List of rail accidents - 2000 to present

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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 2000 to the present.

The list includes some terrorist bombings.

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

For accidents between 1950 and 1999 (inclusive), see List of 1950-1999 rail accidents.

Notable train accidents, 2000 - present
2000s:	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
See also — External links — References

[edit] 2000s

[edit] 2000

• January 4, 2000 – Åsta accident, Åsta in Åmot, Norway: Two diesel passenger trains collide on the Rørosbanen killing 19. The fire after the collision lasted nearly 6 hours.
• February 6, 2000 – Brühl, Germany: An express night train from Amsterdam to Basel passes a construction area at excess speed and derails at Brühl station on the main line between Cologne and Bonn, crashing into a nearby house. 9 people died.
• March 2, 2000 – Kølkær, Denmark: Two regional trains collide head-on after one passes a red signal. 3 die and 39 are injured.
• March 8, 2000 – Naka-Meguro train disaster, Japan: A Tokyo Subway train derails and is hit by another train on the next track; 4 die and 33 are injured.
• April 5, 2000 – Lillestrøm in Skedsmo, Norway: A freight train's brakes fail between Strømmen and Lillestrøm; it collides with a stationary freight train at Lillestrøm station. Two gas wagons loaded with propane catch fire and 2000 people are evacuated in fear of a BLEVE, but there are no casualties.
• August 15, 2000 - According to Kenya Broadcasting Corporation report, a Butere-Kisumu commuter train carrying 400 passengers on-board ploughed off the rails at the shore of Lake Victoria, Lela, Nyanza, Kenya, in an incident caused by brake failure, killing 13; another 36 are injured.
• August 17, 2000 - 6 die in Kisumu, after a freight train hits a packed bus on a busy level crossing during the morning rush hour.
• August 19, 2000 - at least 25 burned to death after a goods train carrying gas rolls back and hits stationary wagons, exploding in the process.
• October 17, 2000 – Hatfield rail crash, England, United Kingdom: As the London-Leeds express passes at 115 mph (185 km/h), a faulty rail shatters into 300 pieces because of a condition known as rolling contact fatigue. Four are killed, and 102 are injured. This rail failure forces the biggest and most expensive re-railing exercise in British history, with huge service disruption for many months. Operator Railtrack is found guilty in one of the longest rail-related trials in UK legal history, but manslaughter charges against company managers are not sustained.
• June 6, 2000 - A bomb explodes on a train in Bathinda, killing 2 and injuring 1.
• June 28, 2000 - 13 children die after a goods train they were riding on derails in Padang. The Indonesian government cracks down on passengers clinging onto the sides of freight trains as a means of free travel. (Source- BBC)
• November 11, 2000 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A funicular train catches fire in a tunnel because of an unsafely installed heater. 155 die.
• December 2, 2000 – Sarai Banjara rail disaster, a crowded commuter train crashes into a derailed freight train in the Punjab. More than 45 die.
• December 30, 2000 - Rizal Day bombings, Philippines: A bomb explodes on a Manila Light Rail Transit System train in a terrorist attack near Blumentritt station. 22 die and hundreds were injured.

[edit] 2001

• January 12, 2001 – Nvoungouti, Congo: Over 30 died when two trains collide because of a brake failure at Nvoungouti.^[1]
• February 7, 2001–Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Northland passenger train derails in the Don Valley near the Bayview Extension and Pottery Road area. 23 passengers were on board; 2 slightly injured.^[2]
• February 28, 2001 – Selby rail crash, Great Heck, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom: a driver on England's M62 motorway falls asleep at the wheel and runs off the road, landing on railway tracks; he escapes, but the vehicle is almost instantly hit by a passenger train, which derails and hits a coal train coming in the opposite direction. 10 die, over 80 are injured. The car driver is later jailed for manslaughter.
• March 27, 2001 – Pécrot rail crash, Pécrot, Belgium: Two passenger trains collide on the same track. 8 die and 12 are injured.
• April 12, 2001 – Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, Canada: a teenager tampered with a control switch on the VIA Rail Canada's Ocean. Many are injured in the resulting crash.
• May 15, 2001 – Toledo, Ohio, United States: A CSX freight train of 47 cars, including some with hazardous molten phenol acid, runs away in the yard at Toledo with no engineer aboard. The engineer, Michael Scanlan, had stepped out to reset a switch but had improperly applied the dynamic brake. It runs for 66 miles (106 km) to Kenton, Ohio before being stopped by a railroad worker who jumps aboard and manages to stop it. CSX had slowed the train down to 10 mph by coupling an engine onto the end.^[3]
• June 21, 2001 – Kadalundi River rail disaster, Kerala, India: 57 people die.
• July 18, 2001 – Howard Street Tunnel fire, Baltimore, Maryland, United States: A 60-car CSX train carrying chemicals and wood products derails in a 1.7 miles (3 km) long tunnel under Baltimore, causing a fire that burns for six days and water contamination.^[4]
• August 19, 2001 – Kurunegala train crash, Sri Lanka: A Sri Lankan trail derails because of speeding and overcrowding. 13 die.^[5]
• September 2, 2001 – Cirebon, Indonesia: A passenger train and a locomotive collide, killing 40 and seriously injuring 37.^[6]
• November 8, 2001 – Russia: A nuclear waste train from Bulgaria crashes at midnight between the Krasnoyarsk and Kemerovo on the Trans-Siberian railway. 14 of the 20 tanker-wagons derail and the line is closed for about 12 hours. 1 km of track is damaged.^[7]
• December 18, 2001 – Orestiada, Greece: 1 dies after a train becomes stuck in a snow drift and derails at the town of Orestiada, near the Bulgarian border. Temperatures fall to −10°C.^[8]
• December 25, 2001 - A packed passenger train careered into a station just outside Berbes and slammed in to a stationary train from Jakarta, killing 27 and seriously wounding dozens according to the local authorities and Indonesian Red Cross.

