List of rail accidents (1970–79)

1970

February 1, 1970 – Argentina – Benavidez rail disaster – A Tucuman–Buenos Aires express train collides with a standing local train south of Benavidez railroad station 18 miles north of Buenos Aires. 142 people are killed, 368 injured (though some sources state 236 killed).

February 17, 1970 – United Kingdom – An electric multiple unit is derailed at Borough Market Junction, London.

March 22, 1970 – United States – – Branford, Connecticut: A Penn Central derailed on the Shore Line Division (now the Northeast Corridor) in Branford center. 25 of the 86 cars on the train derailed, demolishing Branford Station (a passenger shed at the time), and tore up a half mile of track. The cause of the accident was the breakage of an overheated axle on a car loaded with 83 tons of steel, which the weight of dragged the following 24 cars off with it.

May 21, 1970 – United Kingdom – An electric multiple unit is derailed at Audenshaw Junction, Cheshire due to a set of points moving under it. Two people are killed and thirteen are injured. The cause of the accident was irregular practices by a signalman.

June 6, 1970 – United Kingdom – A freight train is derailed at Hildenborough, Kent. The South East Main Line is blocked for three days.

June 21, 1970 - United States - A Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad Company train derailed in downtown Crescent City, Illinois. A propane tank car ruptured and explosions caused fires that destroyed the city center, which included numerous houses and businesses. No lives were lost, although over 60 firefighters and civilians were injured.

July 15, 1970 – United Kingdom – A 4BEP electric multiple unit is in collision with a lorry on a level crossing at Chartham, Kent. Two people are killed.

December 6, 1970 – United States – 1970 Lehigh Valley Railroad derailment – Le Roy, New York: Derailment on the Lehigh Valley Railroad Main Line. No Injuries or fatalities, but toxic chemical spill results in the scene becoming a United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. Over 40 years later, this chemical spill was briefly thought to have caused an illness outbreak in the town.

1971

18 January – Switzerland – Two commuter trains collide between Feldmeilen and Herrilberg. Six people are killed and seventeen are injured.

9 February – West Germany – Aitrang: The TEE 56 Bavaria, a SBB RAm TEE DMU, traveling from Munich to Zürich, derails while passing a curve shortly after Aitrang station. The maximum speed in the curve is 80 km/h, however the train passes the curve at 130 km/h because of frozen water in the air brake. Shortly after the TEE has derailed, a railbus hits the wreckage, coming from the opposite direction. 28 people die, 42 are injured.

26 February – United Kingdom – A passenger train formed of five 2HAP electric multiple units overruns the buffers at Sheerness-on-Sea, Kent and demolishes the station building. One person is killed and ten are injured.

27 May – West Germany – Radevormwald: Dahlerau train disaster – a railbus and a freight train collide on the single track line Wuppertal–Radevormwald near the station Dahlerau. The railbus was a special service carrying schoolchildren of a Radevormwald school. The local dispatcher claims to have signalled a red light to the freight train, whilst the freight train engineer claims to have seen a green one. Ultimately, the case cannot be resolved as the dispatcher is killed in a car accident before the legal hearings start. 41 people die, 25 are injured. Worst rail accident in West Germany during Deutsche Bundesbahn times. The accident leads to the phasing out of the Nachtbefehlsstab, and presses the DB to introduce radio communications on branch lines.

10 June – United States – 1971 Salem, Illinois derailment: Amtrak train number 1, the northbound City of New Orleans derails at 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) near Salem, Illinois, due to a false flange on a flat wheel caused by a seized axle bearing. Eleven people die and over 150 injured in Amtrak's first major incident.

4 July – United Kingdom – A freight train is derailed at Surbiton, Surrey. A passenger train is in collision with the derailed wagons.

21 July – West Germany – Rheinweiler: D 370 from Basel to Copenhagen passes a 75 km/h curve at about 140 km/h and derails, destroying a detached house; 23 people die, 121 are injured. The suspected reason for the accident was a technical failure in the Class 103 engine's automatic cruise control mechanism, leading to the engine gaining too much speed. The cruise control was consequently disabled after the accident and restricted speed zones were equipped with PZB.

26 July – United Kingdom – An electric multiple unit departs from Macclesfield, Cheshire against a red signal and is derailed by trap points.

28 July – United Kingdom – A parcels train is derailed at Guildford, Surrey.

9 August – United States – An Alaska Railroad Work Train has an accident due to a water softened roadbed. No one hurt or killed.

