first Auto Train operates under the control of the Auto-Train Corporation. December 16 – A first section of Sapporo Municipal Subway, connecting from Kita-nijuyo-jo Station, via Sapporo Station to Makomanai Station route officially open in Hokkaido, before 1972 Winter Olympics. Unknown date United States Federal Railroad Administration opens High Speed Ground Test Center (later the Transportation Technology Center) in Pueblo, Colorado. Construction begins on the Jōetsu Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Niigata, Japan. Accidents February accidents February 9 – A Zurich-bound TEE train derails at Aitrang, Germany, due to excess speed and is hit by a railbus. 28 die and 42 are injured. March accidents March 4 – A local train collides with a mini truck at a level crossing on the Fujikyu line, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan, killing at least 179 people and injuring 6100. March 11 – A runaway train carrying 350 passengers, mostly children, derails next to a ravine near Vicuña, Chile, killing twelve people. May accidents May 27 – Dahlerau train disaster: A special train full of schoolchildren collides with a freight train in Dahlerau, West Germany, on the line between Wuppertal and Radevormwald due to a misunderstanding of signals. 46 die and 25 are injured, making this the worst rail accident in West Germany during Deutsche Bundesbahn times. June accidents June 10 – Salem, Illinois derailment: a flat spot on a locomotive wheel causes Amtrak's City of New Orleans to derail near Salem, Illinois. Six passengers are killed. It is Amtrak's first fatal accident since beginning operations on May 1. July accidents July 21 – A fast train from Basel to Copenhagen derails due to a technical failure in the Class 103 engine; 23 die and 121 are injured. Births Deaths August deaths August 30 – Louis Armand, French railway engineer, manager and resistance fighter (born 1905) References