Today, our life is hard to imagine without a railway. It connects cities and countries with each other, hundreds of tons of cargo daily run along its canvas, and traveling in a train car is pleasant and does not hit the wallet. Railway mode of transport is considered to be the safest. Unfortunately, accidents sometimes happen here, some of them are striking in their scale.
Disaster Statistics
A catastrophe on the railroad is a pile of twisted metal and grief for families that have lost relatives. With the advent of railways, no one could have imagined what could result in inept management of the train.
It is known that the very first accident in the history of mankind on the railway occurred in 1815 near Philadelphia. During the demonstration, the diesel locomotive's boiler exploded, killing 16 participants. Major accidents occurred in the UK and France approximately every one and a half decades, and most often their cause was the explosion of a steam locomotive. In 1840, in Shushary near St. Petersburg, a railway tragedy claimed the lives of six, dozens were injured. Then similar accidents occurred at the Klin station, in the Tula region and at the Odessa railway. So people had to pay for the development of world progress.
Accidents occurred around the world, and Russia was no exception. Dozens of major accidents occurred during the years of the Soviet Union. In the 21st century, with the increase in the share of rail transport, the number of accidents increased. Russian Railways is not very willing to share accident statistics in its industry, so the public is only available information about the most high-profile train crashes.
For the most part, people trust the railway; during the trip, many do not feel fear, as in an airplane cabin. But it is worth considering that the illusion of complete security is relative in our technogenic age.
The first disasters in the USSR
The 1930s turned out to be terrible for Soviet railway workers. This period was marked immediately by two major accidents. For a period of time, these events frightened the country's population and many began to choose a mode of transport more reliable.
The first case occurred in September at the Pererve station near Moscow near the village of Maryino. The driver of the passenger train No. 34 Makarov, arrived at the station and reported on problems in the diesel locomotive. On the road, he had to stop several times and carry out repairs. Instead of giving another one instead of a faulty locomotive, management added another diesel locomotive to secure and strengthen the composition. When Makarov tried to set off, an additional locomotive tore all fasteners. Five wagons with passengers remained in place, and the engine went ahead. At that time, another locomotive arrived at the station, which at the last moment noticed the pastures standing at the edge of the platform and braked urgently. Killed 13 people, dozens injured.
In the same year, an absurd accident led to the collision of a freight train with a passing tram. This happened in Leningrad, near the Moscow Gate. It turned out that on that day there was a malfunction in the control room and the railroad workers did not have time to turn the switch on time. The tram driver noticed the impending train in the last seconds. From the strongest collision, the last carriage was torn off, and he lay on the rails, a fire started. This day claimed the lives of 28 people.
1952 accident
The war obliterated not only dozens of cities and villages, hundreds of kilometers of railroad tracks were damaged and bombed. Much had to be restored, rebuilt even more. The railway grid stretched to the most remote corners of the USSR, Siberia was conquered. But not everything went smoothly, and soon the country heard about a major railway disaster. It happened in August 1952 at the Drovnino station near Moscow. The driver of the night train delivered his passengers to the capital, there was not much to the city. A terrible blow woke the sleeping people, the reason for this was the horse, which was on the train. And although the weight of the animal was small, the train cars went downhill. When rescuers arrived at the scene, they had a terrible picture: a third of passengers were buried in a pile of crumpled metal. 109 people found their death in this place, more than 200 were admitted to hospitals.
Ashina tragedy
The incident in Drovnino has long been considered the biggest railway tragedy. Four decades later, the disaster of 1989 overshadowed her. Near the city of Asha, a gas leak occurred. The gas company recorded unstable pressure in the pipeline was aware of the situation. Instead of shutting off the fuel supply, it increased the pressure in the pipe. Explosive condensate began to accumulate and when two fast trains to Novosibirsk and Adler passed on the Asha-Ulu-Telyak section, an explosion rang out. A huge force scattered the wagons around, and then the earth burned like a torch. The city of Asha, near which the explosion occurred, is located in the Chelyabinsk region, a hundred kilometers from the capital of Bashkiria Ufa. The townspeople were awakened by the news of the terrible events of the June night; many remembered the pillar of fire that broke out in the sky. Dozens of people remained in the carriages that were burnt to the ground and asked for help, and not all firefighters managed to save, as evidenced by the terrible photos of the tragedy. Almost 600 people died from burns and wounds.
A similar major traffic accident occurred near the city of Arzamas in 1988. At the crossing, wagons carrying dangerous goods - hexogen for the mining industry exploded. A deep funnel formed at the point of the explosion, 91 people died, 1, 500 were injured. Hundreds of families were left without housing, public buildings received significant damage. In fact, the government commission conducted an investigation for several months.
Tragedies of the 90s
After 1991, railroad disasters continued in Russia. A new shock was the 1992 accident on the site of the Great Luke-Rzhev canvas. Due to the severe frost, the warning system ceased to function, the passenger locomotive did not know about the freight train standing at the crossing and ran into its tail. A severe blow instantly took the lives of 43 citizens, twice as much were seriously injured, both drivers died on the spot.
In August 1994, an hour's drive from Belgorod, several freight train wagons detached from the train and fell onto the rails. An oncoming electric train crashed into them. In this accident, 20 passengers died. A similar situation occurred on the site of the Kemerovo Railway. The train left to meet the cars with cement, which rolled away from the train to the station. A year later, near Nizhny Novgorod, trains of postal and freight destination collided. The impact was so strong that the gas in the tanks exploded. This led to the death of 6 people.
