List of rail accidents (2000–2009)

Notable historic train accidents
19th C:	____	____	____	1830s	1840s	1850s	1860s	1870s	1880s	1890s
20th C:	1900s	1910s	1920s	1930s	1940s	1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s
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

1830s

• 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.
• June 17 1831 – Charleston, South Carolina, United States: After the pressure safety valve is tied down by one of the train's crew, the Best Friend of Charleston suffers a boiler explosion killing the crew.
• July 25 1832 – Boston, Massachusetts, United States: A cable snaps on an incline of the Granite Railway.

1840s

• December 24 1841 – 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.

1850s

• 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.
• November 1 1855 – 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.

1860s

• June 29 1864 – Beloeil, Quebec, Canada: 99 killed when an immigrant train failed to stop at an open swing bridge and fell into the Richelieu River. May also be called St-Hilaire train disaster.
• June 9 1865 – Staplehurst, United Kingdom: 10 killed, 49 injured, Charles Dickens is amongst the survivors.
• August 20 1868 - Abergele train disaster, Wales: passenger train collides with runaway goods wagons and their load of paraffin explodes. 33 dead, engine driver badly burned.

1870s

• September 10 1874 – 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.
• December 29 1876 – Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States: The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Train No. 5, The Pacific Express, collapsed the Ashtabula River bridge, dropping 11 passenger cars into a fire started by the car stoves. Of the 159 people onboard, 64 were injured and 92 were killed.
• December 28 1879 – Scotland: The Tay Rail Bridge 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.

1880s

• June 12 1889 – The Armagh rail disaster occurs near Armagh, Northern Ireland; runaway carriages collided with a following train, killing 88, and spurring the UK Parliament to pass the Regulation of Railways Act 1889, mandating improved brake and signal systems.

File:Train wreck at Montparnasse 1865.jpg

Train goes too far at Gare Montparnasse, Paris

1890s

• 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.
• December 4, 1891 – East Thompson, Connecticut, United States: Four passenger trains collide.
• October 22 1895 – Gare Montparnasse, Paris, France: express train overran buffer stop and crossed more than 30 m of concourse before plummetting through a window.
• March through December 1898 – Tsavo maneaters, Uganda: about 140 rail workers building a bridge over the Tsavo River are mauled by lions.

1900s

• 1900 – Wellington near Cascade Tunnel, Washington, United States: More than 100 are killed when a snow avalanche pushes two trains off a cliff.
• August 1903 – Paris Metro train fire, France: fire on Paris Métro, 84 killed

• 

  The aftermath of the Wreck of the Old '97.

  September 27, 1903 – Wreck of the Old '97, Danville, Virginia, United States: A southbound Southern Railway passenger train derails on a trestle in Danville; 11 people are killed.
• 30 June 1906 – Salisbury rail crash, Salisbury, England: Racing express train collides with a milk train on a sharp curve, 28 killed (24 passengers, 4 crew).
• September 15 1907, Canaan, New Hampshire, United States: Quebec to Boston wreck; 25 people killed, with as many seriously injured.
• April 20 1908 – Sunshine train disaster, Melbourne, Australia: Rear-end collision, kills 44 and injures around 400.
• April 12 1909 – Gary, Indiana, United States: A westbound Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with the eastbound train.
• June 19 1909 – Shadyside, Indiana, United States: An eastbound Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with the westbound train.

1910s

• December 24 1910 – Hawes Junction train disaster, Cumbria, England: Busy signalman forgets about light engines on main line, and express signalled onto it.
• May 22 1915 – 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.
• December 12 1917 – A military train derails at the entrance of the Mont Cenis tunnel in Midane, France. 543 killed.
• June 22 1918 – Hammond circus train wreck, near Hammond, Indiana, United States: An empty troop train collides with a parked circus train. 86 killed, 127 injured.

• 

  The Great train wreck of 1918 near Nashville, Tennessee.

