RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN 1876.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 216, 15 June 1877, Page 3

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN 1876.

++ ABETtTRKrhas just been made to Parliament of the accidents and • casualties which have been reported to the Board of Trade during the months of October, November, and December, 1876, with a general summary for the year. In that summary it is stated that in 1876 1,286 were killed and 6,112 injured; 38 passengers and 43 railway servants killed from causes beyond their own control ; 10 L passengers and 630 railway servants were killed from their own misconduct and want of caution ; the number of passengers injured from causes beyond their own control was 1,279, and the number of servants so injured 384; from their own misconduct or want of caution, 604 passengers and 2,216 sprvants were injured ; of peraon3 passing over railways at level-crossings, 59 were killed and 30 injured; of the trespassers, including suicides, 305 killed and 13* wounded; of other persons not coming in the above classification, 69 killed and 77 injured. Then 40 persons were killed and 1,389 injured on railway premises — 3 passengers killed and 27 injured by falling down steps a-t stations, and 2 passengers killed and 47 injured from other causes while upon the companies' premises; 13 persons killed and 42 injured while transacting bu3ine3s in connection with the railways ; and 23 servants killed and 1,272 injured while engaged upon various duties in warehouses, goods-yarda, sheds, and other places. Accidents to trains, rolling stock, per-manent-way, &c, during the year 1876 caused the death of 65 persons and injury to 1,486 — viz.: — Passengers, 36 killed and 1,245 injured; servants of companies, 28 killed and 236 injured; other persons, 1 killed and 5 injured. Iv the course of the year 1876 there ware reported to the Board of Trade 57 collisions between passenger trains o.r parts of passenger trains, causing the death of 27 passengers and 1 company's servant, and injury to 509 pwsengers, 39 servants, and 1 other person ; 129 collisions between passenger trains and goods or mineral trains, engines, &c., by which 8 passengers and 2 servants were killed ani 493 passengers and 55 servants injured; 57 collisions between goods trains or parts of goods trains, causing the death of 6 servants and injury to 3 passengers (men in charge of cattle), 49 servants, ani 2 other persons; 124 cases of passenger trains or part 3of passenger train 3 leaving the rails, causing the death of 8 servants and injury to 101 passengers, 25 servants, and 1 other person; 47 cases of goods trains or parts of goods trains, engines, &c, leaving* the rails, by which two servants were killed and 14 injured ; 32 cases of trains or engines travelling in the wrong direction through points, causing injury to 24 passengers and six servants ; 24 cases of trains running into stations or sidings at too high a speed, by which 64 passengers and two servants were injured and one other person was killed ; 206 cases of trains running over cattle or other obstructions on the line, causing the death of one servant and injury to five passengers and seven servants ; 68 cases of trains running through gates at level-crossings, by which two servants were killed and four servants and one other person were injured ; 13 case 3of the bursting of boilers or tubes, &c, of engines, "by which five servants were killed and 20 injured; 12 failures of the machinery of engines, by which one passenger was killed and 10 passengers and one servant were injured; 880 failures of tires, resulting in injury to one passenger and one servant ; 397 failures of axles, causing injury to 10 passengers and five servants; four failures of brake apparatus, causing injury to one passenger and three servants ; 30 failures of couplings, causing the death of one servant and injury to 1G passengers and four servants ; and 17 other miscellaneous accidents, by which three passengers and one servant were injured. There were also reported one collision between light engines, 74 failures of wheels, one failure of a rope used in working an incline, seven failures of tunnels, bridge viaducts, culverts, &c, 464 broken rails, 22 cases of the permanent-way being damaged by floods, 19 slips in cuttings or embankments, 23 case 3of fires in trains, and three case 3of fires at stations, but in none of these instances was there any personal injury involved. — Mail.