28 August – Switzerland – A train derails in the Simplon Tunnel. Five people are killed.

19 October – United States – Twenty cars of 82-car Missouri Pacific Railroad train No. 94 derail in Houston, Texas; two tank cars loaded with vinyl chloride monomer are punctured, allowing the gas to escape and ignite; 45 minutes after the derailment a third tank car explodes and a fourth is "rocketed" some 300 feet away; a fireman is killed and 50 are injured.

1972

January 9, 1972 – United Kingdom – An engineers train overruns signals and is in a rear-end collision with an electric multiple unit at Horsham, West Sussex. The train crew had failed to perform a brake check before departing from Three Bridges and thus not discovered that the isolation cocks between the two locomotives had not been opened. Fifteen prople are injured.

May 7, 1972 – United Kingdom – Two Class 20 diesel locomotives overrun signals and are derailed by trap points at Barnwood Junction, Gloucester.

June 3, 1972 – Poland – near Ślesin, (near Bydgoszcz): About 12.20 p.m. a train Kolobrzeg–Warsaw derailed on fatigue rail – 12 people killed, 26 injured

June 11, 1972 – United Kingdom – The Eltham Well Hall rail crash. An excursion train took a bend at excessive speed and derailed, at Eltham, London. The driver and five passengers were killed, and 126 people injured. The subsequent investigation established that the driver had been drinking.

June 17, 1972 – France – The lining of a tunnel collapses at Vierzy. Two passenger trains collide with the rubble, are derailed and collide with each other, killing 108 and injuring 240.

October 12, 1972 – United Kingdom – A freight train runs into the rear of an electric multiple unit at Wimbledon, London due to an error by the driver of the freight. Twelve people are injured.

October 30, 1972 – United States – Chicago commuter rail crash, Two Illinois Central Railroad commuter trains collide, after one train, having overshot a station stop, backs into the station. 45 people are killed and over 300 injured.

October 30, 1972 – East Germany – Schweinsburg-Culten: The driver of Ext 346 (Leipzig–Karlovy Vary) does not notice a stop signal on a single-track stretch of line because of dense fog and collides with D 273 heading toward Berlin. 22 people die, 70 are injured.

December 16, 1972 – United Kingdom – two electric multiple unit passenger train are in collision at Copyhold Junction, West Sussex due to the driver of one of them misreading signals. Twenty-five people are injured.

1973

January 30, 1973 – Hungary – Helvecia level crossing disaster Helvécia: A regular local bus disregards crossing signals and booms and is crushed by local train. 37 people killed, 18 injured.

March 9, 1973 – United States – White Haven, Pennsylvania: A runaway train crashes into the Lehigh Valley Railroad Engine House, damaging the southeast corner of the building

March 18, 1973 – United States – East Palestine, Ohio: Amtrak's westbound Broadway Limited derails last five cars in heavy snowstorm, killing one Penn Central employee riding on a pass, and injuring 19 of 167 passengers on board. A spokesman said recent heavy rains may have weakened the roadbed.

May 2, 1973 – United Kingdom – A freight train is derailed inside Disley Tunnel, Cheshire. Six of the sixteen Presflow (bulk cement) wagons that made up the train derailed. The train ran derailed for about 4.4 kilometres (2.7 mi) before breaking apart and stopping.

June 1973 – United Kingdom – A freight train runs away and is derailed at Ashwood Dale, Staffordshire. The line is closed for several months.

July 10, 1973 – East Germany – Leipzig: The driver of a commuter train fails to notice a diversion, causing the train to derail and hit the signal box of Leipzig-Leutzsch railway station. Four people are killed, 25 injured.

27 August 1973 – Poland – near Radkowice, (near Kielce): At 2.42 a.m., a passenger train Zakopane–Warsaw slams into twenty freight cars which break away from freight train – 16 people killed, 24 injured

October 10, 1973 – United States – Bronx, New York: 6:09 commuter train from Brewster derails on Penn Central's Harlem Division at about 7:30am at 155th Street in the Mott Haven Yard. It crashed into a signal gantry bringing it down on top of the train. There were two minor injuries and 40,000 commuters were delayed for up to four hours.

December 17, 1973 – Brazil – According to Brazilian Rede Globo television report, an express passenger train head-on collided with freight train at outskirt of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, killing 18 people, another 40 are injured.

December 20,. 1973 – United Kingdom – Ealing rail crash, London: An express passenger train is derailed at Ealing Broadway station due to a loose door on the locomotive hauling it striking point rodding, causing a set of points to move under the locomotive. Ten people are killed and 94 are injured.

