1954 in rail transport

Events

January

• January 3 - The last steam locomotive powered passenger train departs Washington Union Station; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad engine number 622 Carter Braxton pulls the train, leaving at approximately 1:40 PM bound for Richmond, Virginia.
• January 8 - Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Limited becomes the first train to use the new New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal.
• January 20 - The Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, the second line in the system and the first built after World War II, is opened between Ikebukuro and Ochanomizu stations.
• January 24 - Cleveland, Ohio, streetcars make their last revenue run.
• January - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD F9 and GP9.

February

• February 21 - An SNCF electric train hits 151 mph in tests, setting a world’s record.
• February - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD FP9.

March

• March 30 - Yonge subway, the first segment of the Toronto subway and the first underground rapid transit line in Canada, begins operation.

April

• April 20 - The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad opens a new station in Tacoma, Washington.
• April 30 - Last day of steam locomotive operations and passenger train service on the Clinchfield Railroad.

May

• May - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD E9.

June

• June 6 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway introduces the San Francisco Chief passenger train between Chicago and San Francisco.
• June 13 - Last day of steam locomotive operation on the Maine Central Railroad.
• June 14 - New York Central management loses a proxy fight for control of the railroad to Robert Ralph Young and his Alleghany Corporation.
• June - General Electric delivers the first diesel-electric locomotives built for the narrow gauge White Pass and Yukon Route.

July

• July 2 - SNCF electrifies first section of Valenciennes-Thionville line, the first non-experimental 25 kV AC railway electrification.
• July 4 - Budd delivers the first Château series car, Château Bienville, to Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal.
• July - New Zealand Railways Department introduces DF class into service, the country's first mainline diesel-electric locomotives.

August

• August 7 - The last streetcars operate on the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

October

• October 16 - The Southern Pacific dieselized its 3 foot gauge Keeler branch.
• October 20 - To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Horseshoe Curve, the Sylvania Electric Products Corporation sponsors a night photograph of the Curve using more than 6500 flashbulbs.

November

• November 29 - The first dome cars built by Budd Company enter revenue service on Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway's North Coast Limited.

December

• December - Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway open the new Radnor Yard in Nashville, Tennessee.
• December - Pullman-Standard builds the first bilevel commuter coaches for the Southern Pacific Railroad to use in the south San Francisco Bay Area.
• December - The last steam locomotive on the Southern Railway (U.S.) is retired from standby service.

Unknown date

• Circular Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro completed.
• American Car and Foundry officially changes its name to ACF Industries, Inc.
• Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway divests itself of the Grand Canyon Hotel and other buildings at the north end of the Grand Canyon Railway.
• Netherlands Railway Museum moves to the former Maliebaan station.

Deaths

January deaths

• January 5 – Death Valley Scotty, con man who chartered the Scott Special record-breaking run on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1905, dies.

December deaths

• December 15 – Ernest Lemon, Chief Mechanical Engineer and later Vice President of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.