List of rail accidents (1960–1969)

This is a list of rail accidents from 1960 to 1969.

1960s

1960

• February 26, 1960 – Bogantungan, Queensland, Australia. The eastbound Midlander passenger train crashed into the flooded Medway Creek when the bridge collapsed due to damage caused by floods. Seven people die and 43 are injured.
• March 1, 1960 – Rosedale, California, United States: An Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway passenger train derails after striking a heavy tanker truck carrying a large quantity of crude oil at a grade crossing. The wreckage immediately ignites and 14 people perish in the inferno.
• May 15, 1960 – Leipzig, East Germany: Two local trains collide in Leipzig central station owing to a dispatcher error. 54 people die, 200 are injured.^[1]
• November 16, 1960 – Stéblová train disaster, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic): 118 people are killed and 110 injured in a head-on collision.
• November 29, 1960 – Lamont, Alberta, Canada: CN train collides with a school bus at a level crossing on the edge of town, killing 17 students.^[2]

1961

• March 11, 1961 - 27 killed, 15 injured when a south-bound passenger train (#3001 Diesel Limited Express) smashed into a truck carrying soldiers at level crossing between Linfengyin (林鳳營) and Longtien (隆田), Tainan^[3]
• July 8, 1961 - 48 killed, 28 injured when a south-bound passenger train (#11 Limited Express) smashed into a bus at level crossing in Minxong (民雄), Chiayi.^[4]
• July 16, 1961 – Singleton Bank rail crash: The 8:50 diesel multiple unit train from Colne to Fleetwood collided with the rear of a ballast train at about 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) near Weeton, Lancashire, England. Seven were killed (the driver and six passengers) and 116 were injured.^[5]
• August 27, 1961 – Vrbno pod Pradědem, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic): Three freight carriages which ran away during shunting collide with a passenger train. 19 people killed, 17 injured.
• October 26, 1961 – Two cars of a commuter train run by Oita Traffic Company (Oita Kotsu) are hit by a mudslide after heavy rain at Ōita, eastern Kyūshū, Japan, killing 31 people and injuring another 36. Most of the passengers are senior high school students.
• December 14, 1961 – Auburn, Colorado, United States: The Union Pacific passenger train "City of Denver" en 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]
• December 23, 1961 – Fiumarella rail disaster: a Cosenza–Catanzaro train derails on a bridge near Catanzaro, Italy. 70 people die and 27 are injured.^[7]

1962

• January 8, 1962 – Harmelen, The Netherlands: The Harmelen train disaster, the worst railway accident in the history of The Netherlands, occurs when Utrecht - Rotterdam express train driver misses a warning signal in fog and passes a red signal to collide nearly head-on with another passenger train from Rotterdam to Amsterdam. 91 people (including both drivers) die, 54 are injured of which 2 lost their lives while in hospital.^[8]
• March 3, 1962 – Castel Bolognese train disaster. The Bari–Milan train derails while entering the station of Castel Bolognese, Ravenna, Italy, killing 13 and injuring 80.^[7]
• May 3, 1962 – Mikawashima train crash; a 6-car commuter train bound for Toride collides with a derailed freight train, and is then hit head on by another train bound for Ueno at Mikawashiima station, Jōban Line, downtown Tokyo, Japan, killing 160 people and injuring another 296.
• May 31, 1962 – Voghera train crash; a freight train collides with a passenger train at Voghera railway station, Lombardy, Italy, killing 63 and injuring 40.^[7]
• June 11, 1962 – Villa Soldati level crossing tragedy : 42 people are killed and 88 are injured, when a bus is hit by an express train in Villa Soldati in southwest Buenos Aires.
• July 23, 1962 – Velars-sur-Ouche, Bourgogne, France: A Paris–Marseille express train derailed, killing at least 39 people and injuring another 49.^[9]
• August 17, 1962 – Tiszatenyő, Hungary: Fast train no. 6601 derails at the tight curve after the station owing to speeding, the locomotive falls down from the embankment, killing the two firemen.
• October 9, 1962 – Moszczenica (near Piotrków Trybunalski): express Warsaw–Budapest slams into derailed cars of regional express Gliwice–Warsaw. Official death toll is 34 people killed and 67 injured, but the real toll is probably far higher.^[10]
• December 26 – Coppenhall Junction rail crash Signal passed at danger, 18 people killed.