1973 – United Kingdom – An electric multiple unit overruns a signal and is in a rear-end collision with a diesel multiple unit at Shields Junction, Glasgow, Renfrewshire.

1974

February 12, 1974 – United States – A Delaware and Hudson freight train derailed four miles north of Oneonta, New York. Fifty-four people (most of them firefighters) were injured when a propane car that had been punctured when the train derailed and two other propane tanker cars exploded. Several nearby homes were also damaged in the blast.

March 26, 1974 – Switzerland – A train derails at Moutier. Three people are killed and thirteen are injured.

July 19, 1974 – Decatur, Illinois – A tanker car containing isobutaine collides with a Norfolk & Western boxcar causing an explosion killing seven people, injuring 349, and causing $18 million in property damage.

August 12, 1974 – United States – Wake Forest, North Carolina: The Amtrak Silver Star derailed while navigating a curve, injuring 28.

August 13, 1974 – Ireland – Rosslare: Two passenger trains are involved in a head-on collision at Rosslare Strand. Fifteen people are injured.

August 30, 1974 – Yugoslavia – Zagreb train disaster: An express train from Athens to Dortmund derails at Zagreb railway station due to excessive speed. 152 passengers were killed and 90 injured.

October 21, 1974 – Ireland – Gormanston, County Meath, Ireland. A passenger train ran away driverless and collides with another passenger train at Gormanston, a third passenger train is struck by the two wrecked trains. Two people are killed and 29 are injured.

1975

February 22, 1975 – Norway – Tretten: The Tretten train disaster. A passenger train from Oslo collides with an express train from Trondheim. 27 people killed.

February 28, 1975 – United Kingdom – Moorgate tube crash, England: For unknown reasons, the driver fails to stop a London Underground train at Moorgate station and continues into the dead-end tunnel beyond. 43 people are killed.

June 6, 1975 – United Kingdom – Nuneaton rail crash, Warwickshire, England: Collision between two trains at Nuneaton Station, including the London Euston to Glasgow sleeper service. 6 people killed 38 injured.

June 8, 1975 – Germany – Two passenger trains are in a head-on collision between Lenggries and Warngau due to errors by dispatchers at both stations. A total of 38 people are killed and 122 are injured.

July 22, 1975 – Germany – A regional train passed a signal at danger and crashed into a freight train head on, which was crossing the tracks in Hamburg-Hausbruch. 11 passengers were killed, 65 seriously injured. Investigations revealed that the distance between the signal and place of danger was so short that automated braking would not have prevented the crash.

August 6, 1975 – United Kingdom – A freight train runs away and crashes into the rear of another at Weaver Junction, Cheshire. The cause is found to be that insufficient braking power was available, with only eight of twenty wagons being braked. The driver had been informed that all twenty wagons were braked.

September 11, 1975 – United Kingdom – A diesel-electric multiple unit is in collision with an electric multiple unit at Bricklayers Arms Junction, London. One of the trains had passed a signal a danger, but which appeared to the driver to be showing a proceed aspect due to the reflection of sunlight from his cab. Sixty-two people are injured.

September 29, 1975 – Argentina – Two passenger trains collided in Río Luján, killing 32 and injuring 100.

October 20, 1975 – Mexico – A Mexico City Metro train crashed into another at Metro Viaducto station. From 31 to 39 people are killed, and between 71 and 119 are injured. To date, it is considered the worst accident recorded into the system.

October 26, 1975 – United Kingdom – A passenger train comes to a stand at Lunan, Angus due to the failure of the locomotive hauling it. Assistance is sent for, but an incorrect location is given. The rescue locomotive crashes into the rear of the train at 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). One person is killed and 42 are injured.

December 12, 1975 – Canada – A Toronto Transit Commission bus, whose rear doors are working erratically due to a missing wire-retaining screw, is immobilized by its own safety features when the doors open on a level crossing on St. Clair Avenue near Scarborough GO Station. Before all the passengers can be evacuated, a GO Train running express from Pickering to Toronto smashes into it. 9 passengers from the bus are killed and about 20 injured.

December 31, 1975 – Ireland – Near Gorey, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, a passenger train derails on a bridge that was damaged by a vehicle crashing into it. Five people are killed, 43 are injured.

June 12, 1975, – Canada – Simcoe, Ontario – a freight train loaded with newly-built cars passing through town went off the tracks right at the bridge that spanned the road below. The locomotive went nose down onto the pavement and burst into flames. Many of the 14 bi- and tri-level railcars behind it derailed. Two men in the cab died, a third was seriously injured with burns, and the town was effectively split in half, Norfolk Street being the main north-south artery into and out of town.

