December1830 – Maryland, United States: On the Baltimore & Ohio the driver of a crowded horse-drawn coach falls from his seat and is killed beneath the wheels, the first fatal accident on a railroad in the US.
December 241841 – Sonning cutting, England: Eight passengers killed and seventeen injured when a Paddington to Bristol train ran into a landslide caused by heavy rain. The extent of the casualties in this accident called into question the practice of mixing passenger and freight wagons in fast trains.
May 8, 1842 – MeudonFrance During the inauguration ceremonies of the Paris to Saint-Germain railroad, a returning train caught fire at Meudon. 55 passengers were killed trapped in the carriages, including the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. This led to the abandonment of the obnoxious practice of locking passenger in their carriages in France.
1850s
May 61853 – Norwalk, Connecticut, United States: First major U.S. railroad disaster occurs when an engineer neglects to check for open drawbridge signal. The locomotive and four and one half cars ran through the open drawbridge and plunged into the Norwalk River. Forty-six passengers were crushed to death or drowned and approximately thirty were severly wounded.
November 11855 – Gasconade Bridge train disaster, St. Louis, Missouri, United States: With more than 600 passengers aboard the Pacific Railroad excursion train celebrating the railway line's opening, outside St. Louis, Missouri the bridge collapsed and the locomotive plus 12 of the 13 attached cars plunged into the Gasconade River. Over 30 people died and hundreds were seriously injured.
September 101874 – Norwich (Norfolk), United Kingdom: 25 people were killed when a communication error caused a mail train and an express passenger train to meet in a head-on collision on a single-line section. The accident led directly to the introduction of automatic control systems to manage traffic on single-track railways.
April 19, 1891 – Kipton, Ohio, United States: A passenger train and a freight train collide just east of the Kipton depot, 8 dead. This accident was attributed to one of the engineers' watches having stopped and being four minutes behind, and led to the adoption of quality control standards for railroad-grade watches in the United States.
Easter Monday, April 61896 – Llanberis, Wales: On the opening day of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, locomotive No. 1 "L.A.D.A.S." ran away and derailed before plummetting down a steep slope where it was destroyed. The driver and fireman jumped clear and the carriages were stopped by the guard. One passenger jumped off the moving train and fell beneath the wheels. He later died from his injuries. The line then closed for over a year before re-opening on 19th April 1897.
August1903 – Paris Metro train fire, France: electric fire at the Paris Métro Couronnes station, 84 killed. This led to the design of low-voltage control circuit for electric multiple-unit cars and better lighting in the Métro stations.
September 151907, Canaan, New Hampshire, United States: Quebec to Boston wreck; 25 people killed, with as many seriously injured. The southbound Quebec express, heavily loaded with passengers returning from the Sherbrooke Fair, collided head-on with a northbound Boston & Maine Railroad freight train. The accident, 4 miles north of Canaan Station, was "due to a mistake in train dispatcher's orders."
1912 – A train ran into a still passenger train in Malmslätt causing 22 deaths and 12 injuries.
May 221915 – In the Quintinshill rail crash, four trains including a troop train collide causing 227 fatalities and injuring 246 people at Quintinshill, Gretna Green, Scotland; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.
Thanksgiving, 1928 – Montezuma, Georgia, United States: a car stalled on the tracks kills a Columbus, Georgia, woman who, after taking her young niece to safety, returns to help her grandmother and grandfather when the train hits the car, killing all three.
December 221939 – Genthin, Germany: collision when train D180 drove into previous delayed and overcrowded train D10 from Berlin to Cologne. 278 killed, 453 injured. One of the worst train accidents in Germany.
July 19, 1941 - a German train transporting ammunition exploded in Krylbo. It is unknown whether it was an accident or a sabotage.
December 271942 – Almonte, Ontario, Canada: 36 people are killed and over 200 injured when a passenger train running late was struck from behind by a troop train.
July 61944 – Troop train crash near Jellico, Tennessee, United States: Passenger train derails due to excessive speed on defective track. 35 killed, 99 injured; all soldiers in U.S. Army en route to deployment.
April 271953 – Red Desert, Wyoming, United States: Union Pacific Railroad train No. 4005 derails at 50 mph when a section gang opens a switch directly in front of the speeding train. The locomotive, tender, and first 18 cars derail, and the engineer and firemen are killed instantly; the front brakemen, however, survives.
March 151957 – near Kuurila, Finland: Steam-hauled overnight passenger train collides head-on with DMU express train. 26 were killed and 60 injured in the nation's worst peace-time train crash.
September 291957 – An express train crashes into an oil train at Montgomery, West Pakistan. 250 killed.