1963

• January 4, 1963 – An express train rams into rear of standing passenger train, crashing into eight passenger cars which explode and catch fire at Meghnagar, Madhya Pradesh, India. At least 38 people confirmed dead and injuring 90.
• February 1, 1963 – Double-headed train rams into a passenger train, explodes and catches fire at Nogales, Veracruz, Mexico, killing 17 people and injuring 63.
• July 13, 1963 – A Surabaya-Kertosono passenger train derails due to switching of rail at Surabaya, Java, Indonesia, killing at least 24 people and injuring 40.
• August 2, 1963 – A suburban train derails on safety catch point at Piedras, Canelones, Uruguay, killing 40 people and injuring 70.
• November 9, 1963 – Yokohama rail crash: a twelve car Yokosuka-Tokyo commuter train collides with three cars of a freight train which had derailed, and hits head on the Tokyo-Zushi commuter train during slow speed, and crushing four passenger cars at Tsurumi–Shinkoyasu, Yokosuka and Tokaido Line, Yokohama, Japan, killing at least 161 people, another 120 are injured.
• December 24, 1963 – Paládicspuszta, Szolnok, Hungary: A passenger train hits a freight train. 45 killed, 34 injured.

1964

• January 4, 1964 – A commuter train collided with standing passenger train at Jajinci, Voždovac, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia, killing at least 66 people, another injured at least 200.
• February 1, 1964 – Altamirano rail disaster - near Buenos Aires, Argentina: A Mar del Plata-Buenos Aires Firefly Express with 1,040 passengers on board collided head-on with a freight train, killing at least seventy people.
• March 18, 1964 – Mirigama train crash, Sri Lanka: A Sri Lankan commuter train derails at high speed, killing more than 60 people.
• July 21, 1964 – Passenger train derailed at Custoias, Portugal, killing 94 people.
• September 5, 1964 – According to TT news agency report, an eight cars of North Arrow Express derailed at Alby station, near Ånge Sweden, killing 10 people and injuring 40.
• November 1, 1964 – At Langhagen, East Germany, a steam locomotive with a gravel car ignored a red signal and crashed into a buffer-stop. The first car behind the locomotive, with a weight of 90 tons, was pressed up almost perpendicularly by the force of the impact. At the same time the express train Berlin-Rostock, just having left Langhagen station, passed by, when unfortunately the perpendicularly standing gravel car tilted and bored itself into the fourth car of the express train, killing 44 people and injuring 70.
• December 17, 1964 – At Dhanuskodi, Southern Tamil Nadu, a passenger train (the No.653 Rameswaram to Dhanuskodi) was fully submerged by sea water due to a heavy storm and tidal waves nearly 20m in height. More than 115 passengers were travelling on this train.

1965

• February 26, 1965 – A 500-ton freight train head-on collided with a Khartoum – Port Sudan passenger train at Miseiktab, River Nile, Sudan, at least 100 people killed and injuring 29.
• April 3, 1965 – State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: A local passenger train head-on collided with a freight train between in Tres Rio-Barra do Pirai and killing at least 40 people.
• August 28, 1965 – Pont D'hery, Franche-Comté, France: A Milan-Paris nightly Lombardy Express head-on collided with another passenger train, killing 12 people and injuring 28.
• September 21, 1965 – Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic): A passenger train collided with a freight train at Hloubětín station. 14 people killed, 70 injured.
• October 4, 1965 – A commuter local train carrying 850 passenger is derailed at outskirt of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, killing at least 150 people, another 700 are injured.
• December 8, 1965 – A Yangon–Mandalay nightly express train plowed into a standing passenger train, with killing 80 people and injuring 100 in Toungoo, Bago Division, Burma.^[11]
• December 18, 1965 – Aldehuela de la Bóveda, Spain: An international passenger train collided with a local passenger train at Villar de los Álamos station. Over 30 people killed, over 60 severely injured.
• December 29, 1965 – Freight trains from Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey crashed in Laurel Run, Pennsylvania.