[edit] 2002

• January 18, 2002 – Minot, North Dakota, United States: A Canadian Pacific Railway train derails at 01:40 CST near a residential area west of Minot; the derailment results in a massive anhydrous ammonia leak. Seven of 15 tank cars rupture, releasing more than 750,000 liters (200,000 US gallons) of anhydrous ammonia which vaporizes in the sub-zero air, forming a toxic cloud that drifts over much of Minot. One man dies and numerous others are treated for chemical exposure.^[9]
• February 6, 2002 – Charlotte’s Dale train crash, South Africa: Two commuter trains collide in Charlotte’s Dale near Durban. 22 die, of which 16 are children.^[10]
• February 20, 2002 – Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt: A train packed to double capacity catches fire, 373 die.
• March 30, 2002 – A Spanish high-speed express train Valencia-Barcelona route of Euromed head on collide with running Tortosa-Barcelona Catalunya express crushed, both trains 600 passengers onboard, five car of Euromed damaged at Torredembarra station, outskirts of Tarragona, Catalunya, Spain, killing at least four, another 88 are injured.
• April 18, 2002 – Crescent City, Florida, United States: 21 cars of an Amtrak Auto-Train derail near Crescent City. Four deaths, 142 injured. The National Transportation Safety Board initial accident report found that the ECP brakes purchased for the train were not functioning: the final report determined that the accident was caused by a hot-weather "sun kink" misalignment of the track due to inadequate CSX maintenance-of-way, and stated that equipment and track damages totaled about $8.3 million.^[11]
• May 2, 2002 – Firdale, Manitoba, Canada: An eastbound CN train collides with a trailer; about 20 cars carrying plastic pellets, benzene, glycol and hexane catch fire, forcing the evacuation of nearly 200 residents.
• May 10, 2002 – Potters Bar rail crash, north of London, England, United Kingdom: a northbound train derails at high speed; 7 die, 11 seriously injured.
• May 13, 2002 – Jaunpur train crash, 12 people die when a passenger train derails and crashes in Uttar Pradesh. An inquest blames sabotage.
• May 25, 2002 – Tenga, Mozambique: In an accident reminiscent of Armagh 1889, passenger carriages, separated from a train also carrying freight, run away and smash into a cement train, killing 200.
• June 13, 2002 – Alawwa train crash, Sri Lanka: Train derails whilst coming into Alawwa station, killing 14 people.^[5]
• June 24, 2002 – Igandu train disaster, Tanzania: Nearly 300 die when a passenger train rolls backwards into a goods train.
• July 29, 2002 – Kensington, Maryland, United States: The eastbound Amtrak Capitol Limited, train 30, while traversing a CSX route, strikes a sun kink at 1:55 PM while traveling at 60 mph (100 km/h) near milepost 11.78. Several cars go down an embankment and four Superliners overturn against trees. 16 people are seriously injured and 79 people suffer from minor injuries. The misalignment was determined to be caused by improperly tamped ballast and excessive speed in the 96°F (35°C) sunny weather. "Slow orders" were imposed on passenger trains in the area on very hot days following this accident.^{[citation needed]}
• September 9, 2002 – Bad Münder, Germany: Two freight trains collide head-on after a brake failure on one of the trains. A tank car loaded with 1-Chlor-2,3-epoxypropan explodes, contaminating the station and exposing 96 firemen to carcinogenic fumes.^[12]
• September 9, 2002 – Rafiganj rail disaster. Over 130 die when a passenger train derails and falls into the Dhave River in Bihar because of sabotaged tracks.^[13]
• September 27, 2002 – Jamaica, NY: Three cars of a JFK Airtrain test train derail near Federal Circle. The train's lone occupant, a train operator testing the automated equipment, is crushed to death by the cement blocks inside the first car. The cement blocks were used to evenly distribute the weight inside the car, simulating the weight of customers when in passenger service. When the train derailed, the cement blocks collapsed onto the operator.
• October 13, 2002 – Benalla level crossing collision, Victoria, Australia. A heritage train hauled by K class steam locomotive K 183 collides with a B-Double truck that had failed to clear the level crossing. The impact causes the locomotive to derail, rolling onto its side, and the locomotive's tender to be forced into the locomotive's cab. Of the four people in the cab at the time of the collision, three are killed and one critically injured.^[14]
• November 6, 2002 – Nancy, France: A fire broke out in the front two carriages of an overnight sleeper train heading from Paris to Vienna. 12 passengers died of smoke inhalation, 9 were injured.^[15]
• December 21, 2002 – Kurnool train crash, 20 die when a passenger train derails in Andhra Pradesh, the result of sabotage.

