List of Russian rail accidents

This is a list of Russian rail accidents.

Russian Empire edit

Accident Date Location Killed Injured Type Description
12 August 1840 Shushary, Saint Petersburg 6 78 Collision Two trains collided on Tsarskoye Selo Railway.
4 September 1851 near Klin 4 Collision Two trains collided near Klin.
Tiligul disaster [ru] 24 December 1875 near Odesa ~140 ~120 Derailment A train was derailed.
1879 Imperial train bombing [ru] 19 November 1879 Moscow 0 0 Terrorist accident An imperial train carrying Alexander II of Russia derailed after a bomb was exploded.
Tcherny railway accident 13 July 1882 Tcherny, Tula Oblast 42 35 Derailment A train was derailed near Tcherny during heavy rain.
Borki train disaster 29 October 1888 Near Borki station, Kharkov Governorate 21 68 Derailment An imperial train carrying Alexander III of Russia derailed. Alexander III of Russia was not injured
Valga train disaster [ru] 1 May 1897 Valga 58 ~100 Derailment A military train was derailed. The cause of the crash was the erosion of the embankment by heavy rain and too high speed
1 August 1905 Zima station (Irkutsk Oblast) 20+ 80 Derailment Military train was derailed.
16 December 1916 Between Saint Petersburg and Petrozavodsk 4 6 Derailment A train was derailed due to the overspeed.
13 January 1917 near Petrozavodsk 3 29 Derailment Train carrying Austrian prisoners of war derailed.