December 61957 – Lewisham train crash, England: A steam train passes a red signal in the fog and ploughs into the back of an electric train. The crash also destroyed a support column of a railway bridge, causing parts of the bridge to collapse onto the wreck, 90 people are killed.
May 31962 – Tokyo, Japan: three-train collision at Mikawashima Station, 160 killed.
1963 – Geurie crossing loop collision: A train pulled by a 265-tonne Beyer-Garrett 6003 locomotive in loop was standing foul of main line, causing collision with NSWGR C38 class No.3817. Both locos were written off. No track circuiting.
July 61967 – Langenweddingen, East Germany near Magdeburg: ca. 140 killed, mainly children. Train collides with lorry carrying 15,000 litres of light petrol.
August 11980 – Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland: A train crashes into a siding at 70mph on the main Dublin - Cork line resulting in 18 deaths and 62 injured. This remains Ireland's worst transportation disaster.
September 191986 – Colwich rail crash, Rugeley, Staffordshire, England: High speed collision when one train fails to stop in time at a red signal, and obstructs a junction. Despite two locomotives being totally destroyed, the only death was one of the drivers.
May 41989 – 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.
August 281991 – New York, New York: five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a southbound No. 4 train derails going over a switch just north of Union Square.
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 KVBautomatic train control system which will detect improper train handling.
1992
June 301992 – 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 21,000 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 121992 – just outside Newport News, Virginia, United States: Amtrak'sColonial 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.
March 171993 – near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States: An Amtrak passenger train traveling at 60 mph strikes a gasoline tanker truck that has stopped at a grade crossing, causing the tanker to explode. Miraculously, the engineer survives (one of only two to survive a collision with a gasoline tanker), though 6 people (including the truck driver) are killed and 12 injured.
September 221993 – Big Bayou Canot train disaster, Alabama, United States: A towboat with a barge lash-up, lost up a supposedly non-navigable estuary off of the Mobile River, collides with a piling and causes a bridge to shift out of alignment, creating a kink in the rails. Mere minutes later, Amtrak's eastbound 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 281995 - Baku, Azerbaijan – World's deadliest metro disaster. In Baku, an underground metro train catches fire during Saturday evening rush hour. 337 people are killed.
February 16, 1996 – a MARC commuter train bound for Washington Union Station collided with outgoing Amtrak train no. 29. the Capitol Limited, and erupted in flames on a snow-swept stretch of track in Silver Spring, Maryland. The crash left 11 people dead aboard the MARC train. Three died of injuries suffered in the impact, but the rest were killed by smoke and flames. The MARC engineer and 2 conductors were among the dead. [2]
April 21, 1996 – Passenger train operating in heavy fog derails at Jokela, Finland due to over-speeding through a slow-speed turnout. The locomotive driver and three passengers were killed, and 75 were injured.
March 61998 – 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.
May 191998 – Robertson Derailment, Robertson, NSW, Australia. 2 drivers killed when a coal train derails on a road bridge that had partially collapsed after heavy rain.
April 52000 – Lillestrøm in Skedsmo, Norway: A freight train loses its brakes between Strømmen and Lillestrøm and collides with another freight train standing still 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.
15 August, 2000 - 13 died near Kenya's fourth largest city, Kisumu after a passenger train rolled back due to failed brakes.
19 August, 2000 - at least 25 were burnt to death after a goods train carrying gas rolled back, smashed into stationary wagons and exploded.
February 282001 – Selby rail crash, Selby, North Yorkshire, England: A driver on England's M62 motorway falls asleep at the wheel; his car leaves the road just before a bridge over the tracks, driver escapes, but car is almost instantly hit by a passenger train as the car reaches the tracks, which then hits a coal train in the opposite direction. 10 people are killed, over 80 are injured.
April 122001 – Stewiacke, Nova Scotia (south of Truro): A teenager tampered with a switch several minutes before VIA Rail Canada's Ocean passed through the town. The resulting derailment destroyed several buildings and passenger rail cars. Many people were injured, several severely although there were no fatalities.
December 232001 – Rochester, New York, United States: An incorrect brake application on a CSX local train that had stopped to perform switching at Kodak Park causes the train to run away and derail five miles later, destroying homes and businesses in the area.
August 32003, Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, The volunteer train driver, 31-year-old Kevin Crouch, died when his train hit a car on a level crossing. The car driver, a woman with a baby, had apparently ignored or failed to see the crossing's warning lights, and was later arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, but was found guilty only on a lesser charge of careless driving [5]. Some of the train passengers were treated for shock and minor injuries.
2004
February 182004 – Nishapur, Iran: A train derails and catches fire, exploding hours later. About 300 are killed.
