1974 in rail transport

Events

January

• January 2 – SEMTA begins subsidizing the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's commuter rail service between Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan.
• January 19–20 – New Zealand Railways K class (1877) steam locomotive K 88 Washington is recovered from the Branxholme locomotive dump in the Ōreti River.

March

• March 6 – Amtrak begins passenger service in the Central Valley of California with the first run of the San Joaquins between Oakland and Bakersfield.
• March 17 – A freight train on Canadian Pacific Railway is derailed when it hits a rock slide near Spences Bridge, British Columbia; the accident leads to the installation of ditch lights on all Canadian diesel locomotives, a practice later copied by American railroads.

May

• May 6 – Inauguration of full electric service on British Rail West Coast Main Line through to Glasgow.
• May 8–27 – Railway strike in India. The strike by 17 million workers of Indian Railways is the largest known.
• May 9 – A first section of Prague Metro Line C, from Florenc to Kacerov in Czechoslovakia, officially opens.
• May 17 – State-of-the-Art Car enters revenue service, on the New York City Subway.
• May 19
• * At the insistence of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Amtrak renames the Super Chief the Southwest Limited.
• * Amtrak renames the Texas Chief service it inherited from Santa Fe Railway to become the Lone Star due to objections from Santa Fe over Amtrak's quality of service.
• * Amtrak introduces the Expo '74 passenger train between Spokane and Seattle, Washington.

June

• June 16 – The Milwaukee Road ends operation of its electric locomotives in Montana and Idaho. Trains over the Rocky Mountains are now solely powered by diesels.

July

• July 23 – Shin-Koshigaya Station on what is now the Tobu Skytree Line in Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan, is opened.

August

• August 4 – Italicus Express bombing was a terrorist bombing in Italy which killed 12 people.
• August 5 – Amtrak introduces the Adirondack passenger train between New York City and Montreal, Quebec.
• August 10 – A Philippine National Railways express train from San Fernando, La Union to Manila collided with a Baliwag Transit bus at a railroad crossing in Calumpit, Bulacan, killing 18 people and injuring another 53.
• August 15 – Line 1 of the Seoul Metro opens a section between Seoul and Cheongnwangnyi.
• August 30 – In the Zagreb train disaster an express traveling from Belgrade to Dortmund derailed before entering Zagreb Main Station, killing 153 people.

September

• September 14
• * Commercial operation begins on São Paulo Metro, Brazil.
• * Amtrak discontinues its Expo '74 service.
• September 15 – Amtrak introduces the Blue Water Limited passenger train between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan.
• September 16 – Passenger traffic begins through the Bay Area Rapid Transit Transbay Tube between Oakland and San Francisco beneath San Francisco Bay, the world's longest and deepest immersed tube tunnel.

October

• October 14 – The Tono Railway Dachi Line, connecting Tokishi and Higashi-dachi in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, is permanently closed.
• October 30 – In Tokyo, Japan, the Yurakucho Line is opened between Ikebukuro and Ginza-itchome.

Unknown date

• The original Norfolk Southern Railway is merged into the Southern Railway (US).
• John W. Barriger III steps down from the presidency of the Boston and Maine Railroad.
• The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway operates the last train ever on its subsidiary Grand Canyon Railway; it is a maintenance of way train.