User:Thryduulf/List of rail accidents
This is my initial selection of entries from the two List of rail accidents articles (pre and post 1950) that are imho worthy of remaining on the international list. Thryduulf 00:45, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
| Year | Accident | Summary | Death toll | Injuries | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815 | Brunton's Mechanical Traveller | boiler explosion | 16 | ? | Very, very early |
| 1830 | William Huskisson | Train/pedestrian collision | 1 | 0? | Widely known as first passenger train death |
| 1830 | Baltimore & Ohio, Maryland | Driver run over | 1 | 0? | First railroad accident in the USA |
| 1831 | Best Friend of Charleston | Boiler explosion | ? | ? | "Widely acclaimed as the first locomotive to be built entirely within the United States. It also produced the first locomotive boiler explosion in the US." |
| 1833 | Granite Railway | Snapped cable on incline | 1 | 3 | Worthy of inlcusion if its the first accident on an incline, otherwise should be on the national list only. |
| 1837 | Suffolk, Virginia | Head-on collision | 3 | "dozens" | "First head-on collision to result in passenger fatalities" |
| 1841 | Sonning cutting | Train hits landslide | 8 | 17 | "The extent of the casualties in this accident called into question the practice of mixing passenger and freight wagons in fast trains." |
| 1842 | Meudon (Versailles), France | Fire | 55 | ?? | "This led to the abandonment of the then-common practice of locking passengers in their carriages in France." |
| 1853 | Mount Union, Pennsylvania | rear-end collision | 7 | ? | "the highest single U.S. accident toll up to this time" |
| 1853 | Chicago, Illinois | collision | 21 | ? | Collision on an at-grade crossing, led to grade separation of junction. |
| 1853 | Norwalk, Connecticut | Train ran off open bridge | 46 | 30 | "First major U.S. railroad bridge disaster" |
| 1853 | Pawtucket, Rhode Island | Head-on collision | 13 | 50 | "Believed to be the earliest wreck photographed" |
| 1854 | Baptiste Creek, Canada West | Rear-end collision | 52+ | ? | High death toll, first Canadian accident on the list |
| 1855 | Desjardins Canal, Canada West | Bridge collapse | 70 | ? | High death toll |
| 1856 | The Great Train Wreck of 1856 | head-on collsion | 59-67 | 100+ | "the worst railroad catastrophe in the world until the 1870s, and indeed, one of the single worst events of its time, having an impact that rivals that of September 11, 2001 in the modern era." |
| 1861 | Clayton Tunnel rail crash | rear-end collision | 23 | 176 | "the worst accident to occur up to that time on the British railway system." |
| 1864 | St-Hilaire train disaster | Train ran off open bridge | 99 | ? | high death toll |
| 1874 | Thorpe, Norfolk, England | head-on collision | 25 | 100+ | "led directly to the introduction of automatic control systems to manage traffic on single-track railways" |
| 1876 | Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster | Bridge collapse | 92 | 64 | High death toll |
| 1879 | Tay Bridge Disaster | Bridge collapse | 75 | ? | High death toll; very widely known; epic poem (notable enoguh for its own article) composed about the accident. |
| 1887 | Great Chatsworth Train Wreck | Bridge collapse | 84 | 279 | High death toll. |
| 1887 | Mud Run, Pennsylvania | rear-end collsion | 64 | 200 | High death toll |
| 1889 | Armagh rail disaster | runaway cars collide with following train | 88 | ? | high death toll, led to Regulation of Railways Act 1889. |
| 1891 | Great East Thompson Train Wreck. | Four train collision | 2-3 | ? | Four trains involved |
| 1895 | Gare Montparnasse, Paris, | Train overruns buffers, ends in street | 1 | ? | Very famous due to famous photograph |
| 1896 | Snowdon Mountain Railway | Runaway train | 1 | ? | First mountain railway accident, line closed for more than a year |
| 1896 | 1896 Atlantic City rail crash | two train collision | 50 | 60 | High death toll |
| 1896 | The Crash at Crush | Staged collision | 3 | "many" | Staged crashes are unusual, spectators killed |
| 1897 | Gentofte train crash, Denmark | SPAD, two-train collison | 40 | 100+ | High death toll, first mention of SPAD accident |
