ContentZone
Copyright 2000 by Joel GAzis-SAx
| 1947 | December 24. Central California Traction abandons electric train service, replacing it with diesel. |
| 1952 | January. The passenger train known as The City of San Francisco is stranded in Donner Pass during a heavy snowstorm. 221 passengers and crewmen remain trapped for three days. One rescue car is derailed and its engineer killed. | 1954 | Metropolitan Coach Lines acquires the ailing Pacific Electric Railway Company. |
| 1957 | Citizens of Los Angeles vote to create the Metropolitan Transit Authority. |
| 1958 | The Metropolitan Transit Authority buys the last trolley lines in Los Angeles. |
| 1960 | SP begins an attempted takeover of the Western Pacific. The Santa Fe announces its own takeover bid less than two weeks later. |
| 1961 | The last of the red cars -- on the Los Angeles to Long Beach run -- is retired. |
| 1961 | Norden and its adjacent snow sheds burn to the ground. |
| 1965 | The Interstate Commerce Commission declares that the financially strong Western Pacific will remain independent of either the SP or the Santa Fe. |
| 1969 | Angel's Flight is dismantled pending the redevelopment of Bunker Hill.M/td> |
| 1970 | March 22. Last run of the Western Pacific Zephyr. |
| 1971 | National Passenger Rail Act. Following the decline of inter-city passenger rail service in the 1960s, the federal government creates Amtrak. |
| 1978 | Pacific Fruit Express ceases operations. It is replaced by the Southern Pacific Fruit Express and the Union Pacific Fruit Express. |
| 1980 | January 21. The Union Pacific makes a $25 million offer for the Western Pacific. |
| 1980 | Caltrans assumes authority for running a commuter service along the San Francisco Peninsula. This marks the birth of Caltrain. |
| 1982 | The ICC allows the consolidation of the Union Pacific, the Western Pacific, and the Missouri Pacific into a single system. |
| 1988 | June. Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority (SCVTA) begins service along a nine mile corridor, linking Santa Clara and downtown San Jose. |
| 1988 | Southern Pacific merges with the Denver and Rio Grande Western. |
| 1990 | June. The State Legislature orders the transit boards of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties to develop a joint transit plan. Bond measures passed by state voters in November go to finance this project. This marks the beginning of Metrolink, the Southern California counterpart to Caltrain. |
| 1991 | April. Completion of the original SCVTA line. |
| 1991 | May 9. Arizona and California Railroad Co. begins operations. |
| 1992 | October. Metrolink begins operations with lines running from San Bernardino, Santa Clarita, and Ventura. |
| 1995 | BNSF Corporation formed by the merger of Burlington Northern with the AT&SF. |
| 1996 | Angel's Flight is resurrected, one half block west of its original location. The world's shortest railway charges passengers 25 cents per trip. |
| 1997 | Southern Pacific merges with the Union Pacific. The SP Corporate Headquarters building in San Francisco is sold. |
| 1997 | The Legislature establishes the California High Speed Rail Authority to investigate and possibly implement high speed rail transit (either steel-wheel-on-steel-rail -- like the Japanese Shinkansen or the French TGV -- or a Magnetic Levitation system -- Maglev) between major California cities. A major turning point will happen in mid-year 2000. |