This is a list of rail accidents from 1990 to 1999.

1990 January 4 – Pakistan – Sukkur rail disaster: A Multan–Karachi Bahauddin Zakaria Express collided head-on with an empty freight train at Sangi station, Sukkur, Sindh. The train was to pass through Sangi, but incorrectly set rail points directed the train to a siding where the freight train was parked. 307 people were killed and another 700 injured in Pakistan's worst rail disaster. February 2 – West Germany – Rüsselsheim train disaster: Two S-Bahn commuter trains collide in Rüsselsheim, killing 17 and injuring 80. February 16 – Switzerland – A passenger train collided with a rail-mounted crane at Saxon, killing three people and injuring 12. March 7 – United States – 1990 Philadelphia subway accident: A bolt securing a traction motor on a SEPTA subway-elevated train failed, causing the train to derail. Three people were killed and 150 injured.Hinds, Michael de Courcy (March 8, 1990). Philadelphia Subway Crash Kills 3; 150 Are Hurt . The New York Times. May 6 – Australia – Cowan rail accident: The 3801 Limited special steam passenger train stalled while climbing a steep gradient from the Hawkesbury River to Cowan. It was then rear-ended by a CityRail inter-urban passenger train, killing six people. Sand applied to the rails interfered with track signals and gave the CityLine train a false clear indication. August 20 – Poland – Ursus rail crash: Passenger train Silesia – from Prague to Warsaw – telescoped the last car of a passenger train from Szklarska Poręba to Warsaw, killing 16 and injuring 43. 20.08.1990 szlak Pruszków – Warszawa Włochy . Grzegorz Petka. December 12 – United States – Back Bay rail accident: Amtrak's Night Owl, the Northeast Corridor's overnight train, travelling at excessive speed around a curve inside a tunnel, derailed and rear-ended an MBTA commuter train in Back Bay station in Boston. 453 people were injured. December 20 – Taiwan – A Kaohsiung-Taipei express train collided at a level crossing at Lu Chu, Kaohsiung with a bus carrying 51 farmers which burst into flames, killing 25 people, and injuring 32.Associated Press (December 21, 1990). Train hits bus; 25 people die . The Register-Guard.

1991 January 7 – Hungary – Tram No. 1342 (Ganz bendytram) operated by BKV derailed and overturned in Budapest at the corner of Vajda Péter utca and Orczy út due to an unintentional point switching by the tram driver, killing three passengers and a pedestrian. May 3 - Australia - In Henty, New South Wales, a New South Wales XPT train locomotive derailed due to track failures, 6 people were injured. May 14 – Japan – Shigaraki train disaster, Shigaraki, Shiga: A Shigaraki Kōgen Railway (SKR) passenger train collided head-on with a JR West passenger train after the SKR train passed a red signal, killing 42 people. A malfunctioning signal gave the JR West train a green signal, when the approaching SKR train should have turned the signal to red. Confusion among SKR staff stemming from the signal problems prompted them to send the train against a red signal.Hong, K. P. (May 15, 1991). "42 Killed in Head-On Japanese Train Crash; Officials Say Collision May Have Been Caused by Malfunctioning Track Signal." The Washington Post. July 15 – United States – Dunsmuir, California – California's largest hazardous chemical spill: A 19,000-gallon (72,000 L) tank car containing the pesticide/herbicide metam sodium derailed from a Southern Pacific freight train and tumbled off the bridge over the Sacramento River at the Cantara Loop before rupturing on the rocks below, spilling the car's entire load into the river. Virtually every aquatic organism on a 40-mile (64 km) stretch of river was killed.Dunsmuir 10 years later . SF Chronicle. July 9, 2001. July 21 – United Kingdom – Glasgow: Newton rail accident killed four and injured 22. Junction layout was cited as a contributing factor. July 29 – United States – Seacliff, California: A Southern Pacific freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the Ventura County coastal community of Seacliff. Four of the 14 railroad cars that derailed were carrying two types of chemicals: a half-strength aqueous hydrazine solution used to make agricultural, metal plating, plastics and photo processing chemicals; and naphthalene, an industrial solvent for making other chemicals. July 31 – United States – Lugoff, South Carolina: The Amtrak Silver Star derailed the rear portion of a former Seaboard Air Line of the CSXT Railroad after a faulty switch split as the train passed over it, directing a coach into a hopper car standing on a siding, and derailing equipment. Eight passengers died and 76 were injured.Fehr, Stephen C.; Henderson, Neil (August 1, 1991). "8 Die in S. Carolina Amtrak Crash; Scores Hurt as Passenger Train Jumps Track, Sideswipes Freight Cars." The Washington Post. August 5 – Canada – Kinsella, Alberta: A CN intermodal train struck a truck carrying light crude oil at a marked highway crossing. The impact ignited the oil and significantly damaged the train, killing the three train crew members and the truck driver. August 28 – United States – New York City: 1991 Union Square derailment - Five people were killed and more than 200 injured after a #4 Lexington Avenue express train derailed over a switch just north of Union Square. Two subway cars broke open as they struck the steel tunnel support beams. The uninjured motorman, who was reported to have been handling the train erratically, was later found to be legally drunk. The accident was instrumental in imposing new federal rules for engineer certification and toxicology testing."7 Dead, 150 Injured in Subway Crash; Train Approaching Manhattan Station Jumps Tracks, Car Cut in Half." The Washington Post. August 28, 1991. September 6 – Republic of the Congo – More than 100 people were killed after a passenger train from Pointe Noire collided head-on with a goods train carrying timber from Brazzaville.Associated Press (September 7, 1991). More than 100 killed in train collision . The Register-Guard. October 16 – France – . A freight train overran a closed signal after its engineer suffered a heart attack, and fouled the path of the Nice-Paris night train at Melun, killing 16 people. The deadman mechanism worked normally but failed to stop the train in time. This led to the adoption of the KVB automatic train control system.Melun train crash. Encyclopædia Britannica. November 15 – Taiwan – 1991 Miaoli train collision - A northbound Tze-Chiang Train ran over the stop signal and rear-ended a southbound Chukuang train, killing 30 people and injuring 112.Agence France-Press (November 18, 1991). Taiwan to pay damages to victim of train crash . New Straits Times. December 7 – United Kingdom – Severn Tunnel rail accident - An InterCity 125 diesel multiple unit was rear-ended by a Class 155 Sprinter inside the Severn Tunnel, injuring 185 people.