March 112004 – Madrid train bombings, Spain: A series of coordinated terrorist bombings against the commuter train system, which killed 191 people and wounded 1,460.
January 62005 – 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 freight train to collide with a parked train. [6] – 9 killed.
January 122005 – Fort St. John, Manitoba (a suburb of Winnipeg), Canada: Five cars of a CN freight train derail; as one of the cars was carrying propane, the area is evacuated. The tank car remains upright and intact, so local residents are allowed to return fairly quickly.
January 262005 – 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 mainline track and a parked Union Pacific Railroad freight train on a siding. 11 people are killed, about 100 injured.
May 102005 – Houston, Texas, United States: A METRORail train strikes and kills a pedestrian. This is the first fatality accident in the history of METRORail, but overall the 88th crash in the (at that time) 19 month history of the METRORail, which has earned the system nicknames such as "The Streetcar Named Disaster" and "Wham-Bam-Tram". (The 88th crash is the count per official news media reports. However, ActionAmerica.org, a METRORail opposition website, claims that the Houston Chronicle and other local media outlets have purposely failed to report crashes involving METRORail as a means of "conniving" Houstonians to support expansion of the system. ActionAmerica.org believes the total count through the fatal crash may have been higher.)
May 19, 2005 – Lampung, Indonesia: A fully loaded passenger train crashes into a parked freight train at a station. [8]
June 212005 – Revadim, Israel: A southbound passenger train collides with a coal delivery truck near Revadim, about 25 miles south of Tel Aviv; the train was bound for Beersheba when the accident occurred. At least seven people die in the accident and more than 200 are injured. (CBS)
July 102005Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, Kent. A 15" gauge steam train collides with a car on a level crossing, killing the volunteer driver of the train. None of the passengers in the train are seriously injured.
July 132005 – 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 312005 – Shenyang, China: Northbound train K127 from Xi'an to Changchun passes a sabotaged railway signal and collides with a freight train, killing five of the passenger train's passengers. Officials state that some wiring was stolen from a nearby signal box causing the signal to malfunction. (Trains)
August 32005 – Wabamun, Alberta, Canada: 43 cars (nearly all of them tank cars) of a 140-car westbound Canadian National Railway (CN) train from Edmonton to Vancouver derail, sending nearly 700,000 litres of fuel oil into nearby waterways including Wabamun Lake. Initially, local residents are evacuated as at least one of the derailed tank cars carried toluene, but that tank remains intact. Belatedly, residents are warned to stop using water from the lake and to wear protective gear while rescuing oil-coated wildlife because one of the ruptured tanks is later revealed to have contained a carcinogen used to treat utility poles. No injuries are reported, but the accident closes CN's mainline for 36 hours while crews clean up the spill. The closure also impacts VIA Rail Canada's passenger trains, requiring passengers to be bussed around the accident scene. (Trainboard)(Reuters)(Canadian Government)(CBC News)
December 262005 – Yamagata Prefecture, Japan: All 6 cars of an express train derail 180 miles north of Tokyo; 5 people are killed and more than 30 are injured. Strong winter winds are thought to be the cause. (AP)
2006
January 232006 – A passenger train derails and plunges into a steep river canyon near Podgorica, Serbia and Montenegro killing at least 44 and injuring close to 200. Many of the victims were children returning from a ski trip. (BBC News)
Transport portal
September 15 1830 – England: William Huskisson becomes first passenger train death. Killed by Stephenson's Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
December 1830 – Maryland, United States: On the Baltimore & Ohio the driver of a crowded horse-drawn coach falls from his seat and is killed beneath the wheels, the first fatal accident on a railroad in the US.
May 8, 1842 – Meudon France During the inauguration ceremonies of the Paris to Saint-Germain railroad, a returning train caught fire at Meudon. 55 passengers were killed trapped in the carriages, including the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. This led to the abandonment of the obnoxious practice of locking passenger in their carriages in France.
March 12 1855 – Desjardins Canal Bridge train disaster, Ontario, Canada: Ninety passengers boarded a train from Toronto, Ontario en route to Hamilton, Ontario. As the train approached its destination, the bridge spanning the Desjardins Canal collapsed as the train derailed. 70 passengers died from trauma or drowning and exposure after being thrown into Cootes Paradise.
1902 – Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany: Serious buffer stop collision inspires development of Rawie range of energy-absorbing buffer stops.
April 20 1908 – Sunshine train disaster, Melbourne, Australia: Rear-end collision, kills 44 and injures around 400..jpg?lang=en)
1912 – A train ran into a still passenger train in Malmslätt causing 22 deaths and 12 injuries.
June 4 1943 – Hyde railway accident, New Zealand: Train derails at speed in a curved cutting, 21 killed, 47 injured.
