List of 1950-1999 rail accidents

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Criteria for accidents to be included in this list is being discussed at Talk:List of rail accidents/Criteria for inclusion. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion.

List of rail accidents from 1950 to 1999.

For historic accidents before 1950, see List of pre-1950 rail accidents.

For accidents from 2000 to the present, see List of rail accidents.

Notable historic train accidents, 1950-1999
1950s:	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
1960s:	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
1970s:	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
1980s:	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
1990s:	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
See also — External links — References

[edit] 1950s

[edit] 1950

• March 18, 1950 – Ashton, Ontario, Canada: Wind blows smoke and freshly fallen snow to obscure the headlight on a Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train doing switching maneuvers at Ashton; the apparently blinking light is misinterpreted as a clear signal by the engineer of an opposing train who throttles up and runs into passenger cars that were still standing on the mainline.^[1]
• August 27, 1950 – Penmaenmawr, Caernarfonshire, Wales. The Irish Mail train, en-route from the port of Holyhead, crashed into another engine killing six passengers. A human signalling error was to blame.
• November 15, 1950 – Hjuksebø train disaster, Hjuksebø, Norway: Four goods cars get loose during shunting and crash with an express train on the Sørlandsbanen line. 15 killed.
• November 21, 1950 – Canoe River, British Columbia, Canada: A Canadian National Railway train carrying Korea-bound troops is given incorrect orders and collides with a passenger train, killing 21, including 17 soldiers.
• November 22, 1950 – Richmond Hill, New York, United States: a collision between two Long Island Rail Road commuter trains kills 79, hundreds injured.

[edit] 1951

• February 6, 1951 – Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States: The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train, derails, killing 85 people and injuring over 500.
• July 22, 1951 – Tatranská Lomnica, Slovakia, Czecho-Slovakia: In the Slovakian Tatra Mountains (Vysoké Tatry), two ČSD electric mountain-trains collided. 13 people were killed in this accident, and 6 people later died in hospital. A similar crash had occurred 1895 in the same place.^[2]

[edit] 1952

• October 8, 1952 – Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, United Kingdom: Three trains are involved in a crash that kills 112 and injures 340. A rear-end collision due to a driver passing a signal at danger in fog is immediately followed by another express running into the wreckage.
• December 26, 1952 – Budapest, Hungary: A local train from Szentendre derails due to a faulty switch killing 26 and injuring 57. The switch attendant was executed on the same day.

[edit] 1953

• January 15, 1953 – Washington, DC, United States: The brakes fail on a Pennsylvania Railroad train; the train barrels through the end of track barriers and stationmaster's office at Union Station in Washington, DC, but nobody is killed in the accident. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration is scheduled the following week and there is no time to extract the GG-1 electric locomotive from the basement of Union Station where it ended after the floor of the concourse gave way, so the hole is planked over for the celebration week and after the inaugural festivities, the unit is cut up into three pieces, hauled to Altoona, Pennsylvania where it had been built and is welded back together to serve for another three decades. GG-1 No. 4876 is in the collection of the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.^[3]
• March 27, 1953 – Conneaut, Ohio, United States: Three New York Central trains tangle near Conneaut on the four-track mainline on the night of March 27. Twenty-one passengers die. Cause is found to be an improperly secured gondola load - a section of thirteen-inch pipe fell from a freighter car onto the adjacent track, getting struck by a passenger train.
• December 19, 1953 – Sydenham Rail Disaster, Australia: a passenger train of the New South Wales Railways runs into the rear of another train. Five people are killed and 748 injured.
• December 24, 1953 – Šakvice train disaster, Czechoslovakia: Express train whose crew fell asleep after several bottles of wine hits commuter train at a station, killing 106.
• December 24, 1953 – New Zealand: Tangiwai disaster; the Tangiwai railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapses as the overnight express train between Wellington and Auckland passes over it; the bridge supports had been weakened by a lahar (a volcanic ash and debris filled flash flood) a few minutes before the train passed. 151 people are killed.

[edit] 1954

[edit] 1955

• January 23, 1955 – Sutton Coldfield train disaster, England: a passenger train rounds a sharp curve too fast and derails at Sutton Coldfield station; 17 people die as a result.
• April 3, 1955 – Guadalajara, Mexico: a train falls into a canyon. 300 killed.
• August 22, 1955 – Spring City Train Disaster, Spring City, Tennessee, United States: School bus disregards crossing signal and is struck by freight train. 11 dead, 39 hurt; all the dead are school children.
• November 20, 1955 – Milton rail crash: a passenger train takes a crossover too fast and derails at Milton, near Didcot, England. 11 killed, 157 injured.
• December 2, 1955 – Barnes rail crash, Barnes, South London, England: collision due to signal error and consequent fire. 13 killed, 35 injured.

[edit] 1956

• September 5, 1956 – near Robinson, New Mexico, United States: Two Santa Fe express passenger trains collide when a railroad worker prematurely throws a switch directly in front of one of the trains. 20 railroad employees, mostly dining car personnel, are killed.^[4]

[edit] 1957

• March 15, 1957 – near Kuurila, Finland: An overnight passenger train collides head-on with an express train. 26 are killed and 60 injured in Finland's worst peace-time train crash.
• September 29, 1957 – Montgomery, Pakistan: An express train crashes into an oil train. 250 killed.
• December 6, 1957 – Lewisham rail crash, England: A steam train passes a red signal in the fog and ploughs into the back of an electric train. The crash also destroys a support column of a railway bridge, causing parts of the bridge to collapse onto the wreck. 90 people are killed.

