The Most Deadly Train Disasters In Europe Since 2000

The collision late on Sunday between two high-speed trains in southern Spain which has killed at least 39 people is the sixth worst rail accident in Europe since 2000.

More than 120 were also injured in the crash, and Spain’s transport minister warned on Monday that the toll could yet rise.

A recap of the others:

On July 24, a train with 222 people on board shoots off the tracks near Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain, killing 80 passengers and injuring more than 140, in Spain’s worst train accident since 1944.

An inquiry found that the train was travelling at twice the speed limit for that stretch of track, and the crash resulted from a lapse in attention by the driver, who ended a phone call with the on-board conductor just moments before the train lurched off the rails.

A driver and a safety director were sentenced in 2024 to two-and-a-half years in prison over the crash.

At least 57 people are killed and 180 injured after two trains collide near the northern Greek city of Larissa on February 28, before midnight.

The casualties of Greece’s worst train crash were mostly young students returning from a long weekend on a passenger train which collided near Tempe, central Greece, the two trains having been allowed to run on the same track for 19 minutes.

The trial will open on March 23 next year of 36 people, including railway executives and the stationmaster on duty the night of the crash.

They face charges including involuntary manslaughter and negligence and sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

On January 23, a train plunges into a canyon of the River Moraca some 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, killing 47 passengers and injuring 234. The driver is found guilty of failing to activate the brake mechanism at a train stop.

On October 12, 45 are killed in a collision between a train and a bus in Marganets, eastern-central Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities accuse the bus driver, killed in the accident, of having entered the crossing despite a red light and screams from the passengers.

Turkey’s worst rail disaster in recent history comes on July 22, when 41 people are killed and 80 injured after a high-speed train derails in the northwestern province of Sakarya.