India’s Rail Horror Stories: The Most Fatal Train Crashes in History
Published by: Vivek Dubey
261 people were killed and 900 injured in a three-train collision in Odisha’s Balasore on Friday. The accident brings the spotlight back on India’s unsafe tracks.
June 1981
At least 800 people are killed when seven rear coaches of an overcrowded passenger train are blown off the track and fall into a river during a cyclone.
July 1988
An express train leaves the rails and plunges into a monsoon-swollen lake near Quilon in southern India, killing at least 106 people.
August 1995
At least 350 people are killed when two trains collide 200 km (125 miles) from Delhi.
August 1999
Two trains collide near Calcutta, leading to the deaths of at least 285 people.
October 2005
Several coaches of a passenger train derail in southern Andhra Pradesh state, near Velugonda. At least 77 people are killed.
July 2011
Around 70 people are killed and over 300 injured when a mail train derails in Fatehpur.
November 2016
Some 146 people are killed and more than 200 injured when an express train derails in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
January 2017
At least 41 people are killed after several coaches of a passenger train go off the rails in southern Andhra Pradesh state.
October 2018
A commuter train runs through a crowd gathered on the tracks for a festival in northern India’s Amritsar city, killing at least 59 people and injuring 57.