[edit] 1958

• September, 1958 – Drachenfels Railway, Königswinter, Germany: A rack railway train derails, killing 17.
• September 15, 1958 – Newark Bay, New Jersey, United States: A Central Railroad of New Jersey morning commuter train blows through stop signals, derails, then slides out the open drawspan. Both diesels and first two coaches plunge into Newark Bay and sink immediately, 48 drown. A third coach hangs precariously out the drawbridge for two hours, snagged by its rear truck before it, too, topples into the water. As the whole operating crew was killed, no absolute determination for the accident was reached, but a medical emergency in the cab was theorized.

[edit] 1959

• June 28, 1959 – Meldrim, Georgia, United States: Tank cars carrying butane derail atop a wooden trestle owned by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The resulting explosion and fire kills 23 persons.^[5]

[edit] 1960s

[edit] 1960

• March 1, 1960 – Rosedale, California, United States: An Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway passenger train strikes a heavy tanker truck carrying a large quantity crude oil at a grade crossing and derails. The wreckage immediately ignites and fourteen perish in the inferno.
• May 15, 1960 – Leipzig, East Germany: Two local trains collide in Leipzig central station. 54 fatalities.
• November 16, 1960 – Stéblová train disaster, Czechoslovakia: 118 are killed and 110 injured in a head-on collision.

[edit] 1961

• December 14, 1961 – Auburn, Colorado, United States: An Union Pacific passenger train in route to Denver collides with a school bus carrying 36 children bound for Delta and Arlington elementary schools, Meeker Junior High, and Greeley High. 20 of the children were killed, 16 children and the driver survived.^[6]

[edit] 1962

• January 8, 1962 – Harmelen, The Netherlands: The Harmelen train disaster, the worst railway accident in the history of The Netherlands, occurs when one passenger train driver misses a warning signal in fog and passes a red signal to collide nearly head-on with another passenger train. 91 people (including both drivers) die, 54 are injured of which 2 lost their lives while in hospital.^[7]
• May 3, 1962 – Tokyo, Japan: three-train collision at Mikawashima Station, 160 killed.

[edit] 1963

• 1963 – Yokohama rail crash, Japan: Two commuter trains hit a derailed freight train. 161 killed.
• December 24, 1963 – Paládicspuszta, Szolnok, Hungary: A passenger train hits a freight train. 45 killed, 34 injured.

[edit] 1964

• March 18, 1964 – Mirigama train crash, Sri Lanka: A Sri Lankan commuter train derails at high speed, killing over 60 people. The survivors are rescued by Boy Scouts.^[8]

[edit] 1965

[edit] 1966

• October 1966 – The Dorion level crossing accident: A merchant CN Rail train traveling at an excessive speed collides with a school bus at a level-crossing in Dorion, Quebec, Canada, killing 19 of 40 teenage students and the bus driver.

[edit] 1967

• July 6, 1967 – Langenweddingen rail crash, Langenweddingen, East Germany near Magdeburg: Because of an overstretched cable preventing the proper operation of a level crossing's barriers, a local train collides with lorry carrying 15,000 litres of light petrol and ignites. 94 killed, of which 44 are children on a holiday trip.

• August 10, 1967 – Odense, Denmark: 11 people are killed and 36 injured as a lyntog express train from Copenhagen crashes into a stationary train shortly before Odense.

• August 25, 1967 – Beesd, Netherlands: The driver and conductor (who in those days was supposed to ride together with the driver in the front cabin) are killed and 7 passengers of a passenger train are injured at 5:55 in the morning, when a cargo train crashes head-on into the first passenger train of that day. The driver of the cargo train (who was injured but survived the crash) missed a red signal, because of dense fog.^[9]

• November 5, 1967 – Hither Green rail crash, England: 49 people are killed and 78 people injured as an express train from Hastings to Charing Cross derails at Hither Green, due to a broken rail at a rail joint.

[edit] 1968

• January 6, 1968 – Hixon rail crash, England: A Manchester-London express strikes a vehicle carrying a 122-tonne (120-long ton) transformer at an automatic level crossing. Eleven people are killed and 27 seriously injured.
• December 12, 1968 – Mende, Hungary: A fast passenger train collied head-on with a freight train. 43 killed, 60 injured.

[edit] 1969

• 1969 – Violet Town railway disaster, Australia: a head-on collision on a single line, no ATP; 9 killed
• January 31, 1969 – Herend, Hungary: a passenger express train crashed into a military train. Eleven people are killed and 39 injured.

[edit] 1970s

[edit] 1970

• February 1, 1970 – Benavidez, Argentina: An intercity train crashes into a local train that had stopped because of mechanical failures. 236 killed.
• June 1970 – Oslo, Norway: A train from Skien collides with a shunting locomotive at Lysaker. 30 injured.
• May 20, 1970 - New York City, NY A rerouted Brooklyn-bound GG train on the express track crosses over a switch near Roosevelt Avenue–Jackson Heights station, slamming into another train on the local track, which was taken out of service for a brake problem earlier. The out of service train on the local track was being operated from the third car while the conductor was in the first car, relaying instructions to the motorman via. a flashlight. 2 killed, 77 injured
• June 21, 1970 – Crescent City, Illinois, United States: Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad Company's Train No. 20 derails in downtown Crescent City; propane tank car ruptures and explosions cause fires that destroy the city center. No fatalities.