[edit] 2003

• January 3, 2003 – Ghatnandur train crash, 18 people die in the collision of two trains at Ghatnandur in Maharashtra^[16]
• January 31, 2003 – Waterfall train disaster, Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia: The driver of a southbound passenger train suffers a heart attack and dies; the train speeds out of control and derails on a curve, overturning several cars and killing 6 passengers.
• February 2, 2003 – Dete train crash, Zimbabwe: Two trains collide, derailing and catching fire, killing over 40.^[17]
• February 3, 2003 – Broadmeadows train runaway & crash, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: An unmanned electric suburban train rolled away fom Broadmeadows Station and ran for 16.848 kilometres at speeds in excess of 100kmh through many pedestrian & level crossings before crashing into a stationary Diesel passenger train at Southern Cross Station derailing both. More through luck than anything else, no injuries resulted from this incident.^[18]
• February 18, 2003 – Daegu subway fire, South Korea: A mentally ill man starts a fire which engulfs two subway trains, killing some 200.
• March 1, 2003 – Chiayi, Taiwan: A brake system malfunction aboard a train on the Alishan Forest Railway causes the driver to lose control and the train plummets into a valley. 17 die, 173 injured.
• March 20, 2003 – Roermond, Netherlands: The driver of an NS passenger train has a heart attack, runs through a red signal, collides head-on with a freight train; the driver is killed, six passengers are seriously injured. The driver kept his foot on the dead man's switch during his heart attack and the slow speed of the train did not trigger the automatic safety system (one of its major design flaws), so the train did not stop.
• May 9, 2003 – Siófok, Hungary: A German tourist bus disregards the crossing signal. A fast train from Budapest to Nagykanizsa hits the bus. 33 tourists are killed.
• May 15, 2003 – Ladhowal train fire, A passenger train catches fire, 38 die near Ladhowal in the Punjab.^[19]
• June 3, 2003, Albacete train crash – 19 die in a train collision in Albacete, Southern Spain.^[20]
• June 11, 2003 – 6 die and 25 are injured when two passenger trains collide head-on near Schrozberg, Germany.^[21]
• June 20, 2003 – southern California, United States: A runaway Union Pacific freight train carrying lumber derails in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, California, destroying several homes and rupturing natural gas lines.^[22]
• June 23, 2003 – Vaibhavwadi rail disaster: 51 die when a special holiday train derails in Maharashtra, India.
• July 2, 2003 – Warangal train crash: 22 die when a train's brakes fail and it falls off a bridge into a crowded fish market in Warangal, India.
• July 7, 2003 – Between Evesham and Pershore, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom, a First Great Western train collides with a minibus on a level crossing, killing 3 people in the minibus.^[23]
• October 14 – at Yingge ,Taipei County ,Taiwan, a bus carrying students on a field trip collides with a south-bound train, killing 4 and injuring 42.

[edit] 2004

• February 18, 2004 – Nishapur train disaster, Iran: A train derails and catches fire, exploding hours later. At least 320 killed.
• March 11, 2004 – 2004 Madrid train bombings: 191 die when bombs are detonated on four commuter trains in Madrid.^[24]
• April 22, 2004 – Ryongchon disaster, North Korea: 161 killed and more than 1000 injured when an explosion takes place.
• February 15, 2004 – Tebay , Cumbria, England, United Kingdom: A sleeper (railroad tie) transporter trolley with defective brakes carrying 16 tonnes of rails became detached from a maintenance train south of Penrith and rolled down the falling gradient until it struck and killed 4 workmen in a team repairing the line at Tebay, between Oxenholme and Penrith. The owner of the sleeper transporter truck (a contractor working for Network Rail) is prosecuted. (Source- The Metro newspaper (UK), March 2006).
• April 16, 2004- Temelli, Turkey: An overnight Izmir to Ankara express hits a truck in Temelli, near Ankara, as it crossed a level-crossing. 7 to 10 children die and 2 to 5 more injured according to various reports at the time.^[25]
• June 17, 2004 - Karanjadi train crash, near Matsyagandha,Bombay, India: 20 die and 100 are injured when 10 carriages fall off a bridge during a monsoon-induced landslide.^[26]
• June 28, 2004 - Macdona, Texas, United States, near San Antonio: 3 die and 51 are injured when a Union Pacific Railroad train failed to stop at a signal and collided with another train, causing lethal chlorine gas to leak out of a train car. Two local residents living near the tracks were killed, as was the UP engineer. Several other residents were seriously injured by the gas. ^{[27] [28]}
• July 23, 2004 - An Istanbul-Ankara express with 230 people on board, and carriages overturned with derailed at Pamukova, Sakarya, Turkey, according to Turkish government official confirmed, killing at least 38, injuring another 80.^{[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]}
• August 4, 2004 – Near Tavsancil, Turkey: 6 die and 85 injured when a train driver falls asleep at the controls, goes through a red light and hits a stationary train head on.
• September 10, 2004 – Nosaby, near Kristianstad, Skåne, Sweden: A heavy truck is caught between the barriers at a level crossing, and is hit by a passenger train. Two aboard the train die, 47 are injured. The truck driver was found guilty of not attempting to move the vehicle away from the level crossing, and was sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment.
• October 23, 2004 – Nagaoka, Niigata: During the Chūetsu Earthquake Eight of ten cars of the Toki No. 325 train on the Jōetsu Shinkansen were derailed. None of the 154 passengers were killed or injured.
• November 3, 2004 – Washington, DC, United States: An out-of-service Washington Metro train rolls backwards into the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Station, and hits a revenue train servicing the station. No one dies, 20 people are injured. The National Transportation Safety Board [RAR-06/01] determined that the probable cause was the failure of the operator of the out-of-service train to apply the brakes to stop the train, likely due to his reduced alertness.
• November 6, 2004 – Ufton Nervet rail crash, England, United Kingdom: A High Speed Train hits a stationary car on a level crossing (an apparent suicide) at 100 mph and derails. Five train passengers and the drivers of both the train and the car die; over 100 passengers are injured.
• November 10, 2004 – Ankara, Turkey: 37 die when an express train hits a truck on a crossing near Ankara and derailed.
• November 14, 2004 – Ankara, Turkey: 15 die and 45 injured as another express train derails near Ankara.
• November 15, 2004 – Bundaberg Tilt Train Derailment, Berajondo (near Bundaberg), Queensland, Australia: The world's fastest narrow-gauge train derails at 108 km/h. Nobody is killed or permanently injured. The accident has been blamed on the train travelling too fast on a curved line.
• November 29, 2004 – Richland, Florida: Two CSX freight trains collide in early morning fog at Vitis Junction, killing one and injuring three.^[37]
• December 26, 2004 – Queen of the Sea train disaster, Telwatta, Sri Lanka: Approximately 1700 die in the world's worst rail disaster as a train is overwhelmed by a tsunami created by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