| 1902 | Frankfurt am Main, Germany | Buffer stop collision | ? | ? | inspires development of Rawie range of energy-absorbing buffer stops |
| 1903 | Paris Metro train fire | Fire | 84 | ? | First metro accident, high death toll, led to design of low-voltage control circuit for EMU cars |
| 1904 | Eden, Colorado | Bridge washout | 97-111 | ? | High death toll |
| 1904 | Morristown, Tennessee | rear-end collision | 113 | ? | high death toll |
| 1906 | Atlantic City, New Jersey | Derailment on bridge | 57 | ? | worst U.S. drawbridge accident until 1958 |
| 1908 | Sunshine train disaster | rear-end collision | 44 | 400 | First Australian accident on the list, high death toll, extremely high number of injured |
| 1910 | Cascade Tunnel, Washington, United States | Avalanch derails two trains | 100 | ? | High death toll |
| 1915 | Quintinshill rail crash | four-train collision | 227 | 246 | Extremely high death toll, worst accident in UK (as of 2006) |
| 1917 | Fréjus Rail Tunnel, France | runaway train derails | 540-800 | ? | Extremely high death toll, worst accident in France in 20th Century |
| 1918 | Hammond circus train wreck | rear-end collision | 88 | 127 | high death toll |
| 1918 | Great train wreck of 1918 | head-on collision | 101 | 171 | very high death toll |
| 1918 | Weesp, Netherlands | derailment caused by unstable embankment | 41 | 42 | high death toll, lead to dedicated study of soil mechanics at Delft university |
| 1918 | Getå train disaster | derailment cause by landslide | 41 | 41 | "most fatal train accident in the history of rail transport in Sweden" |
| 1918 | Malbone Street Wreck | derailment in tunnel | 93+ | ? | First US subway accident, very high death toll |
| 1923 | Nebukawa Station, Odawara, Japan | earthquake | 112 | 13 | High death toll, First Japanese accident on the list. |
| 1925 | Traveston, Australia | Derailment on bridge | 10 | 48 | "resulted in baggage cars being specially built for passenger trains and ended, for a time, the use of goods vehicles on passenger trains" |
| 1929 | Buir, Germany | Derailment | 13 | 40 | led to the introduction of the La, the German railways' book of temporary speed restrictions |
| 1933 | Lagny (Seine-et-Marne), France | rear-end collision | 230 | ? | high death toll |
| 1938 | Balaclava Station, Jamaica | derail | 30-40 | 70 | Moderately high death toll, first Jamaican accident on list |
| 1938 | Barbacena, Brazil | collison, fire | 82+ | ? | High death toll |
| 1938 | Bessarabia, Moldova (then Romania) | two-train collision | 93 | 340 | High death toll |
| 1939 | Genthin, Germany | rear-end collison | 186 | 453 | Highest number of fatalities ever in an accident in Germany. |
| 1939 | Markdorf, Germany | two-train collison | 101 | ? | Very high death toll, same day as Genthin accident |
| 1943 | Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Derailment | 79 | 117 | High death toll |
| 1944 | Torre del Bierzo tunnel, Spain | ? | 78-250+ | ? | High death toll |
| 1944 | Balvano, Italy | train stalls in tunnel, stowaways die of CO poisoning | 500+ | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1945 | Assling, Germany | two-train collision | 110 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1947 | Hachiko line rail crash, Japan | Derailment | 184 | 495 | Very high death toll |
| 1949 | Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, Poland | Derailment | 200+ | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1950 | Richmond Hill, New York | Two-train collision | 79 | "hundreds" | High death toll |
| 1951 | Woodbridge, New Jersey | Derailment | 85 | 500+ | High death toll |
| 1952 | Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash | three-train collision | 112 | 340 | Very high death toll |
| 1953 | Union Station, Washington, DC | buffer overrun, ends in basement after concourse gives way | 0 | ? | Notable for circumstances of accident and aftermath |
| 1953 | Sydenham Rail Disaster | rear-end collision | 15 | 748 | Huge number of injured |