[edit] 1971

• February 9, 1971 – Aitrang, Germany: The TEE 56 »Bavaria«, a SBB RAm TEE DMU, heading from Munich to Zurich, derails while passing a curve shortly after Aitrang station. The maximum speed in the curve is 80 km/h, however the train passes the curve at 130 km/h due to frozen water in the air brake. Shortly after the TEE has derailed, a railbus hits the wreckage, coming from the opposite direction. 28 die, 42 are injured.
• May 27, 1971 – Radevormwald, Germany: Dahlerau train disaster - a railbus and a freight train collide on the single track line Wuppertal-Radevormwald, just short of the station Dahlerau. The railbus was a special service carrying schoolchildren of a Radevormwald school. The local dispatcher claims to have signalled a red light to the freight train, whilst the freight train engineer claims to have seen a green one. Ultimately, the case cannot be resolved as the dispatcher is killed in a car accident before the legal hearings start. 41 die, 25 are injured. Worst rail accident in West Germany during Deutsche Bundesbahn times. The accident leads to the phasing out of the Nachtbefehlsstab, and presses the DB to introduce radio communications on branch lines.
• July 21, 1971 – Rheinweiler, Germany: A fast train from Basel to Copenhagen passes a 75 km/h curve at about 140 km/h and derails, destroying a single family home; 23 dead, 121 injured. The suspected reason for the accident was a technical failure in the Class 103 engine's automatic cruise control mechanism, leading to the engine gaining too much speed. The cruise control was consequently disabled after the accident.

[edit] 1972

• October 6, 1972 – Saltillo, Mexico: A train with pilgrims derails and catches fire. 208 killed.
• October 30, 1972 – Chicago, Illinois, United States: Collision between two commuter trains, 45 killed and over 300 injured.
• October 30, 1972 – Schweinsburg-Culten, East Germany: The driver of a fast train does not notice a stop signal because of heavy fog and collides with another train. 22 killed, 70 injured.

[edit] 1973

• January 30, 1973 – Helvécia, Hungary: A scheduled local bus disregards crossing signal and crushed by local train. 37 people killed, 18 injured.
• August, 1973 – Glasgow, Scotland: Electric train hits a diesel train near Glasgow Central Station. 5 killed 50 injured.
• September 7, 1973 – Copenhagen, Denmark: 2 people killed and 23 injured as an S-train collide with another stationary S-train in a tunnel close to Østerport station.
• December, 1973 – Ealing rail crash, London: Train derails killing 10 and injuring 94.

[edit] 1974

• August 04, 1974 – A bomb explodes in car 5 of the Italicus Express running from Rome to Brennero on the night of the 4th August. Twelve passengers were killed and 44 were wounded. Ten years later in the same place, the same thing happened again.
• August 30, 1974 – Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia): An express train from Athens to Dortmund derails at Zagreb train station because of excessive speed. 153 passengers killed.

[edit] 1975

• February 22, 1975 – Tretten, Norway: The Tretten train disaster. A passenger train from Oslo collides with an express train from Trondheim. 27 killed.
• February 28, 1975 - Moorgate tube crash, England: A London Underground train fails to stop at a cul-de-sac tunnel at Moorgate station, 43 people are killed.
• June 6, 1975 – Nuneaton rail crash, Warwickshire, England: Collision between two trains at Nuneaton Station, including the London Euston to Glasgow sleeper service. 6 killed 38 injured.
• June 8, 1975 – Warngau, Germany: Two trains collide on a single-rail stretch of track between Lenggries and Munich because of a dispatcher error. 41 dead, 122 injured.
• October 14, 1975 – Hajdúsámson, Hungary: Local bus struck by local train. 12 people killed, 8 injured.

[edit] 1976

• May 4, 1976 – near Schiedam, the Netherlands: An international train collides with a local train, killing 24 and injuring 11.

[edit] 1977

• January 18, 1977 – Granville railway disaster, Australia: 83 die when a train derails and hits a bridge support. The Bridge then fell, crushing part of the train.
• February 4, 1977 – Chicago Loop derailment Chicago, Illinois, United States: In the worst accident in the system's history, a Chicago Transit Authority elevated train disregards cab signals and rear ends another train during the evening rush hour on a corner of the Loop. Eleven people are killed and over 180 injured as four cars of the rear train derail and crash to the street below.^[10]

• November 9, 1977 – Pensacola, Florida, United States: A Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company freight train derails near the Escambia Bay, and a punctured tank car of anhydrous ammonia kills two local residents as they try to flee the toxic gas cloud. Another 46 are injured.
• November 27, 1977 – Bitterfeld, East Germany: The boiler of a Class 01 steam engine explodes due to lack of water, killing 9 and injuring 45.

[edit] 1978

• February 22, 1978 – Waverly tank car explosion, Waverly, Tennessee, United States: A Louisville and Nashville Railroad freight train derails; one tank car containing liquefied petroleum gas explodes two days later, killing 16 and injuring 43. Numerous buildings in downtown Waverly are destroyed or damaged by force of the blast and resulting fires.
• February 26, 1978 – Youngstown, Florida, United States: Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay Railroad freight train derails, a chlorine gas cloud, released from a punctured tank car, kills eight and injures 138. This was the first recorded major liquified chlorine gas disaster and the cloud was some 5 km (3 miles) long.
• April 13, 1978 – Budapest, Hungary: commuter train overruns a buffer stop due to brake failure and crashes into the station building. 13 killed, 25 injured.
• December 3, 1978 – Shipman, Virginia, United States: Southern Railway's Southern Crescent enters a curve at excess speed; all of the consist but the lead engine and last car derail and slide down a ravine. Six die, including Gov. Jimmy Carter's former chef, Louis Price, killed in the galley. Sixty others are injured, most trapped in the wreckage.

