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The worst rail disaster in world history by death toll is the 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck. On December 26, 2004, a crowded express train was destroyed after being swept away by the tsunami created as a result of the Indian Ocean earthquake. Fatalities numbered more than 1,700.
On June 6, 1981, over 500 people lost their lives when a passenger train traveling from Mansi to Saharsa in the Indian state of Bihar derailed off a bridge and plunged into the Bagmati River. Most of the victims were swept away in flood waters.
Nearly 700 French soldiers on their way home for leave from the Italian Front in the First World War perished when the troop train they were traveling in derailed while descending the Maurienne valley on the Culoz–Modane railway in France on December 12, 1917. Pictured is Mondane station where the train had stopped earlier.
The derailment of an express train traveling from Dire Dawa to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on January 13, 1985 remains the deadliest train crash in Africa. The accident claimed over 400 lives after four of the train's cars plunged into a ravine on the Awash River.
Eighteen people were killed and 39 injured after a passenger train drove full-speed into the back of another on a stretch of line in the Al-Ayyat area of Giza, 40 km (25 mi) southwest of Cairo in Egypt, on October 24, 2009
It was fortunate that only two people died after a train traveling from Enniscorthy to Dublin in Ireland derailed while crossing a viaduct over the Brandy Hole ravine at Bray Head in County Wicklow on August 9, 1867. Twenty-three other passengers were injured.
The derailment of a steam locomotive at Montparnasse railway station (then known as Gare de l’Ouest) in Paris on October 22, 1895 provided the world with one of the most famous photographs in rail transportation history. The express train from Granville had gone past the buffers and crashed clean through the station wall into the street below.
A similar image was captured six years later by a news photographer when a derailed New York subway train on an elevated track nearly crashed down to the street below.
On October 24, 1905, two North Eastern Railway locomotives derailed in an accident on an embankment between Winston and Gainford in County Durham, England. The accident was caused by workmen who had removed a length of rail.
Twenty-eight people died on July 1, 1906 when a London and South Western Railway boat train from Plymouth to London Waterloo station failed to navigate a sharp curve at the eastern end of Salisbury railway station. The train was completely derailed and smashed into a milk train and a light engine.
The occupants of this automobile had a lucky escape when a slow-moving runaway engine shoved this Pullman car through the concrete parapet on the tracks above onto the top of the vehicle, crushing it flat. The accident occurred in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 8, 1950.
Germany's worst rail accident to date happened on June 3, 1998, when a high-speed ICE train derailed at Eschede, northeast of Hanover, and claimed 101 lives.
On December 12, 1988, three commuter trains carrying an estimated 1,300 passengers collided just outside central London at Clapham, Europe's busiest railway junction. The disaster claimed 35 lives and left many others injured.
All 13 train cars derailed with four overturning after an express train traveling from Madrid to Ferrol in Spain came off the tracks at Angrois near Santiago de Compostela on July 25, 2013. It was traveling at a speed of 179km/h (111 mph) on a section of track where the limit is 80km/h (50 mph). The crash cost 79 passengers their lives.
On October 11, 2006, outside the village of Zoufftgen near the Luxembourg border in northern France, five people were killed and several more injured in a head-on collision between a passenger train and a goods train.
A locomotive lies prone on the Südbahn railway line in Blumau, Austria, after a rockfall that took place on July 29, 1897.
In what became known as the Great Train Wreck of 1918, over 100 people lost their lives and a further 171 were injured when on July 9, 1918 two passenger trains collided head-on in Nashville, Tennessee. It remains the worst train accident in US history. Pictured is the crash scene, captured by an unknown staff photographer for The Tennessean.
The worst rail disaster in British history is the multi-train rail crash that occurred on May 22, 1915 at Quintinshill near Gretna Green in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Over 200 people died in the disaster, many of them troops heading for Gallipoli.
The three-train collision at Harrow and Wealdstone station outside central London on October 8, 1952 resulted in the deaths of 112 passengers. It's the second-worst rail crash in the United Kingdom after the Quintinshill rail disaster of 1915.
This photograph shows rescue workers at the site where a train derailed inside a tunnel in the mountains of Hualien, eastern Taiwan, on April 2, 2021. Forty-nine people lost their lives and at least 200 were seriously injured.
This aerial view shows the zigzag aftermath of an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's largest city, on May 13, 2015. The train was headed to New York City from Washington when it fully derailed on a turn after leaving the city, resulting in several casualties.