| 1953 | Šakvice train disaster, Czechoslovakia | two-train collision | 106 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1953 | Tangiwai disaster, New Zealand | bridge collapse | 151 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1955 | Guadalajara, Mexico | Train falls into canyon | 300 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1957 | near Kuurila, Finland | head-on collision | 26 | 60 | Finland's worst peace-time train crash. |
| 1957 | Montgomery, Pakistan | two-train collision | 250 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1957 | Lewisham rail crash, England | rear-end collision | 90 | 173 | High death toll |
| 1960 | Stéblová train disaster, Czechoslovakia | head-on collision | 118 | 110 | Very high death toll |
| 1962 | Harmelen train disaster, Netherlands | head-on collision | 93 | 52 | the worst railway accident in the history of The Netherlands |
| 1962 | Tokyo, Japan | three-train collsion | 160 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1963 | Yokohama rail crash, Japan | three-train collision | 161 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1964 | Mirigama train crash, Sri Lanka | Derailment | 61 | ? | High death toll |
| 1967 | Langenweddingen rail crash, East Germany | train/petrol lorry collision | 94 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1971 | Dahlerau, Germany | two-train collision | 46 | 25 | Worst peace-time accident in pre-unification West Germany |
| 1972 | Saltillo, Mexico | derailment, fire | 208 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1974 | Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) | derailment | 153 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1975 | Moorgate tube crash | train collides with tunnel headwall | 43 | ? | Worst rail-accident on London Underground (7th July was terrorism) |
| 1977 | Granville railway disaster, Australia | derailment causing bridge collapse | 83 | 200+ | Australia's worst accident (as of 2006) |
| 1977 | Chicago Loop derailment | rear-end collision | 11 | 180+ | Worst accident on Chicago L |
| 1978 | Waverly Tank Car Explosion | LPG explosion | 15 | 56 | Blast destroyed town buildings |
| 1978 | Youngstown, Florida | derailment, chlorine gas cloud relased | 8 | 138 | first recorded major liquified chlorine gas disaster |
| 1979 | Mississauga train derailment of 1979 | derailment, fire, chlorine/propane contamination cloud | 0 | 0 | more than 250,000 residents are evacuated from the city: the largest peacetime emergency evacuation in North American history until 2005 |
| 1979 | Taling Chan, Thailand | two-train collision | 54 | ? | worst accident in Thai railway history |
| 1980 | Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland | collision | 18 | 62 | worst accident in Rep. of Ireland |
| 1980 | Toruń, Poland | SPAD, rear-end collision | 67 | ? | High death toll |
| 1981 | 160 km south of Seoul, S. Korea | two-train collision | 54 | ? | High death toll |
| 1981 | Bihar train disaster, India | train falls into river | 500-800 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1982 | 50 miles west of Algiers, Algeria | derailment | 130+ | 146 | Very high death toll |
| 1982 | near Agra, India | two-train collision | 50 | 50 | High death toll |
| 1982 | Andhra Pradesh, Inida | train/bus collision | 59+ | 25 | High death toll |
| 1983 | Guaymas, Mexico | rear-end collision | 56 | 78 | High death toll |
| 1984 | KCR East Rail, Hong Kong | derailment | 0 | 0 | spurred a series of public outcries concerning railway safety. |
| 1985 | Mangualde, Portugal | collision, fire | 100+ | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1986 | Hinton train collision, Canada | head-on collision | 23 | ? | led to the adoption of stricter crew scheduling practice and a complete rewrite of the operating rules |
| 1987 | Chase, Maryland rail wreck | two-train collision | 18 | ? | caused the US railroad industry to tighten up drug use detection among operational personnel |
| 1988 | Gare de Lyon train accident, France | collision in station | 56 | 50+ | High death toll |
| 1988 | Ashtamudi Lake rail disaster, India | Derailment, train falls in lake | 107 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1988 | Clapham Junction rail crash | three train collision | 35 | 100+ | Lead to major inquiry, the accident to which all modern UK train accidents are compared. |
| 1989 | Lalitpur rail disaster, India | derailment | 75 | ? | High death toll |