Soviet Union edit

Accident Date Location Killed Injured Type Description
October 1920 Pogranichny, Primorsky Krai ~100 Several Derailment At Pogranichny, Primorsky Krai, the mail train from Vladivostok to Harbin, China wrecks killing about 100.[1]
Aerowagon crash 24 July 1921 near Serpukhov 7 15 Derailment An experimental high-speed railcar derailed. Its inventor Valerian Abakovsky was among the victims of the disaster
8 September 1923 Omsk 82 150 Derailment An express train derails at Omsk killing 82 and injuring 150.[2]
October 1924 Fire On the line from Moscow to Ivanovo and Vasenensk, a mixed train carrying passengers and gasoline is destroyed by fire. It was said that of 200 people on board only 27 survived, but the Soviet authorities suppressed the story.[3]
30 March 1925 Moscow 10 92 Collision Two passenger trains collided near Sokolniki station.
5 February 1926 Moscow 5 22 Derailment The train failed to slow down and crashed into the platform of the Leningradsky railway station.
23 September 1929 Zuyevka 30+ Derailment A train from Moscow to Siberia derails at Zuyevka, between Kursk and Kharkiv (now in Ukraine); at least 30 were killed.[4]
16 April 1930 Domodedovo 45 23+ Fire Denatured alcohol spilled and was ignited inside a train. The fire results in the deaths of 45 people and seriously injures 23.[5]
20 May 1930 Chernaya 28 29 Collision At Chernaya on the Moscow-Kazan line, the collision of a passenger and a freight train results in the deaths of 28 and severely injures 29.[5]
29 June 1930 22 28 Derailment A train from Irkutsk to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) is derailed near its destination due to a signalman's error; 22 die and 28 are seriously injured.[5]
Pererva train disaster [ru] 8 September 1930 Moscow 16 48 Collision Two passenger trains collided near Pererva station.
September 1931 Explosion A troop train southwest of Leningrad explodes with heavy loss of life.[6]
2 January 1932 Moscow 68 130 Collision At Kosino, just outside Moscow, a train moving at 40 mph (64 km/h) hits the rear of a stopped suburban train. Although there is time, nobody acts to protect the wreckage and a train of empty freight wagons crashes into it. Altogether 68 people are killed and 130 injured, and 11 railwaymen are arrested for criminal negligence.[7]
16 October 1932 Moscow 36 51 Collision The Black Sea express train, coming from Sochi, struck a freight car that had been mistakenly switched to the express tracks at Lublinov station, eleven kilometers from Moscow, telescoping five cars, three of them passenger coaches.[8]
4 March 1934 Moscow 19 52 Collision A stationary train is struck by another one, killing 19 and injuring 52. The enginemen of the second train are sentenced to death and three other railwaymen to prison.[9]
12 March 1934 Tavatuy, Sverdlovsk Oblast 33 68 Collision A passenger train runs past signals and crashes into a freight train
6 January 1935 Porbelo 23 56 Collision At Porbelo on the railway from Leningrad to Moscow, an express from Leningrad to Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia) is stopped by a broken rail. The following train, an express to Moscow, runs past signals and crashes into it[10].
22 June 1936 Karymskoye 51 52 Collision At Karymskoye, a train is allowed to move while the track ahead is occupied. The rear-end collision kills 51 people and injures 52; the stationmaster is sentenced to death and eight other people to prison.[11]
Vereshchyovka train disaster 24 January 1944 Vereshchyovka, Bryansk Oblast 600-700 ? Derailment A train with soldier and refugees derailed because of bridge collapse.
Circum–Baikal railway disaster [ru] 6 March 1946 Irkutsk Oblast 20 29 Collision Two trains collided in tunnel and caught fire.
Ob Station railway disaster [ru] 7 December 1946 Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast 110 133 Collision A freight train passed a warning signal and crashed into a standing passenger train at high speed.
Drovnino railway disaster [ru] 6 August 1952 Drovnino, Moscow Oblast 109 211 Derailment A passenger train collided with a horse and derailed.
28 April 1957 Chelyabinsk Oblast 32 14 Level crossing crash A passenger bus collided with a train at a railway crossing.[12]
30 June 1958 Leningrad Oblast 30 175 Derailment Suburban train derailed near Toksovo[13].
Minino railway disaster [ru] 2 June 1959 Krasnoyarsk Krai 65 61 Collision Two trains collided and caught fire.
10 May 1962 Moscow 7 32 Collision Two crowded commuter trains collided on National Railway Day while one of them was stopped at a junction in the north part of Moscow. Foreign newspapermen and diplomats living nearby reported seeing scores of ambulances, but Soviet authorities imposed a cover-up.[14]
Novinka railway disaster [ru] 12 June 1965 Leningrad Oblast 5 Collision Two trains collided and caught fire.
28 August 1968 Moscow Oblast ~76 Collision Two trains collided near Domodedovo.
26 July 1972 Tyumen Oblast 58 16 Collision Two trains collided near Lamenskaya station.
Kupavna railway disaster [ru] 5 September 1975 Moscow Oblast 18 35 Collision A suburban train collided with a freight train near Noginsk.
16 February 1976 Jugla 46 61 Collision Three trains collided in Latvian SSR.
Kryzhovka railway disaster [ru] 2 May 1977 Minsk Oblast 19-22 82 Collision A passenger train crashed into a suburban one standing at the platform.
27 February 1977 near Leningrad 17 Fire Younost' train between Moscow and Leningrad caught fire.
6 December 1978 Kurovskoye 2 0 Explosion The watchman, for unspecified reasons, shot at the car, which contained explosives that exploded.
Oka railway disaster [ru] 13 September 1980 Moscow Oblast Collision Two trains collided near Serpukhov.
Kamensk-Shakhtinsky rail disaster 7 August 1987 Kamensk-Shakhtinsky 107 114 Collision A freight train collided with standing passenger train.
Arzamas train disaster 4 June 1988 Arzamas, Gorky Oblast 91 1500 Explosion Three goods wagons carrying a total of 118 tons of hexogen (RDX) exploded on a railway crossing
16 August 1988 Bologoye 31 100+ Derailment Express train Avrora was derailed and caught fire.
Ufa train disaster 4 June 1989 near Ufa 575 700 Explosion Natural gas leaking from a pipeline is ignited by wheel sparks from two trains traveling near the site of the leak; the resulting explosion killed 575 and injured 700 in one of the worst railway accidents in Soviet and Russian history.