• July 6, 1978 – Taunton train fire, Taunton, England: A fire aboard a British Rail sleeping car travelling from Penzance to Paddington station in London kills 12. Investigation shows that the fire was caused by the careless placement of a plastic bag of linens against a heater in the car's vestibule.
• October 12, 1978 – an IRA bomb exploded on a train near Belfast Central station before it was fully evacuated, killing a woman.^[11]

[edit] 1979

• April 8, 1979 – Louisville and Nashville Railroad freight derails at Crestview, Florida, United States and punctured tank car leaks anhydrous ammonia, injuring 14.
• October 22, 1979 – Invergowrie rail crash, Scotland: starting signal failed to return completely to stop, giving the following train a false clear indication. 5 killed.
• November 10, 1979 – 1979 Mississauga train derailment Mississauga, Canada: tank cars containing propane and chlorine derail, causing a fire which lofts deadly contamination high into the air. No fatalities or serious injuries, but more than 250,000 residents are evacuated from the city: the largest peacetime emergency evacuation in North American history until 2005 when New Orleans, Louisiana, is evacuated due to Hurricane Katrina.
• 1979 – Taling Chan, Thailand: 54 people are killed in the worst accident in Thai railway history when a Thonburi - Nakhon Pathom commuter train collides with a Bangsue - Padang Besar freight train at Taling Chan on 21 August 1979 as a result of errors on the part of the fatigued freight train engineer.

[edit] 1980s

[edit] 1980

• January 18, 1980 – Belfast, Northern Ireland: An IRA firebomb inadvertantly detonates on a train travelling between Ballymena and Belfast, engulfing a carriage and killing three (including the bomber). Five are injured in the blast.^[12][13]
• June 2, 1980– Hinsnoret-Ornäs, Dalarna, Sweden: 11 killed and over 60 injured as a passenger train and a freight train collide.
• June 30, 1980 – Siófok, Hungary: Passenger train stikes a local bus. 20 killed.
• July 25, 1980 – Winsum, the Netherlands: Two trains collide on a single track between Groningen and Roodeschool resulting in 9 deaths and 21 injured.
• August 1, 1980 – Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland: A train crashes into a siding on the main Dublin - Cork line resulting in 18 deaths and 62 injured. This remains the Republic of Ireland's worst transportation disaster.
• August 19, 1980 – A freight train runs through a red light and slams into a passenger train traveling from Łódź to Bydgoszcz, Poland. The accident near Toruń killed 67 people.

[edit] 1981

• March 8, 1981 – A train traveling from Mar del Plata, Argentina to Buenos Aires smashes into a pair of derailed freight cars 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of the capital, killing 45 and injuring 120.
• March 8, 1981 – A truck collides with a passenger train at a level crossing, sending five of the ten coaches over a bridge into a dry river bed in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Thirty are killed in what was the worst rail crash in Taiwan up to that point.
• May 14, 1981 – Two express trains collide about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Seoul, killing 54 people.
• June 6, 1981 – Bihar train disaster, India: Hundreds are killed (300-800) when a train falls into a river.
• July 17, 1981 – A freight train slams into the back of a passenger train in Madhya Pradesh, India, killing 39 people and injuring 43.
• July 19, 1981 – In an incident blamed on sabotage, a train traveling to Ahmedabad from New Delhi, India, derailed in Gujarat, killing 30 people and injuring 70.
• July 31, 1981 – Six coaches of a train derail near Bahawalpur, India, killing 43 and injuring 50.
• November 30, 1981 – Mohora, Hungary: Departmental train strikes a bus. 17 killed, 29 injured.

[edit] 1982

• January 13, 1982 – Washington, D.C.: An Orange line train derails on the Washington Metro between the Smithsonian and Federal Triangle stations. While the train was being backed up, the derailed truck drives the aluminum car into a tunnel support, killing three people. By coincidence this happened at the same time Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge.
• January 27, 1982 – A passenger train traveling from Oran to Algiers derailed 50 miles west of the Algerian capital, killing at least 130 and injuring 146, in Algeria's worst train crash in 20 years.
• January 27, 1982 – A freight train and an express passenger train collide head-on in heavy fog near Agra, India, killing 50 and injuring 50.
• March 20, 1982 – A Mangalore-to-New Delhi train slams into a tourist bus at a level crossing in Andhra Pradesh, snapping the bus in two, killing at least 59 people on the bus and injuring 25 others.
• July 12, 1982 – An express train traveling from Mexicali to Guadalajara, Mexico, derails into a ravine near Tepic, killing 34 and injuring 136.

[edit] 1983

• February 20, 1983 – A train traveling from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to Guadalajara is rammed in the rear by a freight train near Guaymas, killing at least 56 and injuring 78.
• May 27, 1983 – Frechen, Germany: The Oostende-Wien-Express night train derails due to trackbed damages. The engine hits a bridge and the first car jackknifes into the wreckage. Seven are killed, 23 injured.
• August 21, 1983 – Cherryville Junction, County Kildare, Ireland: crash occurred when a train, which had run out of fuel and stopped on the tracks at Cherryville junction in Co. Kildare, was hit by a second train from the rear. 7 people were killed and 55 were injured. The official investigation found several organisational factors to have been substantial causes of the crash. These included: CIE rules that allowed drivers to proceed past red signals in certain circumstances; ambiguity of responsibility between the driver and the guard; and inadequate re-fuelling procedures.^[14]

