page_title: List of rail accidents (1990–1999)
section_title: 1996
hierarchical_section_title: List of rail accidents (1990–1999) / 1996
caption_attribution_description: Rly accident at Weyauwega, Wisconsin
context_page_description: This is a list of rail accidents from 1990 to 1999.
context_section_description: January 6, 1996 – United States – Shady Grove Metrorail station, Derwood, Maryland: A Washington Metro train overruns the station platform at Shady Grove and collides with a stored train. The operator of the overrunning train is killed; the passengers on the train are uninjured.
  February 1, 1996 – United States – Cajon Pass, San Bernardino County, California: An AT&SF freight train carrying hazardous materials derails due to failed brakes in the steep pass, killing two crewmen, injuring the engineer, and shutting down Interstate 15 for several days due to a cloud of noxious fumes.
  February 9, 1996 - United States - 1996 Secaucus Train Collision, Secaucus, New Jersey. Two New Jersey Transit trains collided in the morning rush killing 3 people. The cause was later determined to be the color blindness of one of the engineers involved in the accident.
  February 14, 1996 - United States - St. Paul, Minnesota - An 89-car freight train slams into 3 parked locomotives in the St. Paul Railyard in St. Paul, Minnesota due to a kink in the air hose that triggers the brakes, and 44 cars and 6 locomotives derail. Although no one was killed, nine workers are injured. This includes 36-year-old conductor Richard Vitek, who spent three hours trapped under a box car before finally being rescued and sent to the hospital.
  February 16, 1996 – United States – Silver Spring train collision, Silver Spring, Maryland: The engineer of a MARC commuter train bound for Washington Union Station, collides with outbound Amtrak train no. 29, the westbound Capitol Limited after the MARC crew apparently forgot an approach signal and failed to reduce speed. The crash left 3 crew and 8 passengers dead aboard the MARC train.  Three people die of injuries suffered in the impact; but the rest are killed by smoke and flames, the fire which may have been ignited by oil pot switch heaters. This accident lead to the FRA instituting the Delay in Block Rule, and also was a major impetus for the Passenger Equipment Safety Standards regulation (49 CFR Part 238).
  March 4, 1996 – United States – Weyauwega derailment, Wisconsin: A broken switch derails a Wisconsin Central train carrying liquefied petroleum gas and propane. The town of Weyauwega, Wisconsin, is evacuated as the fire burns for most of the 18-day evacuation.
  March 8, 1996 – United Kingdom – Stafford rail crash (1996): A freight train is derailed due to an axle failure. A Travelling Post Office train collides with the derailed wagons. One person is killed and 22 are injured.
  April 18, 1996 – India – Gorakhpur–Gonda passenger train into a stationary freight train at Domingarh station, outskirt of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 60.
  April 21, 1996 – Finland – Jokela rail crash: passenger train operating in heavy fog derails at Jokela, because of overspeeding through a slow-speed turnout. The locomotive driver and three passengers were killed, and 75 were injured.
  July 2, 1996 – Ukraine – Kamianske tram accident: An overcrowded tram car carrying at least 150 people derails and crashes through a concrete wall after its brakes failed while going down a steep hill. The disaster kills 34 people and injures over 100 others.
  August 8, 1996 – United Kingdom – Watford rail crash: An electric multiple unit overruns a signal at Watford Junction and comes to a halt foul of a junction. Another electric multiple unit is in a head-on collision with it. One person is killed and 69 are injured.
  September 16, 1996 – Switzerland – a passenger train collides with a locomotive at Courfaivre after passing a signal at danger. Thirty people are injured.
  September 26, 1996 – Russia – level crossing collision of a diesel locomotive into a school bus between Bataysk and Salsk in Rostov Oblast. Nineteen people killed, including 18 children. September 28 was declared national day of mourning.
  November 18, 1996 – France / United Kingdom – 1996 Channel Tunnel fire: A fire occurs on board a Eurotunnel Shuttle train inside the Channel Tunnel. Thirty-four people are injured.
caption: Weyauwega derailment aftermath, March 5, 1996.
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