List of rail accidents

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIS : List of rail accidents

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List of rail accidents from 1950 to the present.

The list includes some terrorist bombings.

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

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

1950s

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.Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (February 2006), [Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area: 1950, March 18 - Canadian Pacific - Ashton]. Retrieved March 18 2006.
• 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 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.
• November 1950 – Hjuksebø, Norway: Two goods trains get loose and crash with an express train on the Sørlandsbanen line. 15 killed.

1951

• February 6, 1951 – Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States: The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train, derails, killing 85 people and injuring over 500.

1952

• October 8, 1952 – Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, United Kingdom: Three trains are involved in a crash that kills 112 and injures 340.

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 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 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.
• April 27, 1953 – Red Desert, Wyoming, United States: An Union Pacific Railroad train derails when a section gang opens a switch directly in front of the speeding train. The locomotive, tender, and first 18 cars derail, two are killed instantly.
• 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.

1954

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.

1956

• January 22, 1956 – Los Angeles, California, United States: Santa Fe Railroad's San Diegan passenger train derails just outside Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal. The accident is announced over the radio and so many doctors, nurses, and sightseers drive to the scene that it causes one of the first Sig Alerts.
• 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.[link]

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.

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.

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.

1960s

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.

1961

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. 93 people die.
• May 3, 1962 – Tokyo, Japan: three-train collision at Mikawashima Station, 160 killed.

1963

• 1963 – Geurie crossing loop collision: A train pulled by a 265-tonne Beyer-Garrett 6003 locomotive in loop stands foul of main line, causing collision with NSWGR C38 class No.3817. Both locos are later written off.
• 1963 – Yokohama rail crash, Japan: Two commuter trains hit a derailed freight train. 161 killed.

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.[link]

1965

1966

• June 1966 – Two trains collide at Grefsen, Oslo, Norway. One driver gets killed.
• October 1966 – Two passenger trains collide at Valebø, Norway. One driver gets killed.

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 staionary train shortly before Odense.

• September 27, 1967 – Didcot - derailment, England: One person killed.

• 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.

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.

1969

• July 1969 – Two iron ore trains collide at the Ofotbanen line, Norway. One driver is killed and one is injured.
• 1969 – Violet Town railway disaster, Australia: a head-on collision on a single line, no ATP; 9 killed

1970s

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.
• 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.
• December 1970 – Oslo, Norway: A goods train loses its brakes and crashes into the platform at Østbanen station. The driver is killed.

1971

• February 9, 1971 – Aitrang, Germany: A Zurich-bound TEE train derails because of excess speed and is hit by a railbus. 28 die, 42 injured.
• May 27, 1971 – Dahlerau, Germany: A special train full of schoolchildren collides with a freight train on the line between Wuppertal and Radevormwald because of a misunderstanding of signals, 46 die, 25 injured. Worst rail accident in West Germany during Deutsche Bundesbahn times.
• July 21, 1971 – Rheinweiler, Germany: A fast train from Basel to Copenhagen derails because of a technical failure in the Class 103 engine; 23 dead, 121 injured.

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.

1973

• 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.

1974

• 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.

1975

• February 22, 1975 – Tretten, Norway: 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 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.
• December 22, 1975 – Norway: The day train from Bodø to Trondheim, Norway derails. The driver is killed.

1976

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

1977

• January 18, 1977 – Granville railway disaster, Australia: 83 die when a train derails and hits a bridge support.
• 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. [(Chicago-L.org)]
• Summer 1977 – near Mo i Rana, Norway: A passenger train at the Nordlandsbanen line derails. The driver is killed.
• 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.

1978

• February 22, 1978 – Waverly Tank Car Explosion, Waverly, Tennessee, United States: A Louisville and Nashville Railroad derails, two tank cars containing Liquified Petroleum Gas explode, killing 15 and injuring 56. Numerous buildings in Waverly are destroyed by force of the blast.
• 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.
• 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 placed against a heater in the car's vestibule.