[edit] 1984

• July 14, 1984 – Divača, Slovenia, Yugoslavia: A freight train plows into the rear of a crowded passenger train, killing 31 and injuring 33.
• November 25, 1984 – Hong Kong: A train derailed between Sheung Shui and Fanling station on the KCR East Rail. The incident occurred when the driver, preparing to back the train up to Sheung Shui station, failed to follow a speed/stop signal while the train was exceeding the speed limit. The train crashed into a boulder/buffer with the first 2 cars piling on top of each other. The degree of which they were damaged was so extensive that the cars never returned to service. Luckily, the passengers were unloaded prior to the crash while the driver sustained only minor injuries. However, the accident caused train services to suspend for the rest of the day and the incident spurred a series of public outcries concerning railway safety.
• December 11, 1984 – Wembley, London: A passenger train collided with a freight train at Wembley Central, killing 3 injuring 60.
• December 23, 1984 – Italy: The Rapido 904 from Naples to Milan named the "Christmas train" explodes in the longest Italian tunnel of San Benedetto Val di Sambro. An alliance formed between Mafia groups "What ours" and the Neapolitan Racket was behind the massacre on Express 904. In that tunnel there remained the bodies of 15 people, and hundreds were seriously injured, some dying many years later.

[edit] 1985

• January 21, 1985 – Gary, Indiana, United States: Two South Shore Line trains collide head-on, 85 injured.
• February 23, 1985 – Rajnandgaon train fire, Madhya Pradesh, India: Over 50 people are killed when an express train catches fire.
• March 20, 1985 – Ronnenberg, Germany: Two freight trains, one consisting of 20 tank cars filled with petrol, the other consisting of 19 cars loaded with coal, collide in the densely populated suburb of Empelde, close to Hanover and ignite, the fire burning almost a day.
• June 11, 1985 – Habonim disaster, Moshav Habonim, Israel: 21 people killed, including 19 school children in a collision between a bus on a school field trip and a train going from Haifa to Tel Aviv near Moshav Habonim.
• June 13, 1985 – Agra rail disaster, Argra, India: 38 people are killed in a collision.
• September 11, 1985 – Mangualde, Portugal: The Sud Express linking Lisbon and Paris collides with a regional train near Mangualde, Portugal. The blaze and the lack of a passenger list puts the death toll around one hundred victims.

[edit] 1986

• February 8, 1986 – Hinton train collision, Dalehurst, Alberta, Canada: 23 lives lost when VIA Rail passenger train and CN freight train collide head-on. This led to the adoption of stricter crew scheduling practice and a complete rewrite of the operating rules.
• March 10, 1986 – Khagaria rail disaster, over 50 people are killed in a collision in Bihar.
• August 6, 1986 – Palamau rail disaster, 52 people drown when a train falls into a deep ditch after a collision.

[edit] 1987

• January 4, 1987 – Chase, Maryland rail wreck, Chase, Maryland, United States: The Amtrak Colonial collides with a set of Conrail freight locomotives that had missed a stop signal and were fouling the Northeast Corridor mainline at Gunpow Interlocking. The northbound passenger consist derails, killing 16 passengers, the lounge car attendant, and the Amtrak engineer. The freight crew had been smoking marijuana; this notorious accident caused the US railroad industry to tighten up drug use detection among operational personnel.
• July 8, 1987 - Machieral rail disaster, 53 people killed in the derailment of a train in Andhra Pradesh.
• November 16, 1987 – Lerum, near Gothenburg, Sweden: Two passenger trains collide at a station. 9 killed, 140 injured.

[edit] 1988

• January 19, 1988 – Forst Zinna, East Germany: A Soviet tank gets stuck on a level crossing and gets hit by an express train. 6 die, 33 are injured.
• April 25, 1988 – Sorø train accident, Denmark: 8 people die and 72 are injured as an intercity train derails in a switch in Sorø due to excessive speed.
• June 27, 1988 – Gare de Lyon train accident, Gare de Lyon, France: Runaway train hits stationary rush-hour train in station, 56 killed, over 50 injured.
• July 8, 1988 - Ashtamudi Lake rail disaster, passenger train falls in the lake after derailing, 107 people drowned.
• August 16, 1988 - A high-speed train traveling from Leningrad to Moscow derails near Bologoye, killing 30 people and injuring about 180.^[15]

• December 12, 1988 – Clapham Junction rail crash, London, England: wrong side failure from electrical short circuit caused by faulty signal maintenance, 35 dead, more than 100 injured.

[edit] 1989

• March 4, 1989 – Purley Station rail crash, London, England: As one train crosses over from one track to another, a second train runs a red signal and collides with the first train; the accident leaves six people dead and 94 injured.
• April 18, 1989 – Lalitpur rail disaster, Uttar Praadesh, India: 75 killed when train derails.
• May 4, 1989 – Tepic, Mexico: 20-52 (depending on reports) are killed after train's brakes fail while descending a mountain side; the locomotive and three passenger cars flip on a curve and plunge down the ravine.
• May 12, 1989 – San Bernardino train disaster, San Bernardino, California: A Southern Pacific Railroad freight train derails on Duffy Street on the very steep Cajon Pass, killing both crew members and 2 children, ages 7 and 9. Eleven homes were severely damaged or completely destroyed in the accident. Thirteen days later fuel leaking from a pipe line damaged in the accident ignites, killing 2 people and causing further damage to homes.
• June 4, 1989 – Ufa train disaster, Soviet Union: 575 are killed and over 600 wounded when two trains pass near a leaking natural gas line which explodes.
• 1989 – Quilon Lake rail disaster, India: A train falls off a bridge and into a lake, killing 107. Officials claimed 'freak typhoon' caused the crash, despite meteorological assertions to the contrary.

