Tangiwai Railway Disaster Memorial

Local nameTangiwai Railway Disaster Memorial
LocationNorth Island, New Zealand

The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953 when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The subsequent board of inquiry found that the accident was caused by the collapse of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu's crater lake, creating a large lahar in the Whangaehu River, which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. The volcano itself was not otherwise erupting at the time. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident.

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More information and contact

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangiwai_disaster

Address (Unnamed Road), 4691, New Zealand

Coordinates -39°27'57.301" N 175°34'34.459" E

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