1979

• March 26, 1979 – A truck collides with the international train Amsterdam-Brussels in Kapellen, killing one, injuring six.
• 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.
• November 10, 1979 – Mississauga train derailment of 1979 Mississauga, Canada: Mississauga train derailment of 1979 -- tank cars containing chlorine derail causing deadly smoke and air contamination; no fatalities or serious injuries, however more than 250,000 residents are evacuated from the city, resulting in the second largest peacetime evacuation in North American history, after the 2005 evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina.
• 1979 – Taling Chan, Thailand: 54 people are killed in the worst accident in Thai railway history when a commuter train (Thonburi - Nakhon Pathom) collides with a cargo train (Bangsue - Padang Besar) at Taling Chan on August 21, 1979 resulting from errors by the fatigued cargo train engineer; the fatigue was attributed to signal mishandling and prolonged maintenance of locomotive.

1980s

1980

• June 2, 1980– Hinsnoret-Ornäs, Dalarna, Sweden: 11 killed and over 60 injured as a passenger train and a freight train collide.
• 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.

1981

• June 6, 1981 – Bihar train disaster, India: Hundreds are killed (300-800) when a train falls into a river.

1982

• January 13, 1982 – Washington, D.C.: A train derails on the Washington Metro. When the train was being re-railed, another car crashed into a tunnel support, killing three people. In an unusual yet tragic coincidence, this happened at the same time Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge.

1983

• August 23, 1980 – 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.

1984

• November 25, 1984 – 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. It is certain that this was, and perhaps will remain, Hong Kong's most disastrous railway accident in her history.

1985

• February 23, 1985 – Rajnandgaon train fire, over 50 people are killed when an express train catches fire in Madhya Pradesh.
• March 20, 1985 – Ronnenberg, Germany: Two freight trains, one consisting of 20 tanker 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, 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, 38 people are killed in a collision at Agra in India

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 collison in Bihar.
• August 6, 1986 – Palamau rail disaster, 52 people drown when a train falls into a deep ditch after a collision.
• September 19, 1986 – 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.
• October 30, 1986 – Gary, Indiana, United States: A Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad train strikes a flatbed truck that drove around the crossing gates.

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 was fouling the Northeast Corridor mainline at Gunpow Interlocking. The northbound passenger consist derails, killing 14 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.
• April 1, 1987 – Burnham, IL, United States: A rusted rail trips a signal incorrectly on the Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad causing a hopper to foul the mainline; one of the railroad's passenger trains hits the hopper.
• July 8, 1987 - Machieral rail disaster, 53 people killed in the derailment of a train in Andhra Pradesh.
• October 19, 1987 – Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales: 3 passengers and the train driver die when an early morning train plunged into the swollen River Tywi after the Glanryd Bridge collapsed in the floods.
• November 16, 1987 – Lerum, near Gothenburg, Sweden: Two passenger trains collide at a station. 9 killed, 140 injured.

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.
• December 12, 1988 – Clapham Junction rail crash, London, England: wrong side failure, 35 dead, more than 100 injured.

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.
• March 6, 1989 – Glasgow Bellgrove rail crash, Glasgow, Scotland: Two commuter trains crash, killing one passenger and one of the trains' drivers.
• April 18, 1989 – Lalitpur rail disaster, 75 killed when train derails in Uttar Praadesh
• 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.
• June 4, 1989 – Ufa train disaster, Russia: Hundreds are killed (400-1000) when two trains pass near a leaking natural gas line, which explodes.
• 1989 – Quilon Lake rail disaster, 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.

1990s

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 – Two local passenger trains collide at Lysaker, Oslo, Norway. 5 killed.
• April 16 1990 - Patna rail disaster, 70 killed as shuttle train is gutted by fire.
• June 6 1990 – Cowan rail crash, Cowan, New South Wales, Australia: a special passenger train failed while attempting to climb the steep gradient from the Hawkesbury River to Cowan.

1991

• January 8 1991 – London, England: A passenger train hits the buffers at Cannon Street Station. 1 person killed. 542 persons injured.
• January 18 1991 – A passenger train at the Raumabanen line derails at Bjorli, Norway. 2 killed.
• 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.