[edit] 1990s

[edit] 1990

• January 4, 1990 – Sindh province, Pakistan: An overcrowded passenger train collides with a stationary freight train. Over 210 killed.
• February 2, 1990 – Rüsselsheim, Germany: Two S-Bahn commuter trains collide, killing 17 and injuring 80.
• April 16, 1990 – Lysaker, Oslo, Norway: Two local passenger trains collide, 5 killed.
• April 16, 1990 – Patna rail disaster, India: 70 killed as shuttle train is gutted by fire.
• March 7, 1990 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States: A bolt securing a traction motor on a SEPTA subway-elevated train fails, causing the train to derail. Four killed, 158 injured.
• August 20, 1990 – Ursus, near Warsaw, Poland. At 6.20 a.m., a passenger train called "Silesia" - from Praha to Warsaw (Warszawa Wschodnia) - collided with last car of passenger train from Szklarska Poręba to Warsaw, killed 16.
• August 25, 1990 – Czech Republic, Liberecky kraj- in the railway line Tanvald---Železny Brod, between the Jesenný and Spálov railway stations, crashed a switching freight train and a passenger train. 11 killed and 3 injured.

[edit] 1991

• January 8, 1991 – London, England: A passenger train hits the buffers at Cannon Street Station. 1 person killed. 542 persons injured.
• April, 1991 – Shigaraki train disaster, Shigaraki, Shiga, Japan: 42 people were killed.
• July 31, 1991 – Lugoff, South Carolina, United States: The Amtrak Silver Star derails the rear portion of its consist on the former Seaboard Air Line of the CSXT Railroad when a faulty switch moves as the train passes over it, directing a coach into a hopper car standing on a siding, and derailing the following equipment. Eight passengers die and 76 are injured.
• August 28, 1991 – New York, New York: Five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a Lexington local train derails going over a switch just north of Union Square. Two subway cars split open as they strike the steel tunnel support beams. The uninjured motorman, whom passengers report had been handling the train erratically, flees the scene and is arrested later, testing out as legally drunk. This accident, coupled with the Amtrak Colonial wreck at Chase, Maryland on January 4, 1987, is instrumental in driving new federal rules for engineer certification and toxicology.
• October, 1991 – Melun, France. A freight train overruns a closed signal, and fouls the path of the Nice-Paris night train. 16 people are killed. The accident was caused by a heart attack suffered by the freight train engineer. The deadman mechanism worked perfectly, but it was too late to stop the train in time. This led to the adoption of the KVB automatic train control system which will detect improper train handling.

[edit] 1992

• March 12, 1992 – Gothenburg, Sweden: A tram rolls backwards down a hill without control and derails near the bottom. There it glides sideways in a high speed into a tram stop where people are waiting. 13 killed, many injured.
• June 30, 1992 – near Superior, Wisconsin, United States: A Burlington Northern freight train transporting benzene encounters fatigued tracks and derails, plunging 3 tank cars off a trestle and into the Nemadji River. One of the cars ruptures, spilling 79 500 L (21,000 US gallons) of chemicals into the river, which are then carried into Lake Superior, forming a toxic cloud over Superior and Duluth, Minnesota. 40,000 area residents are evacuated; many suffer long-term health problems, and the damage to the surrounding environment is considerable.
• August 12, 1992 – just outside Newport News, Virginia, United States: Amtrak's Colonial passenger train, traveling at nearly 80 mph, enters a switch that had just moments before been opened by a pair of teenaged saboteurs. Though there are no fatalities, dozens are injured. 60 of the passengers subsequently sue Amtrak and CSX (who owned the right-of-way) for negligence, but the case is decided in favor of the railroad companies as it was determined that there was no way for the train crew to prevent the incident. The two teens are sentenced to federal prison terms for the crime.
• September 26, 1992 – Gárdony, Hungary: A German microbus disregards crossing signal and crashed by a single locomotive. 16 German tourists killed.
• November, 1992 – Hoofddorp, Netherlands: An Intercity train, travelling from Amsterdam to Vlissingen derailed near Hoofddorp. Five people died, 33 were injured.

[edit] 1993

• January 18, 1993 – Gary, Indiana, United States: The eastbound Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District train number 7 runs a red signal and is hit by westbound train number 12; 7 passengers die, scores are injured in the accident.
• February 13, 1993 – Pörböly, Hungary: Crossing signal doesn't work, the local train goes too fast in the level crossing and strikes a bus whith school children. Eleven children and the bus driver killed, numerous others become handicap.
• March 17, 1993 – near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States: An Amtrak passenger train strikes a gasoline tanker truck that has stopped on a grade crossing, causing the tanker to explode. Six people (including the truck driver) are killed and 12 injured. The dining car stops in the center of the fire and is totalled.
• March 28, 1993 – Busan train disaster, Busan, South Korea: An express train derailed and 79 people were killed.
• May 3, 1993 – Chhabra rail disaster, 71 people die in a collision between two trains at Chhabra in Rajasthan.
• August 2, 1993 – Vega de Anzo, Spain a crash in a tunnel at kills 12.
• September 22, 1993 – Big Bayou Canot train disaster, Alabama, United States: A towboat collides with a piling and causes a bridge to shift out of alignment, creating a kink in the rails on the CSXT's former Louisville & Nashville Gulfcoast line. Minutes later, Amtrak's Sunset Limited, just out of Mobile, Alabama, strikes the bad gauge, plunging the train into the water. 47 people are killed in Amtrak's deadliest accident.
• October 3, 1993 – Nordstrand, Oslo, Norway: A local train collides with a shunting locomotive. 5 killed.
• 1993 – Ngai Ndethya, Kenya: 114 killed in a Mombasa-bound passenger train which plunged into a river after floods wash away a bridge.