January 16 1944 – Accident in the Torro tunnel in Leon province, Spain. Over 500 killed.
February 1944 – Train collision near Breifoss between Hol and Geilo, Norway, at the Bergensbanen line. 25 killed.
March 3 1944 – Balvano, Italy: Over 500 people who stole a ride on a freight train die of carbon monoxide poisoning when the train stalls in a tunnel.
October 22 1949 – Dwor, Poland: The express train between Gdansk and Warszawa derails. Over 200 killed.
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.
April 3 1955 – Guadalajara, Mexico: A train falls into a canyon. 300 killed.
March 15 1957 – near Kuurila, Finland: Steam-hauled overnight passenger train collides head-on with DMU express train. 26 were killed and 60 injured in the nation's worst peace-time train crash.
September 29 1957 – An express train crashes into an oil train at Montgomery, West Pakistan. 250 killed.
January 8 1962 – 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. 93 people died.
May 3 1962 – Tokyo, Japan: three-train collision at Mikawashima Station, 160 killed.
July 6 1967 – Langenweddingen, East Germany near Magdeburg: ca. 140 killed, mainly children. Train collides with lorry carrying 15,000 litres of light petrol.
February 1 1970 – Buenos Aires, Argentina: An express train crashes into a standing train. 236 killed.
August 30 1974 – Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia): An express train from Athens to Dortmund derails at Zagreb train station, due to excessive speed. 153 passengers killed.
1979 – 54 people are killed in the worst accident in Thai railway history when a commuter train collides with a cargo train at Taling Chan.
August 1 1980 – Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland: A train crashes into a siding at 70mph on the main Dublin - Cork line resulting in 18 deaths and 62 injured. This remains Ireland's worst transportation disaster.
June 6 1981 – Bihar train disaster, India: Hundreds are killed (300-800) when a train falls into a river.
June 4 1989 – Ufa train disaster, Russia: Hundreds are killed (400-1000) when two trains pass near a leaking natural gas line, which explodes.
March 28 1993 – Busan train disaster, Busan, South Korea: An express train derailed and 79 people were killed.
1993 - 114 perished in a Mombasa-bound passenger train which plunged into a river after floods washed away a bridge at Ngai Ndethya.
September 22 1994 – Damaged brakes make a train crash into a canyon in Tolunda, Angola. 300 killed.
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.
November 11 2000 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A funicular train catches fire in a tunnel, 155 die.
March 27, 2001 – Pécrot rail crash, Pécrot, Belgium: Two passenger trains collide on the same track, killing 8 and injuring 12.
February 20 2002 – Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt: A train packed to double capacity catches fire, 373 die.
May 25 2002 – Tenga, Mozambique: Close to 200 are killed when a crowded passenger train derails.
June 24 2002 – Igandu train disaster, Tanzania: Nearly 300 are killed when a passenger train rolls backwards into a goods train.
March 1 2003 – Chiayi, Taiwan: The brake system of Alishan Forest Railway broke. The trains ran into valley. 17 were killed and 173 were injured.
February 18 2004 – Nishapur, Iran: A train derails and catches fire, exploding hours later. About 300 are killed.
April 22 2004 – Ryongchon disaster, North Korea: Over 50 are killed and more than 1000 injured when an explosion takes place.
December 26 2004 – "Queen of the Sea" train disaster, Telwatta, Sri Lanka: Approximately 1700 are killed in the world's worst rail disaster to date as a train is overwhelmed by a tsunami created by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
May 19, 2005 – Lampung, Indonesia: A fully loaded passenger train crashes into a parked freight train at a station. [8]
June 21 2005 – Revadim, Israel: A southbound passenger train collides with a coal delivery truck near Revadim, about 25 miles south of Tel Aviv; the train was bound for Beersheba when the accident occurred. At least seven people die in the accident and more than 200 are injured. (CBS)
July 31 2005 – Shenyang, China: Northbound train K127 from Xi'an to Changchun passes a sabotaged railway signal and collides with a freight train, killing five of the passenger train's passengers. Officials state that some wiring was stolen from a nearby signal box causing the signal to malfunction. (Trains)
August 1 2005 – Kilkis, northern Greece: A truck driver is killed after he ignored grade crossing warning signs and his truck is hit by an oncoming passenger train of the Hellenic Railways Organization. The train's crew are only slightly injured, and all of the train's passengers are uninjured and continue their journey by bus. (Kathimerini)
January 23 2006 – A passenger train derails and plunges into a steep river canyon near Podgorica, Serbia and Montenegro killing at least 44 and injuring close to 200. Many of the victims were children returning from a ski trip. (BBC News)