1992

• March 12 1992 – A tram in Gothenburg, Sweden rolls backwards down a hill without control, derails near the bottom of it. There it glides sideways in a high speed into a tram stop where people are waiting. 13 killed, many injured.
• April 29 1992 – just outside Newport News, Virginia, United States: Amtrak's Colonial passenger train hit a dump truck at a service road. The driver of the dump truck was killed, only minor injuries on the train.
• 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.

1993

• January 18 1993 – Chicago, Illinois, United States: The eastbound Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad train number 7 runs a red signal and is hit by westbound train number 12; 7 passengers die are injured in the accident.
• 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 diasaster, 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 – A local train collides with a shunting locomotive at Nordstrand, Oslo, Norway. 5 killed.
• 1993 - 114 killed in a Mombasa-bound passenger train which plunged into a river after floods wash away a bridge at Ngai Ndethya.

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.
• August 4 1994 – Batavia, New York, United States: Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited passenger train derails while traveling at 75 mph (120.7 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.
• August 21 1994 – Liberty, Indiana, United States: Freight train traveling 55 mph crashes into a pickup truck on a private driveway, killing 2 passengers and injuring 3.
• December 2 1994 – Szajol, Hungary: InterCity train traveling at 65 mph derails and crashes into the railway station's building, killing 31 passengers and injuring many people.

1995

• May 3 1995 – Nalgonda rail diasaster, 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.
• 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. 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.

1996

• January 6, 1996 – Shady Grove, Maryland, United States: A Metrorail train operator dies when his train enters Shady Grove Station in automatic mode during a snowstorm, overruns the platform and collides with a train parked on the same track about 470 feet beyond the station. [link]
• January 14, 1996 – Hines Hill train collision, Australia: Signal Passed At Danger at a crossing loop causes a head-on collision.
• 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. [link] 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. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

• 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.

1997

• April 18 1997 – Gorakhpur rail diasaster, Over 60 people are killed in a collision at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
• May 1, 1997 – Hornbækbanen, Denmark: Two trains collide frontally after one passed a red signal leaving Firhøj station. Borth drivers are 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.
• September 14 1997 – Bilaspur rail disaster, 120 people are killed in a derailment on a bridge in Bilaspur province in Madhya Pradesh.
• 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.[Technisches Hilfswerk, OV Ronnenberg]

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.
• May 19 1998 – 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 4 1998 – Fatuha train crash, 12 people die in derailment near Patna.
• 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 seperatated 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 – Chicago, Illinois, United States: The westbound Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad train number 102 strikes a semi-truck that was stopped on a grade crossing.
• 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.

1999

• March 12, 1999 – Sri Lanka: Train derails at Rambukkana and one person is killed.[link]
• 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.
• June 4 1999 - Kazipet train crash, Twelve are killed in a derailment at Kazipet in Andhra Pradesh.
• August 2, 1999 – Gauhati rail disaster, Two express trains collide head-on in Gauhati, India. Over 285 people are killed.
• August 18, 1999 – Zanthus train collision, Australia: An engineman incorrectly throws a turnout turning the through train into a collision with a looped train.
• September 17, 1999 – Kaalfontein, South Africa: Two commuter trains collide head on in Kaalfontein outside Johannesburg, killing two people [link]
• October 5, 1999 – Ladbroke Grove (Paddington) rail disaster, England: Two trains collide head-on, killing 31 and injuring 400.
• November 17, 1999 – 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. 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. Reference- [link]
• 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.
• 1999 - 32 die at Tsavo National park when brakes on a passenger train fail, forcing it to jump the rails.