[edit] 2005

• January 6, 2005 – Graniteville train disaster, South Carolina, United States: Still under investigation by the NTSB; preliminary findings are that a turnout is left lined for a siding when it should have been lined for the mainline, causing a through Norfolk Southern freight train to collide with a parked train. 10 die, the engine crew, and nearby citizens who are caught in toxic gas cloud released from a damaged tank car.^[38]
• January 7, 2005 – A passenger train running from Verona to Bologna fails to stop at a red light and collides frontally with a freight train, near Crevalcore. There was thick fog at the time of the accident. 13 die.^[39]
• January 12, 2005 – Fort St. John, Winnipeg. 5 cars of a CN propane tanker train de-rail, causing a major evacuation.
• January 17, 2005 – Bangkok- only 140 injured passengers, resulting from a collision of 2 metro tains in the new MRT Blue-line.
• January 26, 2005 – Glendale train crash, California, United States: In what was originally thought to be a failed suicide attempt by an automobile driver, a southbound Metrolink double-deck commuter train collides with a vehicle that had been driven onto the tracks and derails; the derailed train strikes the northbound Metrolink train on the other track and a parked Union Pacific Railroad freight train on a siding. 11 people are killed, about 100 injured.
• February 3, 2005 – Nagpur level crossing disaster, India: A tractor-trailer carrying a wedding party is hit by a train. 55 wedding guests die.
• February 28, 2005 – A chlorine tanker train derails due to brake failure after they were wrongly set to "empty". The line was closed for 2 weeks.
• April 14, 2005 – Solon Springs, Wisconsin: 19 cars of a CN train derail and cause a forest fire.
• April 15, 2005 – in Bratislava-Petržalka railway station in the 11.00, the Austrian ÖBB railway company's international superexpress train IC 402 Gerlach Bratislava-Vienna hits a car - 1 member injured.
• April 21, 2005 – Vadodara rail collision, India: collision between freight and passenger express train; 18 are killed.

• April 25, 2005 – Amagasaki rail crash, Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan: A train derailed on sharp curve and smashed into an apartment building. 107 die, 549 are injured. Investigation showed the driver was speeding because of a slight delay.
• April 26, 2005 – Polgahawela level crossing collision, Sri Lanka: a bus tries to beat the train at a level crossing; at least 35 die, all on the bus.
• May 5, 2005 – Galt, Illinois, United States - A Union Pacific train derails and destroys the 140ft Transcontinental mainline bridge at Elkhorn creek.^[40]
• May 9, 2005 – Biaora, India: 8 die when a bullock cart is hit at a level-crossing in Biaora.
• May 19, 2005 – Bandar Lampung, Indonesia: A passenger train from Palembang crashes in to another passenger train at Bandar Lampung station and derails. 7 children die and just under 200 were injured. Human error was blamed for the accident and many of the dead were passengers clinging on to the sides of the Palembang train. The Indonesian government begins a crack down on people clinging on to the exteriors of trains as a means of travel.^[41][42]
• June 12, 2005 – between Uzunovo and Bogatishchevo, Russia: At 0710 a bomb explodes derailing the locomotive and first four passenger cars of the Grozny-Moscow train. Investigators found wires leading from the explosion site to a control panel and hideout about 50 m from the site.^[43]
• June 16, – Between Zubstov and Aristovo, Russia: 26 of 69 fuel oil tankers derail and leak. The train was going at 70 km/h. 641 metres of track were destroyed and the Volger River was briefly contaminated. The crash was blamed on poor track maintenance.
• June 21, 2005 – Revadim, Israel: A Beersheba-bound passenger train collides with a coal delivery truck near Revadim, about 40 kilometers (25 mi) south of Tel Aviv. At least 7 die and more than 200 are injured.^[44]
• June 30, 2005 – Indonesia: 2 die and 80 injured after a passenger train between Bogor and Jakata ploughed into the back of another train that was waiting in the station after a previous train had broken down outside the same station. Heavy rain was blamed for reducing visibility and most of the dead were seated on the train's roof.
• July 7, 2005 – London, England, United Kingdom: A series of four terrorist explosions occur on London's transport system killing 52, plus four suicide bombers. (See 7 July 2005 London bombings)
• July 13, 2005 – Ghotki rail crash, Ghotki, Pakistan: A chain reaction accident caused by one train missing a signal and colliding into another results in three trains crashed and over 150 people dead.
• July 14, 2005 – Gliwice, Poland crashed two truck train in the railway stations entry, one motorman killed, one motorman seriously wounded.
• July 26, 2005 – Vienna rail crash - passenger train of the ÖBB crashed of the cargo train, injuring 43.
• July 28, 2005 – Jaunpur train bombing, Janpur, India: A bomb explodes on a train in Uttar Pradesh, killing 13.
• July 31, 2005 – Shenyang, China: A train from Xi'an to Changchun passes a sabotaged railway signal and collides with a freight train, killing 5 passengers. Officials state that some wiring was stolen from a nearby signal box causing the signal to malfunction.^[45]
• August 5, 2005 – 2005 CN Rail Cheakamus River derailment, British Columbia: Nine cars of a CN Rail train derail into the Cheakamus River near Whistler British Columbia. 40,000 litres of caustic soda enter the river, killing over 500,000 fish and greatly damaging the surrounding ecosystem.^[46]
• September 17, 2005 – Chicago, Illinois, United States: A Metra commuter train traveling into Chicago derails, killing two and injuring 83.
• October 3, 2005 – Datia train crash, Datia, Madhya Pradesh, India: 16 die when a train travelling at six times the speed limit derails.^[47]
• October 23, 2005 – Bari province, Apulia region, Italy. Eurostar Italia train 9410, running from Taranto to Milan, is derailed between Acquaviva delle Fonti and Sannicandro di Bari when subsidence due to heavy rain causes a bridge to collapse under it, leaving two bare rails spanning the 12 m deep ravine. The train completes the crossing and comes to rest with its rear end suspended over the void. Nobody dies.^[48][49]
• October 29, 2005 – Veligonda rail disaster, Veligonda, Andhra Pradesh, India: At least 114 die and many more are injured when part of the track is swept away by a flood, causing a train to derail.^[50]
• November 23, 2005- At 6.30 am a train hit a truck on a level crossing between Tarsus and Mersin. 9 died and 18 were injured.^[51]
• 26 November 2005 – Moy near Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom. 9 are airlifted to hospital when a First ScotRail Class 170 DMU derails after hitting debris from a landslide caused by a local blizzard.
• November 29, 2005 – Maniema, Democratic Republic of Congo: Over 60 people are swept off the roof of a train by the beams of bridge in the Maniema province.^[52]
• December 25, 2005 – Yamagata Prefecture, Japan: All 6 cars of an express train derail 290 kilometers (180 mi) north of Tokyo; 5 die and more than 30 are injured. Strong winter winds are thought to be the cause.^[53]

