The train crash that killed at least 288 people, and injured hundreds more, in India is remarkable even in a country with a long history of train deaths.
In 2021 alone, there were more than 16,000 train-related deaths in India, according to the country’s National Crime Records Bureau, a figure that includes cases in which people were struck while walking on tracks or fell out of moving trains.
Here is a look at some of the worst crashes in recent years.
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The deadliest accident in the history of Indian rail is believed to have been in 1981, when a passenger train derailed as it was crossing a bridge in the state of Bihar. Its cars sank into the Bagmati River, killing an estimated 750 passengers; many bodies were never recovered.
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In 1999, a crash in West Bengal killed about 285 people as two trains collided head-on.
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In 2005, at least two dozen people were killed when a crowded passenger train slammed into a stationary cargo train in the western state of Gujarat.
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Scores died when a mail train derailed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, east of New Delhi, in 2011.
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In 2016, more than 100 passengers died in another Uttar Pradesh derailment.
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In 2018, dozens of people were mowed down by a speeding train in the northwestern state of Punjab as they celebrated a Hindu festival with fireworks.
