– The European Railway Agency , headquartered in Lille, France, is formed. May events May 1 – The MAX Yellow Line, Interstate Avenue light rail line, opens in Portland, Oregon. May 9 – Construction begins on a railway tunnel under the Bosphorus strait in Turkey; the tunnel opened for service in 2013. May 10 – Canadian National Railway acquires Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad and Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway May 15 – With repairs to tunnels 8 and 16 complete and destroyed bridges rebuilt, including the Goat Canyon Trestle, the Carrizo Gorge Railway officially reopens freight service to Plaster City and the Union Pacific Railroad interchange. June events June – the 150th anniversary of the Grand Excursion is commemorated with special runs by Milwaukee Road 261 and Canadian Pacific 2816 along the northern Mississippi River. June – Caltrain finishes their two-year-long CTX project, which included strengthening the tracks between San Francisco and San Jose and introducing an all new CTC system. This project allowed for the start of Baby Bullet express service and the resumption of weekend service on the route. June 7 – The high speed Gautrain between Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa is announced; it is expected to open in 2009. June 23 – Madrid Metro orders 698 new subway cars valued at €1 billion; the order is shared by Bombardier and Siemens. June 25 – The Causeway Street Elevated streetcar line in Boston is closed. June 26 The Hiawatha Line light rail service in Minneapolis, Minnesota opens to the public. An AVE Class 102 train reaches a new speed record of during type approval test runs. June 30 – In Ireland the first stage of Dublin's LUAS light rail system opens, the "Green Line" from Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The route follows the old Harcourt Street railway line for the most part. July events July 14 – Canadian National Railway completes its purchase of BC Rail. July 15 – Dennis H. Miller is promoted to president of the Iowa Interstate Railroad. July 25 – Thieves steal two brass handles and four copper pipes from the Fairy Queen steam locomotive in New Delhi, India. July 28 – Phase 1 of Wuhan Metro's Line 1 connecting Huangpulu Station to Zongguan Station opens. July 29 – The Dublin to Rosslare Europort route becomes the first in the Irish Republic to have locomotive hauled