  July 9 1918 – Great train wreck of 1918, Nashville, Tennessee, United States: Two Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad trains collide head-on. 101 killed, 171 injured. Deadliest train accident in United States history.
• November 1 1918 – The Malbone Street Wreck occurs on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) in New York City when an inexperienced motorman (pressed into service due to a strike by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) drives one of the system's subway trains too quickly into a curve, derailing the * train in a tunnel, killing 97 and injuring over 100.
• 1910s – Exeter crossing loop collision, New South Wales, Australia

1920s

• January 26, 1921 – Abermule train collision: faulty operation of train tablet leads to head on collision killing 17 people.
• September 27 1923 – near Glenrock, Wyoming, United States: Following soon after the washout of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's bridge over Coal Creek, a passenger train falls through the washout, killing 30 of the train's 66 passengers. The accident is the worst railroad accident in Wyoming's history. [1]
• 1928 – Lindfield train disaster, Sydney, Australia: collision when train speeds after stop-and-proceed-at-red signal.
• 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.

1930s

• December 22 1939 – 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.

1940s

• 1940 – Norton Fitzwarren train disaster, England: a train driver misreads the signals on a four-track line, and drives his train off the end of the track.
• December 27 1942 – 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.
• 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 the 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.
• July 6 1944 – 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 enroute to deployment.
• April 26 1946 – Naperville, Illinois, United States: Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's Advance Flyer, stopped in the station, is rammed by the railroad's Exposition Flyer. 45 killed, more than 100 injured.
• May 5 1947 – Camp Mountain train disaster, Queensland, Australia: A picnic train derails after taking a sharp curve too fast on the Dayboro line to the north-west of Brisbane. 16 killed.
• September 1 1947 – Dugald, Manitoba, Canada: A Canadian National Railway passenger train failed to take the siding and collided with the No. 4 Transcontinental that was standing on the main line. 31 people were killed.

• 

  Santa Fe locomotive after it came to rest in Los Angeles.

  1948 – Los Angeles, California, United States: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's Super Chief crashes through a bumper at the end of track at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal; the locomotive comes to rest dangling above the street at the end of the tracks.
• October 22 1949 – Dwor, Poland: The express train between Gdansk and Warszawa derails. Over 200 killed.

1950s

• 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 1950 – Two goods trains get loose and crash with an express train at Hjuksebø, Norway, at the Sørlandsbanen line. 15 killed.
• October 8 1952 – Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, United Kingdom: Three trains are involved in a crash that kills 112 and injures 340.
• January 15 1953 – The brakes fail on Pennsylvania Railroad's westbound Federal Express passenger 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.
• December 19 1953 – Sydenham Rail Disaster; an electric passenger train of the New South Wales Railways run into the rear of another electric train. Five people were killed and 748 injured.
• December 24 1953 – Šakvice train disaster, Czech Republic: Express train whose crew fell asleep after several bottles of wine hits commuter train at a station, killing 106.
• December 24 1953 – 151 people die in the Tangiwai disaster, when the Tangiwai Railway Bridge over the Whangaehu River collapses as the overnight express train between Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, 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.
• January 23 1955 – Sutton Coldfield train disaster, England: A passenger train rounds a sharp curve too fast and derails; 17 people die as a result.
• April 3 1955 – A train falls into a canyon in Guadalajara, Mexico. 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.
• 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 29 1957 – An express train crashes into an oil train at Montgomery, West Pakistan. 250 killed.
• September 1958 – Drachenfels Railway, Konigswinter, Germany: A rack railway train derails, killing 17.

1960s

• November 16 1960 – Stéblová train disaster, Czech Republic: 118 are killed and 110 injured in a head-on collision.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1963 – Yokohama rail crash, Japan: two commuter trains hit derailed freight train.
• 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.
• July 6 1967 – Langenweddingen, East Germany near Magdeburg: ca. 140 killed, mainly children. Train collides with lorry carrying 15,000 litres of light petrol.
• 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

• February 1 1970 – Buenos Aires, Argentina: An express train crashes into a standing train. 236 killed.
• June 1970 – Oslo, Norway: A train from Skien collides with a shunting locomotive at Lysaker. 30 injured.
• December 1970 – Oslo, Norway: A goods train loses its brakes and crashes into the platform at Østbanen station. The driver is killed.
• October 6 1972 – Saltillo, Mexico: A train with pilgrims derails and catches fire. 208 killed.
• February 22 1975 – The Tretten Crash, Tretten, Norway: A passenger train from Oslo collides with an express train from Trondheim. 27 killed.
• December 22 1975 – Norway: The day train from Bodø to Trondheim, Norway derails. The driver is killed.
• May 4 1976 – near Schiedam, the Netherlands: An international train collides with a local train, killing 24 and injuring 11.
• January 18 1977 – Granville railway disaster, Australia: 83 die when a train derails and hits a bridge support.
• Summer 1977 – near Mo i Rana, Norway: A passenger train at the Nordlandsbanen line derails. The driver is killed.
• February 22 1978 – Waverly Tank Car Explosion, Waverly, Tennessee, United States: Two derailed cars containing Liquified Petroleum Gas violently explode on Louisville and Nashville Railroad. 15 fatalities and 56 injuries result from fiery explosion. Numerous buildings in Waverly's business district destroyed.
• 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, Canada: 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 largest peacetime evacuation in North American history.

