– The Westside Line of Portland's MAX light rail system, running west to Hillsboro, Oregon, opens. September – Construction begins to convert the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel in Alaska from rail traffic only to combined rail and highway traffic. October events October 8 – Norway's first high-speed railway, Gardermobanen between Oslo S via Oslo Airport, Gardermoen to Eidsvoll, opens. October 15 – Paris Métro opens first section of new Line 14 from Madeleine to Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, Paris, France, its first fully automated line. October 18 – The Altamont Commuter Express begins regional commuter rail service between Stockton in California's Central Valley and San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. November events November 9 – The St. Thomas and Eastern Railway begins operations on a former Canadian National Railway branch line between St. Thomas and Delhi, Ontario. November 20 – The Okanagan Valley Railway begins operations on the former Canadian Pacific Railway branch between Sicamous and Kelowna, British Columbia. November 26 – The Khanna rail disaster in India kills 212 people. December events December – Railways in Germany are attacked by the extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta. An Intercity Express line is sabotaged (but the train does not derail), while a freight train is derailed near Anklam. December 5 – Trinity Railway Express in Texas adds Saturday train schedules to its timetables and begins operating the first regular Saturday trains. December 10 – The Surface Transportation Board gives preliminary approval to Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad's application to build into the Powder River Basin, pending completion of an Environmental Impact Statement. December 12 - In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the LRT STAR Line expands again, from to . This is the line's last expansion until 2016. Unknown date events The former Lima Locomotive Works erecting shed and heavy Shay locomotive shops are razed. Accidents May 12 – A Norfolk Southern conductor saved a little girl by kicking her off the tracks in front on his oncoming train while he was still on it in Lafayette, Indiana. The girl, who had wandered away from her home a couple blocks away, had only minor injuries. Deaths September deaths September 9 – James B. McCahey, Jr., president of Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad (b. 1920). Awards North America 1998 E. H. Harriman Awards Awards presented by Railway Age magazine 1998 Railroader of the Year: David R. Goode (NS) 1998 Regional Railroad of the