[edit] 2006

[edit] January - June

• January 6, 2006 – Possum Point, Virginia, United Sates: - A broken CSX rail causes VRE Train #304 to derail at Possum Point. The last 3 cars of the 6 cars came off the track, but did not fall over. NTSB found that CSX failed to post speed restrictions and repair/replace the track in a timely fashion. There were only a few minor injuries.^[54]
• January 23, 2006 – Bioče train disaster: A passenger train crashes into a ravine near Podgorica, killing 46 and injuring 198.^[55]
• January 29, 2006 – A broken rail causes a derailment near Jhelum in the Punjab, killing 2 and injuring 29. Poor maintenance is officially being cited as cause of the accident, but sabotage was suspected by some authorities. The government inquiry later blamed defective and aging rails.^{[56][57][58][59][60][61][62]}
• February 16, 2006 – Serres, Greece: An inter-city train strikes a truck at a grade crossing near Serres and derails. A passenger and the truck driver die, and 20 on the train are injured.^{[citation needed]}
• February 17, 2006 – High winds derail six Canadian Pacific freight cars on the Saint-Laurent Railway Bridge between Montreal and Kahnawake, Quebec, leaving them dangling precariously over the water. It takes several days to remove the cars, disrupting rail service. [2] [3]
• March 10, 2006 – Hualien, Taiwan- 5 railroad workers die when hit by a southbound train.
• March 13, 2006 – Austin, Texas, United States: Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, the reigning Miss Deaf Texas, is killed by the snowplow on a 65-car Union Pacific freight train while trespassing on the tracks and text-messaging her parents. The train sounded its horn repeatedly and attempted to apply the emergency brakes but could not stop in time.^[63]
• April 5, 2006 – Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, United States: Patrick Deans, 18, High School football player, struck and killed by a CSX freight train while trespassing on the tracks. Two CSX trains were passing at the time. Patrick was able to escape being struck by one, but was struck by the other.^[64]
• April 15, 2006 – Gubuck, Java: 13 die and 26 are injured as two trains collide and wreckage falls into a paddy field. One Swiss man was among the injured. Human error by the driver was officially blamed.^[65][66]
• April 28, 2006 – Victoria, Australia: A V/Line VLocity high-speed train is derailed when struck by an 18 wheeler truck, killing 2 and injuring 28 on the Ballarat to Ararat line.^[67]
• May 25, 2006 – Lismore, Victoria: truck fails to stop at level crossing, derailing trains and causing massive pileup of wagons.^[68] Mist/fog is factor.
• June 12, 2006 – Netanya, Israel: A passenger train from Tel Aviv to Haifa derails after colliding with a lorry on a level crossing, killing 5 and injuring more than 100.^[69]
• June 14, 2006- Madera, California: 2 BNSF Railway Freight trains collide head on due to one of the trains running a red signal. One of the train's crews, the one that ran the red, was suspected to be high on cocaine. One of locomtives happened to be video recording, and the video is now widely seen on Youtube and related sites.

[edit] July - December

• July 3, 2006 – Valencia metro accident in Valencia, Spain: A Valencia Metro train derails after leaving Jesús station, killing 41 and injuring at least 47. The records of the train's black box show that the train passed a bend where the speed is limited to 40 km/h at 80 km/h.^[70][71]
• July 11, 2006 – A series of bomb attacks strikes commuter trains in Mumbai, India, killing at least 200.^[72]
• July 11, 2006 – A train collided with crowded bus at an unmanned railroad crossing at Akkelpur, Jaipurhat, Bangladesh, killing at least 33, another 30 are injured. Local official blamed for a bus was draged along for several yard by the train aftermath collision.
• July 14, 2006 – Luxembourg: A man sets a newspaper alight on board a train, resulting in a fire that injures 31, with 7 suffering critical injuries. The culprit is suspected to have a mental disorder.^[73]
• August 18, 2006 two carriages catch fire on the Chennai-Hyderabad Express near Secundrabad station
• August 21, 2006 – Egypt: Two trains collide in the town of Qalyoub, 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Cairo, killing 57 people and injuring 128.^[74]
• August 21, 2006 – Spain: A speeding eastbound RENFE intercity train derails in Villada, 40 km west of Palencia, leaving six people dead and 36 injured.^[75][76]
• August 27, 2006 – Zimbabwe: 5 die in a head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train 30 km south of Victoria Falls.^[77]
• September 4, 2006 – Egypt: A passenger train collides with a freight train north of Cairo, killing five and injuring 30.^[78][79]

• September 22, 2006 – Lathen, Emsland, Germany: 21 passengers and two maintenance workers die and many more are injured when a German Transrapid train collides with a maintenance of way vehicle on the system's test track near the Netherlands border. See also: 2006 Lathen maglev train accident.^{[80][81][82][83]}

