Major Railroad Accidents and
Train Crashes From Around The World
Railroad Accidents From Around The
World
Model railroaders can get frustrated with derailments and accidents that happen
with model railroad layouts. Regardless of how good the track-work is on your model
railroad - derailments still happen.
Sometimes model train derailments are caused by a super-light flatcar being
shoved behind a heavy boxcar, or a hopper with out-of-gauge wheelsets somewhere
waiting to pick a switch-point or be forced off the track. S-curves on model
railroads can also prove a hazard for passenger cars.
Model railroaders generally do their best to avoid derailments, but most
accept
that freak accidents are a part of the hobby.
Sadly, real railroad accidents are far more serious and cause
tragedy and mayhem. Here we look at some of the more serious railroad accidents
from history. Please keep in mind that this is by no means a complete archive.
Railroad Accidents
January 16, 1944 A train crashed in Torro
Tunnel in Leon Province, Spain. More than 500 were killed.
March 2, 1944
A train stalled in tunnel in Salerno, Italy, suffocating passengers. 521 die.
April 3, 1955 300 people are killed when a
train plunges into a canyon in Guadalajara, Mexico.
September 29, 1957
250 people are killed when an express train strikes stationary oil train in
Montgomery, West Pakistan.
More below...
May 3, 1962
160 people were killed in a three-train collision north of Tokyo.
November 9, 1963
Another railroad crash in Japan kills 161 people. It involved a freight train and
two passenger trains in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo.
February 1, 1970 236 people are killed when an express train
rams stationary commuter train on a railroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
October 6, 1972
A train carrying religious pilgrims derails and catches fire in Saltillo, Mexico,
killing 208.
January 4, 1990 More than 210 people killed and hundreds
injured when an overcrowded 16-car passenger train struck a standing freight train
in Sindh Province, Pakistan.
June 8, 1991
A train carrying 800 passengers from Karachi to Lahore slammed into a parked
freight train on a railroad at Ghotki, Pakistan, killing more than 100 people.
Jan. 30, 1993 140 people die when a train plunged into a
river as the bridge collapsed in Kenya, Africa.
Sept. 6, 1994 Two trains collided on a railroad in the
Republic of Congo, killing more than 100 people.
September 22, 1994 A derailing train plunged into a ravine
in Tolunda, Angola, killing 300. Nearly 150
people were injured.
More blow...
Aug. 20, 1995
Around 358 people were killed and another 344 injured when a passenger train
crashed into a train that had apparently stalled after hitting a cow in Firozabad,
India.
Feb. 14, 1998
The derailment of a cargo train caused the explosions of two wagons with fuel
onboard in Cameroon. 220 people died in this railroad accident.
Nov. 26, 1998
More than 200 people were killed in a railroad collision of two trains in
India.
Aug. 2, 1999 285 people die when two express trains collide
head-on in Gauhati, India.
Feb. 20, 2002
Some 361 people were killed and 450 injured in the fire on a crowded passenger
train en route from Cairo to the southern Egyptian city of Luxorin.
May 25, 2002 A train derailment in Mozambique kills 192
people and injures 169.
June 24, 2002
A passenger train and a cargo train collide on a railroad in Tanzania killing
288
people.
Feb 18, 2004
Nearly 300 people were killed and 450 others injured in the explosions caused by
the derailment of a train carrying fuel and industrial chemicals. The explosions
are reported to have damaged several villages near the railroad in Neyshabur,
Iran.
April 22, 2004
161 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed when two trains collide and
explode in a North Korea train station near the Chinese border.
December 26, 2004 Around 2,000 people die when a train is
swamped by the South Asian tsunami in Sri Lanka.
April 25, 2005
A commuter train jumps the tracks south of Tokyo and slams into an apartment
building killing 107 people.
July 13, 2005
More than 100 dead when three trains crash in a station near Ghotki, Pakistan.