1976

January 2, 1976 – United Kingdom – A light engine runs into the rear of a parcels train at Worcester Tunnel Junction, Worcestershire. Both crew are killed. Time Interval Working was in operation due to trees bringing down the telegraph lines between Droitwich Spa and Worcester Tunnel Junction signal boxes.

February 1976 – Switzerland – A head-on collision on the Yverdon-Ste Croix line kills seven and injures 40.

February 7, 1976 – United States – A Baltimore & Ohio freight train strikes a pickup truck an unprotected grade crossing in Beckemeyer, Illinois at about 6:50pm. 12 people are killed, mostly children; 3 others are injured.

March 4, 1976 – United Kingdom – A bomb explodes on an empty electric multiple unit at Cannon Street, London. Eight people in an adjacent train are injured.

May 4, 1976 – Netherlands – Schiedam train disaster near Schiedam: An international train collides with a local train, killing 24 people and injuring 11.

May 6, 1976 – United Kingdom – An electric multiple unit is derailed at Borough Market Junction, London.

June 25, 1976 – United Kingdom – Two diesel multiple units collide at Luton, Bedfordshire after one of them overruns signals.

July 23, 1976 – Switzerland – A Riviera Express train derails at Brig. Six people are killed and 32 are injured.

October 10, 1976 – Mexico – A two-car Chihuahua–Los Mochis passenger train collides head-on with a standing freight train, and plunges to the bottom of 60-feet embankment, near Barranca del Cobre, Chihuahua, killing 24 people and injuring 60. Some of the passengers were riding on the roof. The two car autovia emerged from a tunnel and crashed head-on into a moving freight train. No passengers were riding on the roof; that would have been impossible. Railroad employees reported seeing about 60 cadavers; farm laborers' deaths were not counted by authorities. The autovia engineer was killed and his brother, the conductor, was prosecuted for having by-passed a required siding stop. This edit was prepared by an eye-witness passenger.

November 3, 1976 – Poland – About 2.05 a.m., a Lublin–Wrocław express, on which the train crew had fallen asleep, rams a standing passenger train at Julianka railroad station, Kielce, Swietokrzyskie, killing 25 people and injuring 79.

1977

January 18, 1977 – Australia – Granville railway disaster: 83 people die when a train derails and hits a bridge support. The bridge then falls, crushing part of the train. This is Australia's worst railway accident.

February 4, 1977 – United States – Chicago Loop derailment, Chicago, Illinois: In the worst accident in the system's history, a Chicago Transit Authority elevated train motorman disregards cab signals and rear ends another train on the Loop curve at Wabash and Lake Streets during the evening rush hour. Eleven people are killed and over 180 injured as four cars of the rear train derail and fall to the street below. The motorman was discovered to have marijuana in his possession, although it was never determined if he was impaired in any way.

March 16, 1977 – United States – A freight train traveling Love, Arizona derailed, causing a tank car transporting butane to explode.

June 27, 1977 – East Germany – Lebus: Because of a dispatcher operating under the influence of medication at Boosen, a holiday train from Zittau to Stralsund is diverted onto the branch line to Kietz, where it crashes with a freight train. 28 people die in the accident, including the train crew of the holiday train; the dispatcher is jailed for five years.

July 9, 1977 – Poland – Psie Pole, near Wrocław: About 8.00 a.m. express "German-Russian Friendship" Berlin-Moscow collides with locomotive which passed signal at danger: 11 people killed (maybe: 32), 15 injured (maybe: 40)

September 5, 1977 – United Kingdom – Due to faulty wiring in a lineside relay cabinet, a mail train and a passenger train are involved in a head-on collision at Farnley Junction, Leeds, West Yorkshire. Two people are killed and fifteen are injured.

October 12, 1977 – – United Kingdom – A freight train is derailed at Mottingham, London.

November 12, 1977 – Mexico – Nacional de Mexico passenger train collides with a gasoline truck at a grade crossing south of Cuidad Juarez, killing 37 people.

November 25, 1977 – Canada – A second propane tank car exploded at the site of a freight train derailment northwest of Suffield, Alberta and police sealed off a two-square-mile area around it in case a third car explodes. Twenty-five cars remained on the track and most of the derailed cars were on fire. No one lives in the immediate area of the derailment and the three members of the CP Rail crew escaped injury.

November 27, 1977 – East Germany – Bitterfeld: The boiler of a Class 01 steam engine explodes for lack of water, killing 9 and injuring 45.

