Category Archives: Train crashes

Greece train crash: at least 40 killed and dozens injured in collision

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Up to 60 people missing as rescuers continue efforts to find survivors of head-on crash near Larissa

The death toll from the head-on collision of two trains in central Greece has risen to at least 40 people, with many more missing, according to the state broadcaster, while several of those wounded remained in a critical condition.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) reported that 50-60 people were still unaccounted for after the crash in the town of Tempe.

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Ohio residents demand answers two weeks after toxic chemical train derailment

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Train operator Northern Southern failed to appear at community meeting in East Palestine, citing concern for their staff’s safety following disaster

Hundreds of residents of the Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment and the subsequent burning of some of the hazardous chemicals on board, have questioned officials over potential health hazards.

Norfolk Southern, the rail operator, did not join Wednesday night’s meeting in East Palestine – which was billed as an open house gathering with local, state and federal officials – because of concerns for their staff’s safety.

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Scuffles at trial of men accused of causing 2013 train crash in Spain

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Defendant punched as hearings get under way into Santiago de Compostela derailment that killed 80 people

The trial of two men charged with causing the deaths of 80 people in Spain’s deadliest train crash in decades has begun, with one of the defendants being punched as tensions boiled over outside the courtroom.

Francisco José Garzón, who was driving the high-speed train when it crashed near the north-west Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on 24 July 2013, faces four years in prison if convicted, as does Andrés Cortabitarte, a former safety director at Spain’s state-owned rail infrastructure company, Adif.

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At least three dead as train derails in Alps in southern Germany

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Authorities say a number of others injured in crash near resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen

A train has derailed in the Alps in southern Germany, leaving at least three people dead and a number of others injured, authorities said.

The train heading for Munich derailed at about 12.15pm on Friday in Burgrain, near the resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, according to federal police. Some carriages apparently ended up on their side. The cause was not immediately clear.

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Does Salisbury train crash point to wider problems on the network?

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Analysis: while UK railways have an excellent safety record, dangerous incidents have been increasing in frequency

Rail accident inspectors have said it is too early to release indications of what caused the collision between two trains at Salisbury on Sunday evening. But by now CCTV and data logs from signals and trains are likely to have given them a strong idea of what led the Great Western and South Western Railway services to crash into each other.

That might prove to be a fault with the signal; or that a train passed a red light; that the brakes failed; or even that the brakes worked but the wheels slid, in the season when leaves on the line can make the rails treacherous.

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At least three killed in Amtrak train derailment in Montana

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The cause of the accident was not immediately clear and federal safety authorities will investigate

At least three people were killed on Saturday afternoon when an Amtrak train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed in north-central Montana, toppling several cars onto their sides, authorities said.

The westbound Empire Builder train derailed at about 4pm near Joplin, a town of about 200, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said. The accident scene is about 150 miles north-east of Helena and about 30 miles from the border with Canada.

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Dozens killed after two trains collide in Pakistan – video report

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Two express trains have collided in southern Pakistan, killing at least 38 passengers, as rescuers and villagers worked to pull the dead and injured from the wreckage. The incident occurred early on Monday when the Millat Express derailed and was hit by the Sir Syed Express train soon afterwards. Mobile phone footage from the site in Ghotki district showed mangled wreckage, with several railway carriages lying on their side. It is not clear what caused the derailment

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Pakistan train crash: dozens killed as express services collide

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At least 38 people killed and up to 20 passengers trapped in wreckage of derailed Millat Express

Two express trains have collided in southern Pakistan, killing at least 38 passengers, as rescuers and villagers worked to pull the dead and injured from the wreckage.

Up to 20 passengers were still trapped in the wreckage of the Millat Express train, said Umar Tufail, a police chief in Ghotki district in Sindh province, where the collision occurred before dawn.

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Taiwan train crash: dozens dead after express service derails in tunnel

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At least 50 people die as train crashes near Hualien City at the start of holiday weekend

Dozens of people have been killed in a train derailment on the east coast of Taiwan, the island’s worst rail disaster in decades.

The 408 Taroko Express was travelling south on the first day of a long weekend, carrying hundreds of passengers towards Taitung, when it crashed inside a tunnel just outside Hualien City at about 9.30am local time, authorities said.

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Stonehaven tragedy highlights threat to rail from climate crisis

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Fatal derailment after heavy rains exposes growing danger posed by extreme weather

The derailment of a ScotRail train in rural Aberdeenshire with the loss of three lives adds Stonehaven to a grim roll call of names, instantly identifiable with tragedy to those associated with the UK railway: the likes of Potters Bar, Hatfield and Grayrigg. It will be no consolation at all to those grieving lost colleagues, spouses and parents to know just how far apart such tragic events have lately become.

The last time a passenger died in a train crash in the UK was the Grayrigg derailment in 2007, when a Virgin high-speed train went down an embankment in Cumbria, miraculously with just one casualty. Before Wednesday, the last time a driver had been killed in a crash was in 2004; and the last disaster with multiple fatalities, Potters Bar, was as far back as 2002.

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Several killed in rail incident in Denmark

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Reports say tarpaulin from a freight train hit a passenger train going the other way

Danish police say several people have been killed in a train accident on a bridge linking the central islands of Zealand and Funen.

Police did not provide further details about those killed or the number of people injured in Wednesday’s incident, which took place at about 8am local time.

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