| 1989 | Ufa train disaster, Russia | gas pipeline explosion | 400-1000 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1989 | Quilon Lake rail disaster, India | derailment, train falls in lake | 107 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1990 | Sindh province, Pakistan | two-train collision | 210+ | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1990 | Patna rail disaster, India | fire | 70+ | ? | High death toll |
| 1991 | Cannon Street Station, London | buffer-stop collision | 1 | 542 | Very high number of injured |
| 1991 | Melun, France | two-train collision | 16 | ? | led to the adoption of the KVB automatic train control system which will detect improper train handling |
| 1993 | Busan, South Korea | derailment | 79 | ? | high death toll |
| 1993 | Chhabra rail disaster, India | two-train collision | 71 | ? | |
| 1993 | Big Bayou Canot train disaster, Alabama | derailment, train falls off bridge | 47 | ? | Amtrak's deadliest accident |
| 1993 | Ngai Ndethya, Kenya | bridge washout | 114 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1994 | Tolunda, Angola | train crash in canyon | 300 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1995 | Firozabad rail disaster, India | rear-end collision | 358 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1995 | Baku, Azerbaijan | metro fire | 337 | ? | World's deadliest metro disaster |
| 1996 | Weyauwega derailment, Wisconsin | derailment, fire | ? | ? | Town evacuated for 18 days due to fire |
| 1997 | Gorakhpur rail diasaster | collision | 60+ | ? | High death toll |
| 1997 | Bilaspur rail disaster | derailment on a bridge | 120 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1998 | Yaounde train explosion, Cameroon | explosion | 100+ | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1998 | Eschede train disaster, Germany | bridge collapses onto derailed train | 101 | 100 | the world's worst high-speed train disaster |
| 1998 | Khanna train crash disaster, India | two-train collision, fire | 150+ | ? | Very high death toll |
| 1999 | Gauhati rail disaster, India | head-on collsion | 285+ | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 1998 | Ladbroke Grove rail crash, London | SPAD, head-on collision | 31 | 400 | lead to a major inquiry, dented public confidence |
| 2000 | Hatfield rail crash, England | derailment | 4 | 102 | forces biggest and most expensive re-railing exercise in British history, causing nationwide chaos. Start of current era in UK railways. |
| 2000 | Kaprun disaster, Austria | fire in tunnel on funicular railway | 155 | ? | Very high death toll. Only fire on funicular in list I think. |
| 2001 | Kadalundi River rail disaster, India | deraliment, train fell in river | 57 | ? | High death toll |
| 2002 | Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt | fre on overcrowded train | 373 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 2002 | Tenga, Mozambique | runaway carriages collide with following train | 200 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 2002 | Igandu train disaster, Tanzania | train rolls back, collides with following train | nearly 300 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 2002 | Rafiganj rail disaster, Inida | derailment, train falls in river | 130 | ? | Very high death toll |
| 2003 | Daegu subway fire, South Korea | fire on subway | 200 | ? | Extremely high death toll |
| 2004 | Ryongchon disaster, North Korea | explosion | 50+ | 1000+ | High death toll, extremely high number of injured |
| 2004 | Queen of the Sea train disaster, Sri Lanka | Train engulfed by tsunami | 1700 | ? | world's worst rail disaster |
| 2005 | Amagasaki rail crash, Japan | derailment, collision with building | 107 | 549 | Very high death toll |
| 2005 | Ghotki rail crash, Pakistan | three-train collision | 150+ | ? | Very high death toll |
| 2005 | Veligonda rail disaster, | track washed away in flood | 114 | "many more" | Very high death toll |
| 2006 | Qalyoub, Egypt | two-train collision | 57 | 128 | High death toll |
| 2006 | 2006 Lathen maglev train accident | train collides with a maintenance of way vehicle]] | 23+ | ? | First serious maglev accident |