1978

February 6, 1978 – Canada – Work was proceeding on clearing a 26-car derailment at Balgonie, Saskatchewan on the CP main line east of Regina. The freight jumped the tracks when it plowed into a snowdrift.

February 20, 1978 – Canada – Doug Bennets, CPR's Sudbury office manager, says a buildup of ice under a tie plate loosened a rail and forced 39 cars behind the train's second diesel engine into a ditch near Burwash, Ontario just before 9 p.m. Monday. The first 15 units to go over were loaded with cattle. There were also a number of lumber and paper cars and 30 empties on the train. Five hundred and fifty animals perished in the mishap and 200 wounded animals were shot by the Sudbury Humane Society.

February 22, 1978 – United States – Waverly tank car explosion, Waverly, Tennessee: A Louisville and Nashville Railroad freight train derails; one tank car containing liquefied petroleum gas explodes two days later, killing 16 people and injuring 43. Numerous buildings in downtown Waverly are destroyed or damaged by force of the blast and resulting fires.

February 25, 1978 – Argentina – A passenger train collides with a truck in Sa Pereira, Santa Fe, killing 55 and injuring 56.

April 15, 1978 – Italy – Due to a landslide, the locomotive of a Lecce–Milan train collides with a Bolzano-Rome train in Murazze di Vado, Bologna, making it derail. 48 people die and 76 are injured.

July 6, 1978 – United Kingdom – Taunton train fire, Taunton, England: A fire aboard a British Rail sleeping car travelling from Penzance to Paddington station in London kills 12 people. Investigation shows that the fire was caused by the careless placement of a plastic bag of linens against a heater in the car's vestibule.

September 10, 1978 – United States – As the result of a hotbox, 15 cars of a Conrail freight train derailed at a grade crossing in Miamisburg, Ohio, demolishing a house and killing its three occupants. The ensuing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the local police department resulted in a ruling of homicide in the deaths by the Montgomery County Coroner.

September 1978 – United Kingdom – A freight train runs away at Chinley, Derbyshire and is derailed by trap points.

October 12, 1978 – United Kingdom – an IRA bomb exploded on a train near Belfast Central station before it was fully evacuated, killing a woman.

1979

March 1, 1979 – United Kingdom – A freight train runs away and is derailed by trap points at Peak Forest, Derbyshire.

April 8, 1979 – United States – Louisville and Nashville Railroad freight train No. 403 derails 29 cars between Milligan, Florida and Crestview, Florida, United States at ~0800 hrs. and punctured tank car leaks anhydrous ammonia, injuring 14.

July 10, 1979 – Italy – A Pompeii-Naples and Naples-Herculaneum commuter train crashed violent head-on collision under shadow of Under Vesuvius Line, in Cercola near Mount Vesuvius, Naples, killing 14 people and injuring 70.

August 29, 1979 – Netherlands – Nijmegen train disaster; 8 people die when two passenger trains (one of which wasn't carrying passengers) collide head-on at Nijmegen.

August 29, 1979 – United Kingdom – A High Speed Train is derailed at Northallerton, North Yorkshire due to a seized wheelset on one of the power cars.

October 2, 1979 – United States – The Southwest Limited derails at Lawrence, Kansas. Of the 30 crew and 147 passengers on board, two people are killed and 69 are injured. The cause is excessive speed on a curve. Underlying causes are that the engineer is unfamiliar with the route, and that signage indicating the speed restriction has been removed during track repairs.

October 3, 1979 – Ireland – A passenger train and a freight train are involved in a head-on collision at Arklow, County Wicklow. Twenty-nine people are injured.

October 22, 1979 – United Kingdom – Invergowrie rail crash: A starting signal failed to return completely to stop, giving the following train a false clear indication. 5 killed.

November 10, 1979 – Canada – Mississauga train derailment in Mississauga, Ontario: tank cars containing propane and chlorine derail, causing a propane fire that burns for days and lofts deadly chlorine high into the air. No one is killed or seriously injured, but more than 250,000 residents are evacuated from the city, the largest peacetime emergency evacuation in North American history until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The accident was the result of an insufficiently-lubricated old-style journal bearing; as a result all lines in North America that are used to transport hazardous materials into or through populated areas must be equipped with hotbox detectors.

November 16, 1979 – Ireland – Dalkey, County Dublin. A passenger train is run into by another passenger train. Thirty-six people are injured.

1979 – United Kingdom – A freight train is derailed inside New Mills Central Tunnel, Cheshire due to defective track.