• October 11, 2006 – 2006 Zoufftgen rail crash, near Metz, France: Passenger and freight trains collide head on at Zoufftgen, Moselle, close to the Luxembourg border. 5, including the drivers of both trains, die and 20 are injured.^[84] The accident is ascribed to human error in the controlling signalling centre in Luxembourg.
• October 17, 2006 – Rome Metro collision, Italy: Two metro trains collide at Rome's Vittorio Emanuele metro station, killing at least one person and injuring around 60.^[85]
• October 20, 2006 – New Brighton, PA - A Norfolk Southern unit train of tank cars containing ethanol derails on a bridge over the Beaver River. The resulting fire burns for days and forces some evacuations.^[86][87]
• November 9, 2006 – India- 40 die and 15 injured in a West Bengal rail accident.^{[citation needed]}
• November 9, 2006 – Baxter, California - Six cars of a runaway maintenance train derail, killing two of the crew.^[88][89]
• November 13, 2006 – South Africa - A Metrorail train smashes into a truck carrying farm workers at a level crossing near Somerset West, killing 27.^[90]
• November 20, 2006 – India- A bomb explodes on a train near Belacoba station in West Bengal, India, killing 7 and injuring 53. See 2006 West Bengal train disaster.^[91]
• November 20, 2006 - A train passes a red signal causing a head-on collision in Rotterdam. The passenger train was empty and none were injured, but there was extensive damage to the rail track and its overhead power lines^[92]
• November 21, 2006 – Arnhem, Netherlands - A train passes a red signal causing a head-on collision.^[93]

• November 30, 2006 – North Baltimore, OH - 15 cars carrying steel derailed when the train inadvertently switched to a side track. These cars then impacted a coal train on a parallel set of tracks, causing four of its cars to also derail. The PUCO blamed the accident on a chain hanging from one of the rolling stock, which engaged a switch handle on the tracks. The chain activated the switch handle, causing a shift of the rails. Three people who were in vehicles waiting for the train to pass were injured as a result of the accident, none seriously. ^[94][95]

• December 1, 2006 – Bihar, India - Bhágalpur in the Ganges a portion of the 150-year-old 'Ulta Pul' bridge being dismantled collapsed over a passing train of India's Eastern Railways, killing 35 and injuring 17.^[96][97]
• December 13, 2006 – Avio, Italy, a freight train operated by Trenitalia ignores a red signal and crashes on a freight train of the private company Rail Traction Company. Two Trenitalia engineers die in the violent crash^[98]

• In the industrial town of Cuautitlan outside Mexico city, 24 people lost lives on 28 December when their bus collided with a 36-wagon freight train. Another 12 passengers were hurt. Police arrested the bus driver who reportedly tried to flee the scene.

[edit] 2007

• January 4, 2007 – Hatay Province, Turkey: A freight train smashes into a truck carrying farm workers at a railroad crossing in Hatay Province, Turkey, killing 7 and injuring 19.^[99]
• January 10, 2007 – Woburn, MA - A MBTA Commuter train crashes into a work crew, killing two members of the crew and injuring 3 other crew members. Additionally 40 passengers on the train were also injured
• January 16, 2007 – Central Java, Indonesia: The Senja Bengawan train derails, leading to five fatalities.^[100]
• February 6, 2007 – Hungary: Train collision between Almásfüzítő and Komárom stations. An EU Regio passenger train hit the end of a freight with speed of 101 km/h. The driver of the passenger train has died, 4 passengers injured.
• February 19, 2007 – 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings Deewana, near Panipat, Haryana State, India: At least 68 die in a suspected bomb blast on the Delhi-Attari Special train (the "Friendship Express") near Deewana, about 80 km north of Delhi, at around 23:55 local time.^[101][102]