1966

• January 2, 1966 – The last two cars of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad's South Wind derail near Franklin, Kentucky, injuring 19 of an estimated 400 passengers on board. The last car, a private coach owned by Robert T. Hogan of Oak Park, Illinois, turns over on its side, injuring him and several members of his family, while passengers in the next coach, which derails but stays upright, were injured by baggage stored overhead striking them in the head and back.^[12]
• February 9, 1966 – Two coaches of a London-bound commuter train burst into flame as the train moved at 70 miles an hour, with scores of passengers jumping from the blazing cars which was finally stopped near Radlett, 20 miles north of London. Thirty-three persons, many of them stretcher cases with burns, were taken to hospitals. Others were treated beside the tracks where the train halted after passengers pulled the emergency cord. Rescue officials praised the quick action of John Allam, chief test pilot for the nearby Handley-Page Aircraft plant, in sounding an alarm that brought firemen and ambulances to the scene within minutes. He also notified a signalman up the line to halt following trains.^[13]
• February 16, 1966 – Passenger train and a train carrying coal collide near Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia and burst into flames, killing 33.
• May 2, 1966 – Deštnice, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic): A train collides with a lorry. 10 people killed, 37 injured.
• July 15, 1966 – Kingham, Oxfordshire. A train derails due to the movement of a switch blade on a set of points. The switch blade was able to move because bolts had been removed and the blade had not been clamped.^[14]
• 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.

1967

• May 21, 1967 – Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India: A Bangalore-Cochin express train ploughed into an obstruction on the line, following to crashed, at least 40 killed and 50 injured.
• July 6, 1967 – Langenweddingen level crossing disaster, 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 people killed, of which 44 are children on a holiday transit. After the accident, barrier-dependent train signalling was introduced on the DR network.
• July 31, 1967 – Thirsk rail crash (1967), an express train from King's Cross to Edinburgh collides at speed with the wreckage of a derailed freight train. Seven killed and 45 injured, 15 seriously.^[15][16]
• 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.
• October 4, 1967 – Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher, Belgium : 11 people are killed as 3 trains collide.
• November 5, 1967 – Hither Green rail crash, a broken rail causes a derailment resulting in 49 human deaths.

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 collided head-on with a freight train. 43 people killed, 60 injured.^[17]

1969

• January 4, 1969 – Marden rail crash, a passenger train runs into the back of a parcels train after passing a signal at danger. Four people killed, eleven injured.
• January 31, 1969 – Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea: An express train rammed into a rear of another passenger train and killing 41 people.
• February 7, 1969 – Violet Town railway disaster, Australia: a head-on collision on a single line, no ATP; 9 people killed
• January 31, 1969 – Herend, Hungary: a passenger express train crashed into a military train. Eleven people are killed and 39 injured.
• March 21, 1969 – Caveiras, Santa Catarina, Brazil: An overcrowded passenger train crashed and broke down and killing fifteen people, another injuring 200.
• May 1, 1969 – Chomakovtsi, Bulgaria: About 3 am the rear car of overcrowded narrow-gauge night passenger train from Cherven bryag to Oryahovo derails and turns over near Chomakovtsi. The car remains coupled to the train and has been dragged along the track lying on its right side. The passengers fall from the windows and are literally minced between the track and car body. More than hundred meters of the track were covered with blood and parts of human bodies. 29 passengers were killed, 38 severely injured, most of them died afterwards, others remained disabled for life. This is the worst railway accident in the history of Bulgarian Railways.
• May 7, 1969 – a passenger train derails at Morpeth, Northumberland due to excessive speed on an acute curve. Six people killed and 21 injured.
• June 21, 1969 – A six passenger cars of express crashed by left a tracks and roared into Magari River and killing 70 people and injuring 130 in Muhammadabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• July 28, 1969 – Bezděčín, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic): A passenger train collided with a bus at level crossing, killing 23 people and injuring 29.
• August 20, 1969 – Darien, Connecticut: Two New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad electric multiple units collide head-on along the single-track New Canaan Branch. Three crew and one passenger die, due to crew's disregard of train orders.^[18]
• 1969 - Riverdale, Illinois: an Illinois Central coal train was speeding down the mainline outside of Riverdale, Illinois. Ahead of this coal train was a string of autoracks being pulled by a switcher. Before the crash though, I believe that the coal train became a runaway and slammed into the rear of the autoracks, throwing twelve of them aside before the lead loco came to rest under the thirteenth one. Around 100 coal cars jackknifed into a space of about one city block, a bridge was collapsed in the wreck, the lead unit which was a U-Boat was totally destroyed, the other two locos which were geeps were returned to service. The crew members on the coal train died and were later found under all of the coal that was piled up where the crash initally began

See also

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

References

External links

• Railroad train wrecks 1907-2007