Railway.{{cite journal|author=Bianchi, Curt|date=May 1995|title=By steam to the Grand Canyon|journal=Trains Magazine|pages=38–45}}
• Rail transport in Cambodia: The line from Phnom Penh to the southern port city of Sihanoukville is completed.

{{1969 railway accidents|state=uncollapsed}}

• May 2 – Donald Gordon, president of Canadian National Railway 1950–1966, dies (b. 1901).

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