• February 23, 2007 – Grayrigg rail crash, United Kingdom: A Virgin trains Pendolino service from London Euston to Glasgow Central derails at Grayrigg Cottage near Oxenholme, Cumbria. One woman dies. A set of points is thought to be the cause of the accident; the West Coast Main Line is closed for several days.^[103]
• February 28, 2007 – A wind blows 10 passenger rail cars off the track near Turfan, China, killing 3 passengers and seriously injuring 2 others.^[104][105]
• March 6, 2007 – A freight train collide with Diivarasekwa-Mbare regular route bus at rail crossing, outskirt of Harare, Zimbabwe, killing 34, another 30 are injured.
• April 16, 2007 – A passenger train crashes into a minibus carrying local council officials at an unmanned rail crossing in southern India, killing 11 and injuring another 12 in the vehicle. Seven of the injured were hospitalized in serious condition. The vehicle was carrying 23 people.
• June 5, 2007 – Kerang train crash, Victoria, Australia. A B-Double truck collided with a Melbourne-bound passenger train 6 kilometres north of Kerang at the Murray Valley Highway level crossing, killing 11 rail passengers and injuring 23.
• June 15, 2007 – Two trains collided on the Italian island of Sardinia, killing 3.^[106]
• July 4, 2007 – A rail worker was killed by train numbered D1 near Jialing railway station. He only saw the up train numbered T48 but did not see the down train numbered D1 from the other direction.
• July 16-17, 2007 – Two Amtrak Silver Star trains on the Tampa to Miami route crash into automobiles and derail in two separate instances, one in Lakeland and one in Plant City. Four people were killed in the first wreck; one was killed in the second accident. The casualties were in the cars that collided with the trains; nobody on either train was seriously injured.^[107]
• July 16, 2007 – 15 carriages from a train carrying yellow phosphor derail and catch fire, releasing toxic fumes affecting 14 villages in a 90 km² area.^[108]
• July 30 - Train crash in Caracas subway leaves 1 dead, 6 injured. Two subway trains collide in Venezuela's capital. The accident took place in a tunnel near the Plaza Sucre station in western Caracas, Civil Protection chief Antonio Rivero said. Subways are generally equipped with ATP and ATC so such an accident is hard to explain.
• August 1, 2007 – Benaleka, Kasai-Occidental province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A passenger train derails killing about 100 people and injuring more than 200 others, many riding on the roof.^[109][110]
• August 7, 2007 – 32 passengers injured as Jodhpur-Howrah Express derails near Juhi Bridge, Kanpur, India.
• August 24, 2007 – Two persons died, five are injured when a locomotive and a freight train collide near Čortanovci, Serbia.^[111]
• August 30, 2007 – 8 passengers killed and 80 injured when a commuter train collides with an empty train at Nova Iguaçu, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[112]
• October 3, 2007 – Moving over the CSX east coast main line, the Amtrak Silver Meteor collided into a tractor-trailer after it attempted to cross a grade crossing in Port Wentworth, GA. No serious injuries were reported. ^[113]
• October 13, 2007 – 4 killed, over 50 injured when rear carriages of Probhati Express derails near Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• October 10, 2007 – A CSX train carrying ethanol and butane derails in Painesville and Painesville Township, Ohio, causing an evacuation and fire that took several days to burn out.^[114][115]
• October 22, 2007 – Train carrying Gasoline derails in Middlebury, Vermont causing an evacuation. At least one car caught fire and several others were leaking gasoline into Otter Creek (Vermont).^[116]
• October 29, 2007 – BNSF Railway two-train derailment in Clara City, Minnesota; A hydrochloric acid spill, prompting the evacuation of about 350 people.^[117]
• November 3, 2007 – 2 KTX trains collided inside Busan Station, with no casualties.^[118]
• November 9, 2007 – CSX train derailment in District of Columbia dumps 10 rail cars of coal in the Anacostia River. Improperly secured, free-rolling cut of hoppers from Bennington Yard rolls onto out-of-service bridge, which collapses.^[119]
• November 30, 2007 – Amtrak train No. 371, the Pere Marquette, strikes last car of COFC freight train on Norfolk Southern, ex-PRR line, near 65th Street in Chicago. Two people in the cab of P-42DC No. 8 are injured, and many passengers shaken up, including three critical, but crumple zone design of locomotive is effective and prevents worse results. Engineer was running approximately 40 mph in a 15 mph zone.
• December 19, 2007 – Mehrabpur train derailment, Mehrabpur, Pakistan: A crowded passenger express train derails down an embankment 200km north-east of Karachi at about 2:20 am PST, killing 35 people and injuring about 269, 10 critically.

[edit] 2008

• January 23, 2008 – When passenger train numbered D59 high-speed train Beijing-Qingdao plunged into a state owned construction zone where 16th Group workers started safety maintenance of a stretch track at Fangzi, Weifang, Shandong, China, killing 18 workers, injuring another nine.
• January 25, 2008 – Sunset Limited Train 1 collided with a semi truck in north-east Harris County, Texas. The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
• January 27, 2008 – A Pamukkale Express bound for Denizli, with 436 passengers on board derailed after two cars rolled over at Kutahya due to ice on the tracks in western Turkey, killing nine, and injuring another 50.

• February 1, 2008 – East Midlands Connect service from Nottingham to Norwich involved in an incident at Barrow-on-Soar. The train hit a footbridge that was in its path, after a road vehicle had struck and damaged the bridge causing it to be foul of the line. Six passengers were on board the service and the driver had to be cut free from the driving cab.^[120]

• February 4, 2008 – According to Chinese press report, A 17 car freight train derailed, crushing several houses at Qujing, Kunming-Guizhou Line, Yunnan, China, killing at least six.
• February 5, 2008. – Two people died and 1 was injured in a so-called 'fatal chain reaction accident' at a fog-obscured rail crossing in Boswell, about 30 miles west of Lafayette, Indiana. The crash involved 6 vehicles and a 50 car train. The rural crossing has seen 5 other crashes, 2 of which were fatal, since 1984. A major FRA safety review is now planned for this accident hot-spot. The 2 other fatalities were on- October 10, 1984 and February 7, 1986 between a train and a truck, in which both truck drivers and the truck's passenger in the 1984 crash died.^[121][122]
• February 29, 2008. – Nine people became victims of fire in Bulgarian State Railways' train No.2637. The night train was travelling from Sofia to the north-eastern town of Kardam in Dobrich region. The fire started in a couchette carriage, which had 35 people in it at the time, and then spread to a sleeping coach with 27 people. It broke out as the train was entering the town of Cherven bryag, around midnight, and took more than three hours to extinguish. Among the victims of the fire was the Rasho Rashev, the director of Bulgaria's National Archaeological Institute. Bulgarian government declared March 5 a day of mourning in memory of the victims of the deadly fire.^[123][124]
• March 1 - containers blown off train by wind between Tring and Cheddington; also Shap ^[125]
• March 9, 2008 – in the Dolores level crossing accident a Mar de Ajó-Buenos Aires regular route bus disregards the National Highway Route 2's crossing signal, where Buenos Aires-Mar del Plata nightly express train with 250 passenger onboard, where hit the bus at El Rápido Argentino line, outskirt of Dolores, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 26, another 60 injured.^{[126] [127]}
• March 25, 2008 – Canton, MA - A MBTA train crashes into a runaway box car at Canton Junction station injuring 150 people onboard.
• April 16, 2008 – According to ATN Bangla television report, a Dinajpur-Dhaka Ekoto Express train collided with a local bus on a level crossing at outskirt of Kalihati, Tangail, Bangladesh, killing 18 and injuring 30.
• April 26, 2008 – Collision between a InterCityExpress train and a herd of sheep at the mouth of the German longest rail tunnel, 19 of the train's 135 passengers being lightly injured. Four people suffered fractures.
• April 28, 2008 – 2008 China Railway train T195 accident It has been reported that train No.T195 carrying approximately 1200 passengers from Beijing to Qingdao derailed at approximately 4:38am and was then hit by the No.5034 (Yantai to Xuzhou) passenger train at approximately 4:41am, also with approximately 1200 passengers aboard. The incident occurred at a section of temporary detour tracks Zhoucun-Wangcun, Hejiacun, on the outskirts of Zibo, Shandong, China, while the original tracks were being upgraded. The detour tracks had a lower speed limit of 80km/h, but the speed limit failed to be delivered to T195's operation monitor system or driver, and the driver was following the regular speed limit, so T195 was running at the regular speed of 131km/h before it derailed. It was reported that fourteen passenger cars had been crushed, 72 people had been killed and 416 injured.
• May 4, 2008 – According to Thai National Railroad and MCOT television network report, a Sungai Kolok-Pattaluna passenger train carrying 400 passengers onboard derailed at outskirts of Sungai Kolok, Songkhla, Thailand, killing one and injuring 30.
• May 5, 2008 – According to Sudanese newspaper Al-Ray al-Am web site report, a 20 car freight train carrying illegal passengers, and including Kordofan University students derailed at outskirts of Al-Foula, South Kordofan, Sudan, killing 14 and injuring 28. ^[128]
• May 10, 2008 – Romanian National Railway Company (CFR) passenger train No 1661 going from Bucharest to Iasi derailed near station Valea Calugareasca (Prahova county), around 16:55 local time (EET) while travelling at a speed of 68 km/h. There was a maximum speed limit on that sector of 70 km/h. A 17 year old girl died and 4 other persons were injured. The locomotive and 3 train cars were thrown off the lines. 2 of the cars were severely damaged. The cause of the accident is supposed to be a defective switch.
• May 14, 2008 – According to ATN Bangla television report, a Upaban Express train rammed into the rear of Noakhali Express train at Ashuganj station, Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh, killing 8, another injuring are 100.

