February 14 – Yaoundé train explosion – A freight train passing through Yaoundé, Cameroon, collides with another freight; some tank cars carrying fuel oil are ruptured in the derailment. The oil is ignited by a lit cigarette causing a flash fire and an explosion when the flames reach the tank cars, killing 120 people.
March 6 – The Jyväskylä rail accident occurred in Jyväskylä, Finland, when an express train from Turku bound for Joensuu via Pieksämäki derailed. Of the 300 on board, the driver and nine passengers were killed, and 94 were injured.
April events
April 1 – British trainload freight operator EWS takes over rail operations of National Power.
April 4 – The Fatuha train crash in India was caused by the removal of fishplates leading to the packed Howrah–Danapur express jumping tracks, killing at least 11 people.
April 27 – Spain's Madrid Metro opens the section between Esperanza and Mar de Cristal on Line 4.
June events
June 3 – The Eschede train disaster, the worst railroad accident in German history, occurs when a wheel on the high-speed Intercity Express breaks; the derailed train's forward momentum caused it to slam into a bridge pier which increased the damage to the train and caused a higher injury toll than would otherwise have occurred, killed at least 101 people and injured at least 88.
December – Railways in Germany are attacked by the extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta. An Intercity Express line is sabotaged (but the train does not derail), while a freight train is derailed near Anklam.
December 5 – Trinity Railway Express in Texas adds Saturday train schedules to its timetables and begins operating the first regular Saturday trains.[3]
May 12 – A Norfolk Southern conductor saved a little girl by kicking her off the tracks in front on his oncoming train while he was still on it in Lafayette, Indiana. The girl, who had wandered away from her home a couple blocks away, had only minor injuries.[4][5]