1980s

• 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 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.
• January 21 1985 – Gary, Indiana, United States: During a period of track maintenance, the Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad dispatcher sends two trains onto the same track segment at the same time, causing a head-on collision of the two trains.
• 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.
• February 8 1986 – Hinton train collision, Dalehurst, Alberta, Canada: 23 lives lost when VIA Rail passenger train and CN freight train collide head-on.
• 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.
• January 4 1987 – Chase, Maryland, United States: An Amtrak train collides with a Conrail freight locomotive and is derailed, killing 16 passengers.
• April 1 1987 – Burnham, Indiana, 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.

• File:Clapham Junction Railway Accident - Hidden Report cover - HMSO.jpg

  The cover of the investigation's report on the Clapham Junction rail crash.

  December 12 1988 – Clapham Junction rail crash, London, England: wrong side failure, 35 dead, more than 100 injured
• 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.
• June 4 1989 – Ufa train disaster, Russia: Hundreds are killed (400-1000) when two trains pass near a leaking natural gas line, which explodes.

1990s

1990

• January 4 1990 – An overcrowded passenger train collides with a standing freight train in the Sindh province, Pakistan. Over 210 killed.
• April 16 1990 – Two local passenger trains collide at Lysaker, Oslo, Norway. 5 killed.
• 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.

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 in the accident.
• March 28 1993 – Busan train distater, Busan, South Korea: An express train derailed and 79 people were killed.
• September 22 1993 – Big Bayou Conot train disaster, Alabama, United States: Barge causes bridge collapse plunging the train into the water, killing 47.
• October 3 1993 – A local train collides with a shunting locomotive at Nordstrand, Oslo, Norway. 5 killed.

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.

1995

• August 20 1995 – A passenger train collides with a train that had stopped after it had run over a cow in Firozabad, India. 358 killed.
• October 9 1995 – Palo Verde derailment, Arizona, United States: One person is killed and 78 injured when Amtrak Sunset Limited derailed by saboteurs

1996

• January 14, 1996 – Hines Hill train collision, Australia: Signal Passed At Danger at a crossing loop causes a head on collision
• 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.

1997

• 23 October, 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.
• 19 September 1997 – Southall rail crash, London, United Kingdom. Passenger train collides with a freight train, killing six.

1998

• 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.

• File:Ice image1 nf.jpg

  Destroyed cars from the Eschede train disaster.

  June 3 1998 – Eschede train disaster, Germany: Part of a high-speed ICE train derails and strikes a bridge, killing 101.
• 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.

1999

• March 15 1999 – Bourbonnais train accident, Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States: A southbound Amtrak train out of Chicago, Illinois, hits a loaded semi truck at a grade crossing and derails; the accident results in 11 fatalities and over 100 injuries.
• August 2 1999 – Two express trains collide head-on in Gauhati, India. Over 285 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.
• October 5 1999 – Ladbroke Grove (Paddington) rail disaster, United Kingdom: Two trains collide head-on, killing 31 and injuring 400.
• 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.

2000s

2000

• January 4 2000 – Åsta in Åmot, Norway: Two passenger trains collide on Rørosbanen killing 19 people.
• February 6 2000 – Bruehl, Germany: A night express train speeds in a construction area and derails at Bruehl station, 9 die.
• March 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.
• October 17 2000 – Hatfield rail crash, United Kingdom: Part of a rail shatters as a passenger train passes over it; four people are killed, 70 are injured.
• November 11 2000 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A funicular train catches fire in a tunnel, 155 die.