[edit] 1994

• / June 25, 1994 – Greenock rail crash, Scotland: Two people are killed when a train strikes concrete blocks that were placed on the track by vandals. Vandalism starts to be noticed as a U.K. wide criminal phenomenon from the mid 1990s onwards.
• August 4, 1994 – Batavia, New York, United States: Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited passenger train derails while traveling at 75 mph (120 km/h), injuring 125 of the train's passengers and crew members.
• September 22, 1994 – Damaged brakes make a train crash into a canyon in Tolunda, Angola. 300 killed.

• December 2, 1994 – Szajol, Hungary: InterCity train traveling at 65 mph (105 km/h) derails and crashes into the railway station's building, killing 31 passengers and injuring many people.

[edit] 1995

• January 31, 1995 - Aisgill, Settle-Carlisle Railway , England: A British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter Diesel Multiple Unit derails due to a landslide and is hit by another Sprinter coming in the opposite direction in darkness and heavy rain. Theconductor of the Sprinter that derailed due to the landslide is killed. Several people are seriously hurt, and the driver of one of the Sprinters has to be cut out by the fire brigade.
• May 3, 1995 – Nalgonda rail disaster, 35 people are killed in a collision with a tractor in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh.
• May 14, 1995 – Salem rail disaster, Over 50 people are killed in a collision at Salem on the Madras route.
• June 5, 1995 – Brooklyn, NY, A Manhattan bound J train rear ends an M train on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge, killing the motorman on the J train and injuring 55 people. The National Transportation Safety Board investigating into the accident, concluded that train operator fatigue, and poor spacing of the signal system (the signals were too close together) were the main causes to this crash.[6]
• August 11, 1995 – Russell Hill Subway accident, Toronto, Ontario: A subway collides with a stationary train when a driver misinterprets a signal. 3 are killed, and 30 injured.
• August 20, 1995 – Firozabad rail disaster, India. A passenger train collides with another train that had stopped after it had run over a cow in Firozabad, India. 358 people are killed.
• October 9, 1995 – Palo Verde derailment, Arizona, United States: One crewman is killed and 78 passengers are injured when an Amtrak passenger train en route to Los Angeles is derailed by saboteurs. To date, the person(s) responsible for the derailment have not been found.

• October 25, 1995 – Fox River Grove level crossing accident, Illinois, United States: A school bus caught between a railroad crossing and a red traffic light is hit by a Metra commuter train, killing seven students.
• October 28, 1995 - Baku, Azerbaijan – World's deadliest metro disaster. In Baku, an underground metro train catches fire during Saturday evening rush hour. 337 people are killed.
• December 12, 1995 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – The last of the DRG Class ET 91, a German class of electric multiple units from the 1930s, crashes with the ÖBB 1044 235 electric locomotive in the station of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, resulting in one fatal casualty and 46 injured.

[edit] 1996

• February 9, 1996 – Secaucus, New Jersey, United States: New Jersey Transit Train 1254 traveling to Hoboken Terminal via the Bergen County Line runs a red signal a few hundred feet east of where the Secaucus Junction Station is currently located and slams into NJT Train 1107 traveling to Suffern, New York via the NJT Main Line. Both engineers and a passenger on Train 1254 are killed.
• February 16, 1996 – Silver Spring, Maryland, United States: The engineer of a MARC commuter train bound for Washington Union Station, either misses or ignores a stop signal and collides with outgoing Amtrak train no. 29, the westbound Capitol Limited. The crash left 11 people dead aboard the MARC train.^[16] Three die of injuries suffered in the impact, but the rest are killed by smoke and flames, exacerbated by a natural gas tank located at trackside, which also ignites.^{[citation needed]} This accident lead to the FRA instituting the Delay in Block Rule.

• February 26, 1996 – Kutas, Hungary: Local train hits a bus. The crash lites tne fuel in the fuel tank and causes fire. 12 people killed.
• March 4, 1996 – Weyauwega derailment, Wisconsin, United States: A broken turnout derails a Wisconsin Central train carrying liquefied petroleum gas and propane. The town of Weyauwega, Wisconsin, is evacuated as the fire burns for most of the 18-day evacuation.

• April 21, 1996 – Passenger train operating in heavy fog derails at Jokela, Finland because of overspeeding through a slow-speed turnout. The locomotive driver and three passengers were killed, and 75 were injured.
• May 14, 1996 – Alappuzha level crossing crash, 35 wedding guests are killed when their bus is run down by a train in Kerala.
• May 25, 1996 – Varanasi level crossing crash, 25 people die in a collision with a tractor at Varanasi.
• December 30, 1996 – Brahmaputra Mail train bombing, 33 people are killed in deliberate explosion on a train in Assam.

[edit] 1997

• April 18, 1997 – Gorakhpur rail diasaster, Over 60 people are killed in a collision at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
• May 5, 1997 – Reptowo, Poland. At 12.25 p.m., a passenger train derailed and its restaurant car ("WARS") collided with a goods train - 12 killed.
• July 8, 1997 – Lehra Khanna Station bombing, 33 people are killed by a terrorist bomb left on a station at Lehra Khanna in the Punjab.
• July 28, 1997 – Faridabad train crash, 12 people die in a collision at Faridabad in the Delhi suburbs.^[17]
• September 14, 1997 – Bilaspur rail disaster, 120 people are killed in a derailment on a bridge in Bilaspur province in Chhattisgarh.
• September 19, 1997 – Southall rail crash, London, England. A passenger train collides with a freight train, killing 6.
• October 23, 1997 – Beresfield rail disaster, Australia: coal train collides with the rear of an earlier coal train and blocks all tracks causing collisions with other trains - SPAD.
• December 9, 1997 – Hanover, Germany: A regional train carrying more than 300 passengers collides with a freight train consisting of 20 tanker cars filled with petrol. Five of the wrecked tankers ignite and explode. More than 90 injured.^[18]