Russian Federation edit

Accident Date Location Killed Injured Type Description
Podsosenka train disaster 3 March 1992 Nelidovo, Tver Oblast 43 108 Collision A passenger train inbound from Riga to Moscow failed to stop at a red signal and collided with an oncoming freight train at Podsosenka station near Nelidovo, Tver Oblast; the collision started a fire which spread to the passenger cars.
26 September 1996 Rostov Oblast 22 18 Level crossing crash A collision between a diesel locomotive and a school bus between Bataysk and Salsk in Rostov Oblast. Nineteen are killed, including 18 children. 28 September was declared a national day of mourning.[15]
8 November 2001 Trans-Siberian Railway 0 0 Derailment A nuclear waste train from Bulgaria crashes at midnight between Krasnoyarsk and Kemerovo on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Fourteen of the 20 tanker-wagons derail and the line is closed for about 12 hours. One kilometre of track is damaged.[16]
16 June 2005 Tver Oblast 0 0 Derailment Between Zubtsov and Aristovo in Tver Oblast, 27 of 60 fuel oil tankers bound from Moscow to Riga derail at a speed of about 70 km/h (43 mph), about 300 tonnes of fuel leaks. 641 metres (2,103 ft) of track are destroyed and the Volga River was contaminated briefly. The crash was blamed on poor track maintenance.[17]
12 January 2006 Krasnodar 22 6 Level crossing crash A collision between a bus and a train at an unpatrolled railway level crossing in Krasnodar killed 22 people and badly injured another 6. All the victims were workers at a factory on their way home aboard the bus, which was almost unrecognisable after the crash. The train's engine car derailed but no-one on the train was hurt.[18]
18 September 2006 Voronezh Oblast 0 0 Collision A collision between stations Ikorets and Bityug (Voronezh Oblast), between freight train 3040 moving backward without control with train 2104, stopped at red signal behind. 43 freight cars fully damaged. No one was hurt.
7 July 2013 Krasnodar Krai 0 75 Derailment At least 75 are injured when a train from Novosibirsk to Sochi derails between Krylovskaya and Kislyakovka in Krasnodar Krai.[19]
Naro-Fominsk rail crash 20 May 2014 Naro-Fominsk 6 51 Collision Moldovan Railways passenger train crashed into a Ukrainian Railways freight train that had derailed.
2014 Moscow Metro derailment 15 July 2014 Moscow 24 160 Derailment An outbound train derailed due to a weathered track, killing 24, and injuring 160, while travelling between Park Pobedy and Slavyansky Bulvar stations of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line.
8 August 2015 Mordovia 0 5 Derailment Four railcars of Passenger train number 233 en route from Yekaterinburg to Adler, Krasnodar Krai run off the rails in Mordovia. Five passengers are injured.[20]
8 April 2017 Moscow 0 50 Collision Two passenger trains collide in Moscow, injuring about 50 people.[21]
6 October 2017 Vladimir Oblast 16 5 Level crossing crash A train hits a bus carrying Uzbekistani passengers in Vladimir Oblast and kills 16 people.[22]
20 February 2021 Amur Oblast 0 0 Derailment In Skovorodinsky, Amur Oblast, 25 cars of a coal train derail on the Trans-Baikal Railway. There were no injuries.[23]
22 November 2023 Ulyanovsk region 0 25 Collision Two trains collided.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Terrible Railway Smash in the Far East— 100 Reported Killed", Manchester Guardian, October 25, 1920, p. 6
  2. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 79.
  3. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 80.
  4. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 88.
  5. ^ a b c Semmens 1994, p. 89.
  6. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 90.
  7. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 91.
  8. ^ Wire service, "Casualties Heavy in Russian Train Crash", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 19 October 1932, Volume 39, page 3.
  9. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 93.
  10. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 94.
  11. ^ Semmens 1994, p. 95.
  12. ^ Панкова, Инна (2017-03-31). "«Каша из тел». Рассекречены данные о ДТП, которое произошло 60 лет назад". AiF (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  13. ^ "Железнодорожные трагедии. Катастрофы, произошедшие на пути Петербург-Москва". AiF (in Russian). 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
  14. ^ "Wreck Mars Railway Day in Moscow". Globe and Mail. Toronto. 1962-05-11. p. 2.
  15. ^ Траурные дни в России (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 2007-03-21.
  16. ^ "Spent nuclear fuel arrived at Zheleznogorsk". Bellona. Archived from the original on December 15, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2007.
  17. ^ "Train carrying petroleum derailed not far from Moscow". Pravda. June 16, 2005. Archived from the original on December 1, 2005. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
  18. ^ AP, AFP (January 13, 2006). "Some 22 Killed When Russian Train Collides With Bus". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
  19. ^ "Russian Passenger Train Derails In Krasnodar". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  20. ^ "LIVE: Four railcars of a passenger train en route from Yekaterinburg to Adler ran off the rails in Mordovia on Saturday" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  21. ^ "Russian Officials Say at Least 50 Injured In Moscow Train Crash". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  22. ^ "Train Hits Bus Carrying Uzbek Passengers In Russia, Killing At Least 16". Vladimir, Russia: RadioFreeEurope. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  23. ^ "Coal-Loaded Train Derails, 25 Wagons Come Together in Russia". RayHaber | RaillyNews. 20 February 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.

Bibliography edit

  • Semmens, Peter (1994). Railway Disasters of the World: Principal Passenger Train Accidents of the 20th Century. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-323-2.