2001

Timelines:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Births:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Deaths:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Establishments:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Disestablishments:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Introductions:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Accidents:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Images:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

By month

January

• January 5 - A TGV Atlantique from Brest to Paris hits a mudslide at 120 km/h near Laval; only the power car is derailed because the driver was able to apply the emergency brakes when he saw the mudslide about 300 meters ahead of the train.
• January 8 - Ottawa's O-Train system begins remodeling projects at the Carling and Greenboro stations.
• January 30 - Wisconsin Central Railway (WC) and Canadian National Railway (CN) announce plans for CN to purchase WC for $800 million and the assumption of $400 million of WC's debt.

July

• July 18 - An eastbound CSX freight train derails in the Howard Street Tunnel under Baltimore, Maryland; one derailed tank car carrying tripropylene was punctured and the gas ignited. The flames engulfed several cars and caused a water main above the tunnel to burst and flood the tunnel. A subsequent NTSB investigation failed to find a likely cause for the accident.

December

• December 13 - An eastbound Union Pacific Railroad freight train near Pacific, Missouri, is driven past a signal indicating stop due to crew fatigue and collides with a standing freight train on the track in front of it; derailed equipment blocks the adjacent track, where a westbound train joins the collision.
• December 23 - An incorrect brake application on a CSX local train that had stopped to perform switching at Kodak Park (Charlotte, New York) causes the train to run away and derail five miles later, destroying homes and businesses in the area.

Unknown date

• Amtrak introduces Acela Express service between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.
• Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn merges with the Schweizerische Suedostbahn (Swiss South Eastern Railway) to form the 'new' SOB.
• Construction begins anew on the Qingzang railway in China to connect Golmud to Lhasa, Tibet.