On June 9, 1865, the Folkstone to London boat train derailed at Staplehurst while crossing a viaduct where a length of track had been removed during engineering works. Ten people were killed. The crash scene was captured in this ingenious composite photograph of three prints. Amongst the survivors was the author Charles Dickens, who was traveling in the only carriage to remain on the rails. He was uninjured, but affected by the incident for the rest of his life.
On September 6, 1914, the First Battle of the Marne commenced. Noted for being the first mechanized attack in history and which resulted in an Allied victory against the Germans, the fighting took place along the Marne River, where this hapless locomotive ended up after being blasted from a bridge during a particularly savage bombardment.
Bemused locals gather at the site where a locomotive ran off the turntable at the Southern Region sheds at Nine Elms in Wandsworth, London, on September 28, 1951. The engine crashed through a brick wall into a garden in Brooklands Passage. No one on the train was injured.
Rescue workers arrive at the scene shortly after a railway crash in Leuven, Belgium, on December 3, 1954, which killed 20 passengers. Many of the victims were German soccer supporters traveling back from Wembley after an international game.
This July 16, 1961 train crash near Weeton in Lancashire, England, cost the lives of seven people, including the train driver, after a passenger train ran into the back of a stationary ballast train.
Budapest citizens peer at the remains of a train carriage that derailed at the entrance to the city's railway station on October 5, 1962.
On May 30, 1869, a collision was deliberately staged between two locomotives for the benefit of revelers gathered at Buckeye Park in Lancaster, Ohio. Pictured after the spectacular "crash" are dozens of men and boys swarming over the wreckage in search of souvenirs.
Sources: (The Guardian) (Britannica) (The New York Times) (BBC) (Los Angeles Times) (History)
See also: The world's worst industrial disasters
Lying twisted in undergrowth like a dead serpent is the remains of a locomotive engine and carriages after a crash near Ukiah, in California, circa 1925.
On February 1, 1996, a 40-car train derailment on the Cajon mountain pass in California resulted in a fire which ignited toxic chemicals and caused a huge explosion. Two people died in the accident while the noxious fumes forced the closure of a major transcontinental highway.
A passenger train in eastern Iran collided with an excavator in South Khorasan province and partially derailed in the early morning of June 8, killing 22 people and injuring 87 more, including some critically. Four of the seven cars in the train derailed in the darkness near the desert city of Tabas, according to Iranian state television. Rescue teams with helicopters and ambulances showed aerial footage with train cars on their side, with some rescuers running to the scene to care for the injured.
A train consisting of three locomotives and 150 freight cars derailed in Ohio on February 3, setting off a massive fire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes in the immediate vicinity. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, about 50 cars left the tracks, 20 of which were carrying hazardous materials. On February 6, evacuation orders remained as railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars with a controlled explosion. Luckily, no injuries were reported from the whole incident.
A head-on train collision in central Greece killed at least 46 and left more than 85 injured. A passenger train traveling from the capital Athens to Thessaloniki was carrying more than 350 people when it collided with a freight train on the night of February 28 in Tempi. “We just heard a bang… the [train] car started spinning, before ending up sideways when we managed to exit,” one passenger told Greek public broadcaster ERT, as per CNN. “It was 10 nightmarish seconds with fire, you couldn’t see much from the smoke,” said another passenger.
At least 288 were killed and over 1,000 injured in after a three-way crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train in eastern Odisha state, India, on June 2 2023. It was one of the worst train accidents in India’s history, and the tragic incident renewed questions about the safety of India's railway system, as it remains one of the largest in the world but was built more than 160 years ago under British colonial rule. Authorities told CNN they suspect the accident was due to a traffic signaling failure
Since the mid-19th century, history has recorded some terrible train crashes. Whether due to brake failures, derailments, accidental fires, or human error, a rail wreck is a traumatic and very often fatal event. Fortunately, accidents are rare occurrences given the advancements in railway safety technology. But they can—and do—still happen.
Click through and be reminded of dramatic train crashes through the ages.
Historic train disasters over the years
Devastating train accidents through the centuries
LIFESTYLE Disaster
Since the mid-19th century, history has recorded some terrible train crashes. Whether due to brake failures, derailments, accidental fires, or human error, a rail wreck is a traumatic and very often fatal event. Fortunately, accidents are rare occurrences given the advancements in railway safety technology. But they can—and do—still happen.
Click through and be reminded of dramatic train crashes through the ages.