1992 March 3 – Russia – Podsosenka train disaster: Yurmala passenger train No. 004 ran a red light at a restrictive signal and collided head-on with oncoming freight train No. 3455 before catching fire, killing 43 people and injuring 108. March 12 – Sweden – 1992 Gothenburg tram derailment: A brakeless tram rolled down a street in central Gothenburg at high speed and crashed into waiting passengers at a tram stop at Vasaplatsen, injuring 42 and killing 13 people. August 8 – Switzerland – A train and a tram collided at Zurich, killing one person and injuring nine. April 29 – United States – at Bell King Road in Newport News, Virginia, a crossing without gates or warning lights, Amtrak's Colonial passenger train collided with a dump truck, killing the truck driver and injuring 54 passengers.Chandler v. Nat. R. Pass. Corp., 875 F.Supp. 1172 (E. D. Va., 1995). June 30 – United States– Nemadji River train derailment: near Superior, Wisconsin, a Burlington Northern freight train derailed on a trestle, spilling benzene into the Nemadji River and releasing a toxic vapor which killed wild animals and outside pets. August 12 – United States – Just outside Newport News, Virginia, Amtrak's Colonial passenger train, traveling at nearly , entered a switch that had just moments before been opened by a pair of saboteurs, injuring dozens. The saboteurs, Coast Guardsmen Joseph Loomis and Raymond Bornman Jr., were sentenced to federal prison terms. October 10 - South Africa – A steam passenger train running during the Lady Grey Spring Festival derailed at high speed killing the engine driver and 5 passengers. October 11 – China – Liaoning, Fushun – Two locomotives of the Shenyang Railway Bureau Meihekou locomotive depot were reconnected to pull a freight train through the Shenyang-Jilin Railway on approach to Shimenling railway station and prepare to stop a passenger train from Tianjin railway station to Jilin railway station. Because one of the corner cock of the train was closed, the brake failed. To avoid a collision, the freight train derailed and overturned after entering the safety siding of Shimenling railway station, killing four locomotive attendants. November 15 – Germany – 11 people died and 52 were injured after the wreckage of a derailed freight train was hit by an express train near Northeim. November 30 – Netherlands – Hoofddorp train accident: An Intercity train, travelling from Amsterdam to Vlissingen derailed near Hoofddorp, killing five people and injuring 33.

1993 January 18 - United States - 1993 South Shore Line collision, two South Shore Line trains collided head-on in Gary, Indiana, killing 7 people and injuring 70 people. January 31 – Kenya – Along the Ngai Ndethya River near Mtito Andei, a Kenya Railways train traveling from Mombasa to Nairobi derailed due to flooding from the river, killing 140 people. March 14 – Brazil – Near Vila São Paulino, in Ipê, two freight trains operated by the Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A. (RFFSA) collided head-on inside Tunnel 10 (km 220 of the railway) after a communication failure placed both trains on the same track. One of the trains was carrying alcohol, resulting in a massive explosion and fire that lasted for more than three days. Three locomotive engineers were killed and one person was injured. March 28 – South Korea – a Mugunghwa-ho train in the vicinity of Gupo station in Busan rolled over due to subsidence under a section of track caused by nearby construction, killing 78 people and injuring 198, making it the worst rail accident in South Korea. September 22 – United States – Big Bayou Canot rail accident, near Mobile, Alabama: Barges being pushed by an off-course towboat collided with a bridge piling; the bridge shifted out of alignment, creating a kink in the rails on the CSXT's former Louisville & Nashville Gulfcoast line. Minutes later, Amtrak's Sunset Limited derailed at high speed on the misaligned track and plunges into the water, causing an enormous fuel spill and fire that killed 47 people in Amtrak's deadliest accident. November 2 - Indonesia - 20 people were killed and 200 people were injured after 2 commuter train collided head-on in Ratujaya, near Depok. November 11 – United States – near Kelso, Washington: A Union Pacific and a Burlington Northern freight train collided head-on after the Burlington Northern train had failed to stop for a red signal, likely due to dense fog, killing the five crew members on board both trains. Due to this, the two railroads implemented new safety features called "Precision Train Control" (an ancestor to the later federally mandated, Positive Train Control) on 750 miles (1200 km) of UP and BN track.

1994 January 13 - United States - In Pasco County, Florida, A Barnum & Bailey circus train carrying circus members derailed due to a track failure and caught fire, killing two people. February 8 - Georgia - A head-on collision between two passenger trains kills three engine drivers.