List Of British Rail Accidents
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This lists significant accidents involving railway rolling stock, including crashes, fires and incidents of crew being overcome by locomotive emissions. Other railway-related incidents such as the
King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire occurred in 1987 at King's Cross St Pancras tube station in London, England, causing 31 fatalities. It began under a wooden escalator before spreading into the ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately ...
of 1987 or the
7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on Transport in London, London's public transport during the ...
are not included.


Worst accidents

The worst accident was the Quintinshill rail disaster in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
in 1915 with 226 dead and 246 injured. The second worst, and the worst in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
's peacetime history, was the 1952 Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, which killed 112 people and injured 340. The death toll from the 1957 Lewisham rail crash was 90; for the 1889
Armagh rail disaster The Armagh rail disaster happened on 12 June 1889 near Armagh, County Armagh, in Ireland, when a crowded Sunday school excursion train had to negotiate a steep incline; the steam locomotive was unable to complete the climb and the train stalled ...
(the worst in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
) it was 80; and for the 1879 Tay Bridge disaster it was 75. The worst rail accident in
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
was the 1868 Abergele rail disaster, with 33 dead. The accident on the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
with the highest loss of life was the
Moorgate tube crash The Moorgate tube crash occurred on 28 February 1975 at 8:46 am on the London Underground's Northern City Line; 43 people died and 74 were injured after a train failed to stop at the line's southern terminus, Moorgate station, and crashed ...
which occurred on the Northern City Line in 1975 (which was at the time part of the London Underground Network), in which 43 died.


Mainline rail


1830–1922: Pre-grouping

Before 1830: the
1815 Philadelphia train accident The 1815 Philadelphia train accident occurred on 31 July 1815, in Philadelphia, County Durham, England, when an early experimental railway locomotive, Brunton's ''Mechanical Traveller'', suffered a boiler explosion. This engine, also known as ...
, a
boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety val ...
of "Brunton's Mechanical Traveller" on a
plateway A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later. Plateways consisted of L-shaped rails, where the flange ...
killed 16 people, mainly sightseers.


1923–1947: The Big Four (railway companies)


1948–1994: British Railways/Rail


1995 onwards: Post-privatisation

There were 732 deaths from 146 accidents in 46 years when there was national rail provided by the state between 17 April 1948 and 15 October 1994. There were 92 deaths from 50 accidents in 28 years when there was privatised rail between 31 January 1995 and 24 August 2021.


London Underground

Despite the high passenger numbers on the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
, and the substantial age of some its infrastructure, passenger fatalities due to train-related incidents are exceptionally rare. The last train collision that killed more than one person was the
Moorgate tube crash The Moorgate tube crash occurred on 28 February 1975 at 8:46 am on the London Underground's Northern City Line; 43 people died and 74 were injured after a train failed to stop at the line's southern terminus, Moorgate station, and crashed ...
in 1975. Between 1999 and 2020 there were seven derailments, which caused injuries (some severe) but no fatalities. The Chancery Lane derailment in 2003 led to a closure of the Central line whilst urgent safety checks were undertaken. Fatal accidents killed one person each in 2020, 2022 and 2023; two were passengers who fell onto the tracks and one was in a car that crashed into the railway line.


Tram and light rail

Fatal accidents have occurred involving
tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
s; the worst took place in
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
in 1917, when a tram ran away down a hill and overturned, killing 11 people and injuring 60. In 2016, a tram derailed on a sharp bend and overturned in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
, killing seven people and injuring 50.


Staff accidents

For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, working on the United Kingdom's railway was very dangerous for many staff. In 1900, for example, for every one passenger killed or injured in a crash, there were seven worker casualties. This amounted to 15,698 staff injuries and 631 fatalities. The 'Railway Work, Life & Death' project is uncovering details of British and Irish staff accidents before 1939 and making them freely available, via a database of transcriptions of staff accident investigations and other related records. At March 2023, the database documented nearly 50,000 individuals. The National Railway Museum has an online exhibit, looking at railway safety—with a focus on the staff.


Gallery

File:Sonning cutting.jpg, Sonning Cutting, close to the scene of the accident, 24 December 1841. Workmen appear to be repairing bank-slips on the southern side of the cutting at left. Print by JC Bourne published in 1846 Image:Dee bridge disaster.jpg, The Dee bridge after its collapse, 24 May 1847 Image:Staplehurst rail crash.jpg, Staplehurst rail crash, 9 June 1865 Image:Shipton1.jpg, Shipton-on-Cherwell Disaster, 24 December 1874 Image:Tay bridge down.JPG, Fallen Tay Bridge from the north, 28 December 1879 File:Inverythan Bridge Collapse.png, Inverythan crash, 27 November 1882 Image:Esholt Junction rail crash - 1892.jpg, Esholt Junction rail crash, 9 June 1892 Image:Lawrence Hill Station Bristol 2000.jpg, Royal Mail train crashes into the back of a loaded coal train at Lawrence Hill station, 1 November 2000 Image:VirginPendolinoDerailment.jpg, Grayrigg derailment, 23 February 2007


See also

* Great Western Railway accidents * Lists of rail accidents by country *
Lists of rail accidents A rail accident (or train wreck) 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, when the wheels of train come off the ...
*
List of accidents and disasters by death toll This is a list of accidents and disasters by death toll. It shows the number of fatalities associated with various explosions, structural fires, flood disasters, coal mine disasters, and other notable accidents caused by negligence connected ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Rail Accident Investigation Branch – Investigation Reports

Health & Safety; Office of Rail and Road



Railways Archive

The Railways Archive



BBC News – Chronology of British Rail Crashes




* {{Authority control