• May 16, 2008 ottumwa, Iowa. A local man is killed after being struck by a train at a level crossing, At least six people had seen the pedestrian on one track at around 5 p.m., waiting for a train on the other track to pass. They said he apparently didn’t see the second train coming up behind him, traveling along the track on which he stood.
• May 28, 2008 – Boston MBTA Green Line D Train crashed into the rear of another train on the same line in Newton, Massachusetts between Woodland and Waban "T" stops

[edit] See also

• List of train accidents by death toll
• List of road accidents - includes level crossing accidents.
• List of British rail accidents
• Category:Indian railway accidents
• List of Russian rail accidents
• Years in rail transport
• 2006 in rail transport
• Tram accident

[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

[edit] References

• Browder, Cullen; Mason, Scott and LaGrone, Paul; WRAL (August 2, 2005), Two Dead After Amtrak Train Hits Dump Truck. Retrieved August 3, 2005.
• Casper Star-Tribune (June 22, 2005), BP Amoco Timeline. Retrieved June 22, 2005.
• CBS, (June 21, 2005), Deadly Train-Truck Crash In Israel. Retrieved August 13, 2005.
• BBC: Europe's history of rail disasters
• BBC: World's worst rail disasters
• Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad accidents. Retrieved January 27, 2005.
• (May 2002), CSX recognizes human error, Trains Magazine, p. 22.
• Edinburgh Evening News (August 17, 2005) Railway worker killed in Channel Tunnel link blaze. Retrieved August 17, 2005.
• Holbrook, Stewart Hall, The Story of American Railroads, Bonanza Books, New York, 1947, ISBN 0-517-00100-4.
• IOL Asia (May 19, 2005), Hundreds injured in train accident. Retrieved May 20, 2005.
• Kathimerini, English Edition (August 2, 2005), Truckdriver killed after collision on railroad crossing near Kilkis. Retrieved August 3, 2005.

• Molloy, Tim; Associated Press (January 26, 2005) Suicide try triggers California commuter rail tragedy, police say. Retrieved January 26, 2005.
• National Transportation Safety Board, 2003, [4] Derailment of Amtrak Auto Train PO52-18 on the CSXT Railroad near Crescent City, Florida, April 18, 2002. Railroad Accident Report NTSB/RAR 03-02. Washington, DC.
• Pravda (June 16, 2005), Train carrying petroleum derailed not far from Moscow. Retrieved June 16, 2005.
• The Railway Magazine, Network Rail found guilty over Hatfield crash, but managers are acquitted, November 2005, King's Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London, SE1 9LS, pages 13-15.

• Reuters UK (August 16, 2005), One feared dead in rail tunnel fire in south. Retrieved August 17, 2005.
• RIA Novosti (June 16, 2005), BACKGROUND - Fuel oil spreads after a train derails in the Tver Region. Consequences still vague. Retrieved June 16, 2005.
• RIA Novosti (June 13, 2005), Railroad traffic restored. Retrieved June 13, 2005. Details bomb on Russian railroad, June 12.
• RIA Novosti (June 16, 2005), URGENT: Fuel oil in Volga after railroad accident near Rzhev, deputy prosecutor. Retrieved June 16, 2005.
• (May 2005), "Scanner - Rail at fault?", Trains Magazine, p. 21.
• Train wrecks in India
• Trains NewsWire (August 1, 2005), Chinese passenger train derailment kills 5. Retrieved August 3, 2005.
• Trains News Wire (May 4, 2005), Illinois derailment closes UP Overland Route main line. Retrieved May 5, 2005.
• USA Today, February 17, 2006 Train derailment kills 2, page 5A.
• Washington Post, March 16, 2006 Off the Track in Manassas, page B-3.
• Withers, Bob, The President Travels by Train - Politics and Pullmans, TLC Publishing Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia, 1996, ISBN 1-883089-17-4.
• Fox Valley tied to tragic train wrecks, The Herald News Online, March 20, 1999 (ChicagoSuburbanNews.com). Retrieved May 31, 2005.
• United States National Transportation Safety Board Publications

[edit] Numbered References