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You may be
tempted to think that train travel is safer than air travel, but you
would be wrong. According to a 2013 study, train travel is the second
safest mode of transportation with 0.43 deaths per billion
passenger-miles. Air travel, however, comes on top with 0.07 deaths per
billion passenger miles. That’s not to say that train travel is
dangerous. On the contrary, as already mentioned, train travel is the
second safest transportation mode available, which is why a train
accident is such a big deal as it rarely happens. Unfortunately, when
they do happen, it can cost the lives of many. On today’s list we’ll
take a look at 25 Worst Train Wrecks in History.
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The Mikawashima Train Crash (Japan, 1962)
The Mikawashima train crash was a multiple train crash that happened on
May 3, 1962, near Mikawashima Station in Arakawa, in Tokyo. It involved
a freight train and two passenger trains and cost the lives of more than
160 people. |
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The Tsurumi Rail Accident (Japan, 1963)
Only a year after the Mikawashima train crash, Japan faced the Tsurumi
rail accident that occurred between Tsurumi Station and Shin-Koyasu
Station on the Tōkaidō Main Line in Yokohama, about twenty miles south
of Tokyo. In this incident, two passenger trains collided with a
derailed freight train, killing 162 people. |
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The Aracaju Train Crash (Brazil, 1946)
The Aracaju train crash, which occurred on March 20, 1946, was the
worst-ever rail disaster in Brazil, killing 185 people and injuring
three hundred more. |
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The Tenga Rail Disaster (Mozambique, 2002)
This rail disaster happened at Tenga, twenty-five miles northwest of
Maputo, Mozambique, on May 25, 2002, causing 192 deaths and injuring 167
others. According to local authorities, the crash was a result of human
error and a maneuver that went horribly wrong. |
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The Quintinshill Rail Crash (Scotland, 1915)
This rail disaster occurred on May 22, 1915, near Gretna Green,
Dumfriesshire, Scotland, at Quintinshill. The accident involved five
trains, killing about 226 people and injuring 246. It remains the worst
rail crash in United Kingdom’s history in terms of death toll.
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The El Virilla Train Accident (Costa Rica, 1926)
The El Virilla train accident occurred in Costa Rica on March 14, 1926,
when an overcrowded train carrying mostly farmers and laborers derailed
while crossing a bridge over the Virilla River Canyon. 248 people died
and 93 were injured. It remains to this day the deadliest train accident
in the country’s history.
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The Igandu Train Disaster (Tanzania, 2002)
The Igandu train disaster occurred during the early morning of June 24,
2002, in the African Great Lakes country of Tanzania. In one of the
worst rail accidents in African history, a large passenger train with
over 1,200 people on board rolled backward down a hill into a
slow-moving goods train. In total, 281 people died.
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The Gaisal Train Disaster (India, 1999)
The Gaisal train disaster occurred on August 2, 1999, when two trains
carrying 2,500 people collided at the remote station of Gaisal, 310
miles from the city of Gauhati in Assam. The crash occurred at such high
speeds that the trains actually exploded on impact, killing at least 290
people. |
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