[edit] 1998

• February 15, 1998 – Yaounde train explosion, Cameroon, Spilt fuel oil from a tanker train crash ignited and exploded, killing over 100 people.
• March 6, 1998 – Express passenger train derails at Jyväskylä, Finland, as a result of over-speeding while passing over a slow-speed turnout. The locomotive driver and nine passengers were killed, 94 were injured.
• April 4, 1998 – Fatuha train crash, At least 11 people die in derailment near Patna(near Fatuha station) on the Howrah-Delhi main line as Howrah-Danapur Express derails between between Fatuha and Bankaghat stations.
• April 24, 1998 – Parali Vaijanath train crash, 24 people die in high speed collision at a rural station in Maharashtra.
• June 3, 1998 – Eschede train disaster, Eschede, Germany: Part of a high-speed ICE train derails due to a faulty wheel rim and strikes a bridge. The bridge collapses as the third car hits its pylons, the remaining cars and the rear power unit jackknife into the pile. The first three carriages are separated from each other and come to a halt at Eschede railway station whilst the undamaged power car continues for another two kilometres until its brakes are automatically applied. 101 are killed.
• June 18, 1998 – Burns Harbor, Indiana, United States: The westbound Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District train number 102 strikes a semi-truck that was stopped on a grade crossing. 3 passengers are killed when the truck's steel cargo smashed through the front of the train.
• August 7, 1998- Three teenagers fell out of unlocked doors on express trains and died from their injuries. The first two deaths occurred near Tamworth, Staffordshire, the third near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Several other people also encountered serious faults with the unlocking of doors during the same period, but no more serious injuries resulted. These incidents lead to the Health and Safety Executive condemning ‘slam-door’ trains.
• November 26, 1998 – Over 150 people died in the Khanna train crash disaster, when a high speed collision at a rural station in the Punjab catches fire.

[edit] 1999

• March 15, 1999 – Bourbonnais train accident, Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States: The southbound Amtrak City of New Orleans hits a semi truck loaded with steel rebar at a grade crossing and derails; an ensuing fire sets one Superliner sleeper alight. 11 fatalities and over 100 injuries.
• March 24, 1999 – Tsavo National Park, Kenya: 32 die at Tsavo National Park when the brakes on a passenger train fail, causing it to derail. [7]
• June 4, 1999 – Andhra Pradesh, India: Twelve are killed in a derailment at Kazipet.
• August 2, 1999 – Gauhati rail disaster, Gauhati, India: Two express trains collide head-on. Over 285 people are killed.
• October 5, 1999 – Ladbroke Grove (Paddington) rail disaster, England: Two trains collide head-on due to a signal passed at danger and smashed fuel tanks catch fire, killing 31 and injuring 400.
• November 17, 1999 – Athens, Greece: 3 workmen using a pneumatic drill in Athens station are killed when they could not hear an approaching train from Halkida as it entered the station. 2 others later died of their wounds. They also apparently ignored the obvious timing factors relating to when trains would be actually scheduled to use the platform in the first place. The deaths are put down as being caused by the use of sloppy work routines. [8]
• November 24, 1999 – Wrocław, Poland: A freight train run by PKP Intercity derails in the station Wrocław Grabiszyn.
• December 3, 1999 – Glenbrook train disaster, New South Wales, Australia: Stop and Proceed rule at red signal applied with insufficient care (too much speed), killing 7
• December 30, 1999 – Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada: Several tank cars filled with gasoline and heating oil from the CN freight train 703 traveling westward derailed as it was passing the CN freight train 306 train, traveling in the opposite direction on a parallel track . Train 306 hit the derailed wagons, which explode on impact, killing the engineer and the conductor of the 306 and starting a fire which was to burn 2,7 million liters of oil and force evacuation of 350 families within a 2 kilometers radius over the next four days. [9]

[edit] See also

Rail transport
Operations
Stations
Trains
Locomotives
Rolling stock
History
Terminology
By country
Disasters
Modelling
This box: view • talk • edit

• List of accidents by death toll, category "other"
• List of disasters
• List of road accidents - includes level crossing accidents.
• List of British rail accidents
• List of Russian rail accidents
• Years in rail transport

[edit] External links

• NTSB Publications – The United States National Transportation Safety Board official reports of transportation accidents.
• RSSB Publications – UK Rail Safety and Standards Board
• US accidents – CBS News

[edit] References

1. ^ Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (February 2006), Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area: 1950, March 18 - Canadian Pacific - Ashton. Retrieved March 18, 2006.
2. ^ Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified.
3. ^ http://www.dcnrhs.org/union_station/union_wreck.htm The Famous Union Station Wreck
4. ^ http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/railway/opensw.htm Unexpected Divergence Accidents
5. ^ [1] Retrieved March 27, 2007.
6. ^ The Rocky Mountian News The Crossing Retrieved January 26, 2007.
7. ^ [2]
8. ^ [3]
9. ^ Overzicht spoorwegongevallen
10. ^ (Chicago-L.org)
11. ^ CAIN Chronology of the conflict 1978, retrieved 4 March 2007
12. ^ F.A.C.T. Train bomb 18 Jan 1980, Retrieved on 3 March 2007
13. ^ CAIN Sutton index of deaths 1980, Retrieved on 3 March 2007
14. ^ Department of Transport Publications, Report into Cherryville Railway Accident
15. ^ Vokrug Sveta article (in Russian)
16. ^ [4]
17. ^ [5]
18. ^ Technisches Hilfswerk, OV Ronnenberg