On 13 January 1985, an

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations along ...

derailed on a curved bridge over the

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to c ...

of the

Awash River The Awash (sometimes spelled Awaash; Oromo: ''Awaash'', Amharic: አዋሽ, Afar: ''We'ayot'', Somali: ''Webiga Dir'') is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia and empties into a chain of ...

in Awash,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. The official death toll was 428, with more than 500 injuries.

Accident

On 13 January 1985, an express train was travelling from

Dire Dawa Dire Dawa ( am, ድሬዳዋ, om, Dirree Dhawaa, 3=Place of Remedy; so, Diridhaba, meaning "where Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", ar, ديري داوا,) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Oromia and Somali R ...

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, ...

on the rail line from Djibouti. It was overcrowded with approximately 1,000 passengers. Crossing the curved bridge over the

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.train crash A train wreck, train collision, train accident or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an acci ...

in Africa, and was at the time the third-deadliest train accident worldwide.

Cause

The Ethiopian Ministry of Transportation blamed the crash on excessive speed on the curve; the driver was arrested.

References

{{1985 railway accidents 1985 disasters in Ethiopia 1985 in Ethiopia

Rail disaster Classification of railway accidents, both in terms of cause and effect, is a valuable aid in studying rail (and other) accidents to help to prevent similar ones occurring in the future. Systematic investigation for over 150 years has led to the ra ...

Bridge disasters in Africa Derailments in Africa January 1985 events in Africa Rail transport in Ethiopia Railway accidents and incidents in Ethiopia Railway accidents in 1985 Transport disasters in Ethiopia