2001

• 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, and 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.
• November 15 2001 – Andersonville, Michigan (northwest of Detroit), United States: Two Canadian National Railway trains collide head-on.
• December 23 2001 – 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.

2002

• January 18 2002 – Minot, North Dakota, United States: A Canadian Pacific Railway train derails at 1.40 am C.S.T. near a residential area west of Minot; the derailment results in a massive anhydrous ammonia leak. Seven of 15 tank cars rupture, releasing 200,000+ 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.
• February 20 2002 – Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt: A train packed to double capacity catches fire, 373 die.
• May 2 2002 – Firmdale, Manitoba, Canada: An eastbound Canadian National 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 derailed at high speed; seven killed, 11 seriously injured.
• June 24 2002 – Igandu train disaster, Tanzania: Nearly 300 are killed when a passenger train rolls backwards into a goods train.

2003

• January 31 2003 – Waterfall train disaster, Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia: A train derails as it rounds sharp curve at too high a speed. It is possible that the driver had a heart attack.
• 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: The brake system of Alishan Forest Railway broke. The trains ran into valley. 17 were killed and 173 were injured.
• March 20 2003 – Roermond, Netherlands: A Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) passenger train collides head-on with a freight train; the NS driver was killed and 6 passengers were seriously injured.
• 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.

2004

• 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.
• October 23 2004 – Niigata Prefecture, Japan: A Joetsu Shinkansen train derails due to the Chuetsu Earthquake. It is the first time a Shinkansen derails while in service.
• November 3 2004 – Washington, DC, United States: One subway train lost its brakes and rolled backwards into the Woodley Park-Zoo Station, slamming into another train. Twenty people were injured in the crash.

• File:Uftonnervetcrash.jpg

  Wreckage at the Ufton Nervet rail crash.

  November 6 2004 – Ufton Nervet rail crash, United Kingdom: A High Speed Train hits a stationary car on a level crossing (an apparent suicide attempt) at 100mph and derails. Five train passengers and the drivers of both the train and the car are killed; over 100 passengers are injured.
• November 15 2004 – Bundaberg Tilt Train Derailment, Berajondo (near Bundaberg), Queensland, Australia: The world's fastest narrow-gauge train derailed at 108km/h. Remarakably, no-one was killed or permanently injured. The cause of the accident is still unknown and an investigation is still under way.
• 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.

2005

• January 6 2005 – 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. [2] - 9 killed.

Aerial view of the Graniteville train disaster accident scene. Courtesy of EPA

• January 12 2005 – 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 17 2005 – Bangkok, Thailand: Two metro trains on the near-new Blue line collide. About 140 passengers injured.
• January 26 2005 – 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.
• April 14 2005 – Solon Springs, Wisconsin, United States: Nineteen cars of a southbound Union Pacific train operating on Canadian National Railway south of Superior, Wisconsin, derail and cause a forest fire near the town of Solon Springs, Wisconsin.
• April 21 2005 – Vadodara rail collision, India: collision between freight and passenger express train - 18 killed.
• April 25 2005 – Amagasaki rail crash, Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan: A train derailed on sharp curve smashes into an apartment building. 106 were killed and 549 were injured.
• April 26 2005 – Polgahawela level crossing collision, Sri Lanka: a bus tries to beat the train at a level crossing; at least 35 people are killed.
• May 3 2005 – Galt (about 50 miles / 80 km east of the Quad Cities), Illinois, United States: Union Pacific Railroad's transcontinental mainline is blocked when a train derails and destroys the 140 ft (43 m) bridge across Elkhorn Creek. [3]
• May 9, 2005 – Biaora level crossing accident, Biaora, India: Eight people die when a bullock-cart is struck by a train at a grade crossing.
• May 19, 2005 – Lampung, Indonesia: A fully loaded passenger train crashes into a parked freight train at a station. [4]
• June 12 2005 – between Uzunovo and Bogatishchevo, Russia (about 153 km / 95 miles from Moscow): At 0710 local time a bomb explodes derailing the locomotive and first four passenger cars of the Grozny-Moscow train. Investigators found wires leading from the explosion site to a control panel and hideout about 50 m (164 ft) from the site. [5]
• June 16 2005 – between Zubtsov and Aristovo, Russia on a single-track section of the Rzhev-Shakhovskaya line about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Moscow: 26 of 69 tank cars derail at a speed of 70 kilometers/hour sending a very large amount of their heavy fuel oil cargo into the ground and contaminating Moscow's water supply and the Volga River after flowing down the Vazuza River from the accident site. About 641 meters of damaged track are subsequently replaced. It is not yet known if this incident is related to the bomb that was exploded on June 12, 2005 that derailed a passenger train. [6] [7] [8] [9]
• 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 13 2005 – 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 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)
• August 2 2005 – Raleigh, North Carolina, United States: A dump truck drives around the gates at a grade crossing and is struck by Amtrak's northbound Carolinian passenger train. Both occupants of the dump truck died at the scene, 15 of the train's occupants suffered minor injuries, and the remaining 182 passengers are bussed to another train to continue their journey to New York City. (WRAL)
• August 3 2005 – 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)
• August 16 2005 – Swanscombe, Kent, England: One maintenance of way employee on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link dies and a second is treated for severe burns when a fire erupts at a railway tunnel construction site. About 50 firefighters responded to the blaze around 7:15 PM local time. Initial reports indicate the cause of the fire may be a collision between two work trains. Regular Eurostar service between England and France is unaffected by the incident. (Edinburgh News) (Reuters UK)

