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Train Accident Resources-
Recent Train Accidents From Around the World
2000-2005
Train Accidents can occur anywhere; the following list of train accidents are a small sample of accidents from around the world from 2000 to 2005. If you have been injured in a train accident, fill out this simple form for a free case evaluation.
2000
January 4, 2000 – Åsta in Åmot, Norway: Two passenger trains collide on Rørosbanen killing 19 people.
February 6, 2000 – Bruehl, Germany: A train speeds in a construction area and derails at Bruehl station killing 9.
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 killing 155 people.
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 and derail five miles later, destroying homes and businesses in the vicinity.
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 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; killing 7 people and seriously injuring 11.
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, New South Wales, Australia: A train derails as it rounds sharp curve at an excessive 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 destroys two subway trains, killing approximately 200.
March 1, 2003 – Chiayi, Taiwan: The brake system of Alishan Forest Railway broke. The trains ran into a 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 damaging natural gas lines.
2004
February 18, 2004 – Nishapur, Iran: A train derails and bursts into flames, exploding hours later. Approximately 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 because of 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.
November 6, 2004 – Ufton Nervet rail crash, United Kingdom: A high speed train hits a stationary car on a level crossing (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. Incredibly, 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 freight train to collide with a parked train. 9 people were killed. 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 people were 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, all on the bus.
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.
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.
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.
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 whether this incident is related to the bomb that was exploded on June 12, 2005 that derailed a passenger train.
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 took place. At least seven people die in the accident and more than 200 are injured. (CBS)
July 10, 2005 – Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, Kent. A miniature 15' gauge train collides with a car on a level crossing, killing the voulenteer driver of the train. None of the passengers in the train are killed or seriously injured.
July 13, 2005 – Ghotki rail crash, Ghotki, Pakistan: A chain collision 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.
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 resume their journey by bus.
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 transported to another train to continue their journey to New York City. (WRAL)
August 3, 2005 – Wabamun, Alberta, Canada: 43 cars (most of which are 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 damaged tanks is later found 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.
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.
see also:
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