2000s

2000

• January 4, 2000 – Åsta in Åmot, Norway: Two passenger trains collide on Rørosbanen killing 19 people.
• February 6, 2000 – Brühl, Germany: A night express train passes a construction area at excess speed and derails at Brühl station, crashing into a nearby house. 9 die.
• March 2, 2000 – Kølkær, Denmark: Two regional trains collide frontally after one passes a red signal. 3 die and 39 are injured.
• March 8, 2000 – Tokyo train disaster, Japan: A Tokyo subway train derails and is hit by another train on the next track; four are killed and 33 are injured.
• March 28, 2000 - A Murray County, Georgia school bus collides with a CSXT freight train; 3 are dead and 4 are injured.
• April 5, 2000 – Lillestrøm in Skedsmo, Norway: A freight train's brakes fail between Strømmen and Lillestrøm; it collides with another 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 - 13 die near Kenya's fourth largest city, Kisumu after a passenger train rolls back because of brake failure.
• August 19, 2000 - at least 25 burn 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: As the London-Leeds express passes at 115 mph (185 km/h), a faulty rail shatters into 300 pieces because of condition known as rolling contact fatigue. Four are killed, and 102 are injured. Implications of this rail failure forces biggest and most expensive re-railing exercise in British history. Operator Network Rail 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 two people and injering 1.
• June 28, 2000 - 13 children die after a goods train they were rideing on de-rails in Padang. The Indonisian goverment cracks down on pasingers clnging on to the sides of frieght trains as a means of free travel. (Sorce- BBC)
• November 11, 2000 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A funicular train catches fire in a tunnel due to an unsafely installed heater, 155 die.
• December 2, 2000 – Sarai Banjara rail disaster, a crowded communter train crashes into a derailed freight train in the Punjab. More than 45 are killed.
• 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 died and hundreds were injured.

2001

• January 12, 2001 – Nvoungouti, Congo: Over 30 people killed when two trains collide because of a brake failure at Nvoungouti. [link]
• February 28, 2001 – 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.
• March 27, 2001 – Pécrot rail crash, Pécrot, Belgium: Two passenger trains collide on the same track, killing 8 and injuring 12.
• May 15, 2001– A CSX freight train runs away in the yard at Toledo, Ohio, carrying 47 cars, including some with hazardous molten phenol acid, and no engineer aboard. The engineer had stepped out to reset a switch but had improperly applied the dynamic brake. It runs unmanned for 66 miles (106 km.) to Kenton, Ohio before being stopped by a railroad worker who jumps aboard and manages to stop it. CSX also previously managed to couple an engine onto the end of the train and slow it down to 10 mph.
• June 21, 2001 – 57 people are killed in the Kadalundi River rail disaster in Kerala, Southern India
• July 18, 2001 – Howard Street Fire: A 60-car CSX train carrying chemicals and wood products derails in a 1.7 mile ( km) long tunnel under Baltimore, causing a fire that burns for six days and water contamination.
• August 19, 2001 – Kurunegala train crash, Sri Lanka: A Sri Lankan trail derails because of speeding and overcrowding. 13 people are killed.[link]
• December 2, 2001 – Three killed in a collision between two trains at Dumri in Bihar.
• December 18, 2001 – 1 died after a a train becomes stuck in a snow drift and derails at the town of Orestiada, near the Bulgarian border. Tempritures fall as low as -10 celcius. Refrence- [link]

