page_title: List of rail accidents (1970–1979)
section_title: 1971
hierarchical_section_title: List of rail accidents (1970–1979) / 1971
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the wreck from the 1971 Salem, Illinois derailment.
context_page_description: This is a list of rail accidents from 1970 to 1979.
context_section_description: January 18, 1971 – Switzerland – Two commuter trains collide between Feldmeilen and Herrilberg. Six people are killed and seventeen are injured.
  February 9, 1971 – West Germany – Aitrang: The TEE 56 Bavaria, a SBB RAm TEE DMU, traveling from Munich to Zürich, derails while passing a curve shortly after Aitrang station. The maximum speed in the curve is 80 km/h, however the train passes the curve at 130 km/h because of frozen water in the air brake. Shortly after the TEE has derailed, a railbus hits the wreckage, coming from the opposite direction. 28 people die, 42 are injured.
  February 14, 1971 – Yugoslavia – In a tunnel near Vranduk (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), the driver stops a passenger train when its diesel-electric locomotive catches fire; but the fire spreads to the passenger cars and many people are unable to escape from the smoke.  At least 34 are killed.
  February 26, 1971 – United Kingdom – A passenger train formed of five 2HAP electric multiple units overruns the buffers at Sheerness-on-Sea, Kent and demolishes the station building. One person is killed and ten are injured.
  May 4, 1971 – United Kingdom – On the Northern Line of the London Underground, a train entered the reversing siding at Tooting Broadway after offloading passengers, and crashed into the end of the tunnel at 20–30 mph (32–48 km/h). The driver, who was killed, was apparently reading a book.
  May 27, 1971 – West Germany – Dahlerau train disaster – At Radevormwald, a railbus and a freight train collide on the Wuppertal–Radevormwald single track line near the station Dahlerau. The railbus was a special service carrying schoolchildren of a Radevormwald school. The local dispatcher claims to have signalled a red light to the freight train, whilst the freight train engineer claims to have seen a green one. Ultimately, the case cannot be resolved as the dispatcher is killed in a car accident before the legal hearings start. 41 people die, 25 are injured. Worst rail accident in West Germany during Deutsche Bundesbahn times. The accident leads to the phasing out of the Nachtbefehlsstab, and presses the DB to introduce radio communications on branch lines.
  June 10, 1971 – United States – 1971 Salem, Illinois derailment: Amtrak train number 1, the northbound City of New Orleans derails at 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) near Salem, Illinois, due to a false flange on a flat wheel caused by a seized axle bearing. Eleven people die and over 150 injured in Amtrak's first major incident.
  July 2, 1971 – United Kingdom – As a 10-car special school excursion train from Rhyl to Smethwick is passing Tattenhall Junction, the track shifts under the train due to thermal stress and the last three cars are derailed, killing two children and injuring 26 people.
  July 4, 1971 – United Kingdom – A freight train is derailed at Surbiton, Surrey. A passenger train is in collision with the derailed wagons.
  July 21, 1971 – West Germany – Rheinweiler: D 370 from Basel to Copenhagen passes a 75 km/h curve at about 140 km/h and derails, destroying a detached house; 23 people die, 121 are injured. The suspected reason for the accident was a technical failure in the Class 103 engine's automatic cruise control mechanism, leading to the engine gaining too much speed. The cruise control was consequently disabled after the accident and restricted speed zones were equipped with PZB.
  July 26, 1971 – United Kingdom – An electric multiple unit departs from Macclesfield, Cheshire against a red signal and is derailed by trap points.
  August 4, 1971 – Yugoslavia – At Lipe, near Belgrade (now in Serbia), a goods train fails to stop to let a passenger train go by, and collides with it on a single-track section; 35 are killed.
  August 28, 1971 – Switzerland – A train derails in the Simplon Tunnel. Five people are killed.
  October 6, 1971 – United Kingdom – A 24-car freight train runs away on the downgrade from Beattock Summit toward Carlisle due to stopcocks in the air-brake line being closed. It collides with the train ahead, killing one crew member on that train.
  October 19, 1971 – United States
caption: Salem, Illinois
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