List of rail accidents
Notable historic train accidents:
1830
- September 15, 1830 – William Huskisson becomes first ever passenger train death. Killed by Stephenson's Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
1850
- November 1, 1855 - Gasconade Bridge train disaster – 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 thirty people died and hundreds were seriously injured.
1860
- April 9, 1865 – Staplehurst, United Kingdom: 10 killed, 49 injured, Charles Dickens is amongst the survivors.
1870
- September 10 1874 – Norwich (Norfolk, United Kingdom) disaster - 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 near Norwich, Norfolk. The accident led directly to the introduction of automatic control systems to manage traffic on single-track railways.
- 29 December 1876 - Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, Ashtabula, Ohio: The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Train No. 5, The Pacific Express, collapsed the Ashtabula River bridge dropping eleven passenger cars into a fire started by the car stoves. Of 159 souls onboard, 64 people were injured and 92 people were killed.
- 28 December 1879 - The Tay Rail Bridge, Scotland, collapses in a violent storm while a train is crossing it. 75 lives are lost. William Topaz McGonagall produces his epic poem The Tay Bridge Disaster to commemorate the event.
1880
- June 12, 1889 – Armagh rail disaster, Ireland: Runaway carriages collide with an oncoming train, killing 88.
1900
- April 20 1908 – Sunshine station disaster, Melbourne, Australia: Rear-end collision, kills 44 and injures around 400.
1910
- May 22, 1915 – Quintinshill, United Kingdom: Troop train crashes, kills 200 and injures 246.
1950
- October 8, 1952 – Harrow train disaster, United Kingdom: Three trains are involved in a crash that kills 112 and injures 340.
- December 24, 1953 – Tangiwai disaster, New Zealand: 151 die when a bridge over the Whangaehu River collapses.
1960
- 1962 Violet Town, Australia - a head on collision on a single line.
1970
- January 18, 1977 – Granville railway disaster, Australia: 83 die when a train derails and hits a bridge support.
- November 10, 1979 - Mississauga, Canada: tanker 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 largest peacetime evacuation in North American history.
- Invergowrie rail crash - starting signal failed to return completely to stop, giving train a false clear indication.
1980
- 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.
1990
- June 3, 1998 – Eschede train disaster, Germany: Part of a high-speed ICE train derails and strikes a bridge, killing 101.
- October 5, 1999 – Ladbroke Grove (Paddington) rail disaster, United Kingdom: Two trains collide head-on, killing 31 and injuring 400.
2000
- November 11, 2000 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A funicular train catches fire in a tunnel, 155 die.
- February 20, 2002 – Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt: A train packed to double capacity catches fire, 373 die.
- June 24, 2002 – Igandu train disaster, Tanzania: Nearly 300 are killed when a passenger train rolls backwards into a goods train.
- February 18, 2003 - Daegu Subway fire, South Korea: A mentally ill man starts a fire which engulfs two subway trains, killing some 200.
- February 18, 2004 – Neyshabur 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.
See also
References
- BBC: Europe's history of rail disasters (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1245262.stm)
- BBC: World's worst rail disasters (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3650835.stm)
- Train wrecks in India (http://www.emergency-management.net/train_acc_india.htm)
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