January 14 – The
Strategic Rail Authority unveils its 10-year strategic plan for the British national railway network, including a £4.5bn investment in new trains, improved station facilities, track repair and signalling work.[3]
The railroad
dining car catering services of
Mitropa, which was founded in 1916, are handed over to DB Reise & Touristik, a subsidiary of
Deutsche Bahn.
October 11 – The prototype
AVE Class 102 train (later used by track authority
ADIF as test train Class 330) reaches speeds of 362 km/h (225 mph) during test runs.[10]
Completion of 360 km of dual
gauge track on
Bangladesh Railway, improving connections between the previously isolated east and west networks and giving 1676 mm gauge access to
Dhaka, the capital.[15]
February 20 –
Al Ayyat train disaster at Reqa Al-Gharbiya in
Egypt: a fire on a train running from
Cairo to
Luxor kills at least 383 and injures over 65.
May 2 – An eastbound
Canadian National train collides with a
trailer near
Firmdale, Manitoba, Canada; about 20 cars carrying plastic pellets,
benzene,
glycol and
hexane catch fire, forcing the evacuation of nearly 200 local residents.[16]
May 13 –
Jaunpur train crash: the Shramjivi Express, travelling from New Delhi to
Patna, India, strikes a sabotaged section of rail and
derails at
Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, killing 12 people.
May 25 – The
Tenga rail disaster of May 2002 occurred at
Tenga 40 km north-west from
Maputo, Mozambique; there were 192 deaths with 167 injured.
June 4 – The
Kasganj level crossing disaster happened near the town of
Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh, India. An express train collided with a bus, killing 49 people.
June 24 – In the
Igandu train disaster, a large passenger train in
Tanzania with over 1,200 people on board rolls backwards down a hill into a stationary goods train, killing 281 people.
September 10 – At least 130 people are killed in the
Rafiganj train disaster in India, where a passenger train derails on a bridge and falls into a river.
Naxalitesabotage is suspected.
September 15 - A
Norfolk Southern freight train
derails in Farragut, Tennessee resulting in a hazardous materials release of fuming
Sulfuric acid and evacuation of more than 2,600 nearby residents for nearly three days. Damage was estimated at just over one million USD.[17]
December 21 – The
Kurnool train crash happened in
Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, India, when a passenger train derailed, killing 20 people.