2002

• January 18, 2002 – Minot, North Dakota, United States: A Canadian Pacific Railway train derails at 0140 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 l (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.[link]
• February 6, 2002 – Charlotte’s Dale train crash, South Africa: Two commuter trains collide in Charlotte’s Dale near Durban, resulting in 22 fatalities, of which 16 are children. [link]
• February 20, 2002 – Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt: A train packed to double capacity catches fire, 373 die.
• February 21, 2002 – 2 stow-away pasingers died and 5 were hurt, as they fell off a frieght train they were hang oin to, near Baghdad.
• April 18, 2002 – Crescent City, Florida, United States: An Amtrak Auto-Train derails near Crescent City, putting 21 cars on the ground. Four people perish in the accident, 142 suffer from injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board determines 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 $(US)8.3 million.
• 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 local residents.
• May 10, 2002 – Potters Bar rail crash, north of London, England: a northbound train derails at high speed; seven killed, 11 seriously injured.
• May 13, 2002 – Jaunpur train crash, 12 people die when a passenger train derails and crashes in Uttar Pradesh. An inquest later blames sabotage for the crash.
• May 25, 2002 – Tenga, Mozambique: In an accident eerily 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 soming into Alawwa station, killing 14 people.[Alawwa train crash]
• June 24, 2002 – Igandu train disaster, Tanzania: Nearly 300 are killed when a passenger train rolls backwards into a goods train.
• July 29, 2002 – Kensington, Maryland, United States: An eastbound Amtrak train strikes a sun kink at 60 mph (100 km/h) at milepost 11.78 in Kensington at about 1355. Several go down an embankment and four Superliners overturn against trees. 16 are seriously injured, 79 suffer from minor injuries. The cause was determined to be improperly tamped ballast, improper slow order imposition, coupled with the 96°F (35°C) sunny weather which caused the misalignment. Slow orders on very hot days are imposed on passenger trains in the area following this accident.
• September 9, 2002 – Bad Münder, Germany: Two freight trains collide head-on after a brake failure on one of the trains. A tanker car loaded with 1-Chlor-2,3-epoxypropan explodes, contaminating the station and exposing 96 firemen to carcinogenic fumes.http://www.haz.de/niedersachsen/238531.html Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 2004-08-20
• September 9, 2002 – Rafiganj rail disaster, Over 130 people are killed when a passenger train derails and falls into the Dhave River in Bihar because of sabotaged tracks. [link]
• November 7, 2002 – Holte, Denmark: 1 passenger killed when an S-train collided with an empty train that had crashed through a buffer stop and came to a halt fouling the main track.
• December 21, 2002 – Kurnool train crash, 20 people die when a passenger train derails in Andhra Pradesh. Later the cause is revealed to be deliberate sabotage.

2003

• January 3, 2003 – Ghatnandur train crash, 18 people die in the collision of two trains at Ghatnandur in Maharashtra [link]

• 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, killing 6 passengers.
• February 2, 2003 – Dete train crash, Zimbabwe: Two trains collide, derailing and catching fire, killing over 40 people. [link]
• 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 train to lose control and plummet into a valley. 17 are killed, 173 injured.
• March 20, 2003 – Roermond, Netherlands: A NS passenger train collides head-on with a freight train; the driver is killed, six passengers are seriously injured.
• May 15, 2003 – Ladhowal train fire, A passenger train catches fire, 38 people perish near Ladhowal in the Punjab. [link]
• June 3, 2003, Albacete train crash – 19 people are killed in a train collision in Albacete, Southern Spain. [link]
• 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. [link]
• June 23, 2003 – Vaibhavwadi rail disaster: 51 people die when a special holiday trail derails in Maharashtra, India.
• July 2, 2003 – Warangal train crash: 22 people die when a train's brakes fail and it falls off a bridge into a crowded fish market in Warangal, India.
• August 3, 2003 – Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, Kent, England: The volunteer train driver, 31-year-old [Kevin Crouch], dies when his train hits a car on a level crossing. Some of the train passengers are treated for shock and minor injuries.

2004

• February 18, 2004 – Nishapur train disaster, 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.
• February 15, 2004 – Tebay , Cumbria, England: A sleeper transporter truck and flat car become detached from a maintenance train south of Carlisle and roll down the sloping line until they crush 4 workmen in a team repairing the line at Tebay, just north of Penrith; one of the workers later dies in hospital.
• June 17, 2004 – Karanjadi train crash, near Bombay, India: 20 die and 100 are injured when 10 carriages fall of a bridge during a monsoon-induced landslide.Daily Star (UK), June 17 2004.
• October 23, 2004 – Niigata Prefecture, Japan: A Joetsu Shinkansen train derails because of the Chuetsu Earthquake. It is the first time a Shinkansen derails while in service.
• 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 are killed, 47 are injured. The truck driver was later found to be guilty of not attempting to move the vehicle away from the level crossing, and was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment.

November 6, 2004 – Ufton Nervet rail crash, England: A High Speed Train hits a stationary car on a level crossing (an apparent suicide) at 100mph and derails. Five train passengers and the drivers of both the train and the car are killed; over 100 passengers are injured.

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