See also

• List of accidents by death toll, category "other"
• List of disasters
• List of road accidents - includes level crossing accidents.
• List of British rail accidents
• 2005 in rail transport
• Years in rail transport

External links

• NTSB Publications – The United States National Transportation Safety Board official reports of transportation accidents.
• RSSB Publications – UK Rail Safety and Standards Board

References

• Associated Press (April 14 2005), Freight train derails, burns in northwestern Wisconsin. Retrieved April 14 2005.
• Associated Press (May 4 2005), Investigators look for cause of Illinois derailment. Retrieved May 5 2005.
• Browder, Cullen; Mason, Scott and LaGrone, Paul; WRAL (August 2 2005), Two Dead After Amtrak Train Hits Dump Truck. Retrieved August 3 2005.
• Casper Star-Tribune (June 22 2005), BP Amoco Timeline. Retrieved June 22 2005.
• CBS, (June 21 2005), Deadly Train-Truck Crash In Israel. Retrieved August 13 2005.
• BBC: Europe's history of rail disasters
• BBC: World's worst rail disasters
• Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad accidents. Retrieved January 27 2005.
• (May 2002), CSX recognizes human error, Trains Magazine, p. 22.
• Edinburgh Evening News (August 17 2005) Railway worker killed in Channel Tunnel link blaze. Retrieved August 17 2005.
• IOL Asia (May 19, 2005), Hundreds injured in train accident. Retrieved May 20, 2005.
• Kathimerini, English Edition (August 2 2005), Truckdriver killed after collision on railroad crossing near Kilkis. Retrieved August 3 2005.
• Molloy, Tim; Associated Press (January 26 2005) Suicide try triggers California commuter rail tragedy, police say. Retrieved January 26 2005.
• Pravda (June 16, 2005), Train carrying petroleum derailed not far from Moscow. Retrieved June 16, 2005.
• Red for Danger, L.T.C. Rolt, David & Charles, 1966, ISBN 0715372920 (Current edition ISBN 0750920475)
• Reuters UK (August 16 2005), One feared dead in rail tunnel fire in south. Retrieved August 17 2005.
• RIA Novosti (June 16, 2005), BACKGROUND - Fuel oil spreads after a train derails in the Tver Region. Consequences still vague. Retrieved June 16 2005.
• RIA Novosti (June 13, 2005), Railroad traffic restored. Retrieved June 13, 2005. Details bomb on Russian railroad, June 12.
• RIA Novosti (June 16 2005), URGENT: Fuel oil in Volga after railroad accident near Rzhev, deputy prosecutor. Retrieved June 16 2005.
• (May 2005), "Scanner - Rail at fault?", Trains Magazine, p. 21.
• Train wrecks in India
• Trains NewsWire (August 1 2005), Chinese passenger train derailment kills 5. Retrieved August 3 2005.
• Trains News Wire (May 4 2005), Illinois derailment closes UP Overland Route main line. Retrieved May 5 2005.
• Fox Valley tied to tragic train wrecks, The Herald News Online, March 20, 1999 (ChicagoSuburbanNews.com). Retrieved May 31 2005.