2009 Nevsky Express bombing
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| Date | 27 November 2009 |
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| Time | 21:25/21:30/21:34/21:35/21:48MSK (UTC+3) |
| Location | Between Alyoshinka and Uglovka, Novgorod Oblast |
| Coordinates | 58°7′33″N 33°40′25″E / 58.12583°N 33.67361°ECoordinates: 58°7′33″N 33°40′25″E / 58.12583°N 33.67361°E |
| Country | Russia |
| Rail line | Oktyabrskaya Railway |
| Operator | Russian Railways |
| Type of incident | Derailment |
| Cause | Terrorist act, bombing (29.288 MJ) |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Passengers | 660+ |
| Deaths | 28 |
| Injuries | 96 + 1 |
| Damage | 1 km of railway, 4 carriages |
The 2009 Nevsky Express bombing occurred on 27 November 2009 when a bomb exploded under a high speed train travelling between the Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg causing derailment near the town of Bologoye, Tver Oblast (approximately 200 miles or 320 kilometres from Moscow), on the Moscow–Saint Petersburg Railway. The derailment occurred at 21:34 local time (18:34 UTC). Russian officials had stated that 39 people were killed and 95 injured but later retracted the death toll, with 27 deaths reported as of 2 December. A second bomb exploded at the scene of the investigation the following day, injuring one. It was reported to have been triggered by a remote mobile phone.
The first respondents were residents of Lykoshino, a nearby village. A field hospital was set up to treat the wounded and at least 50 were hospitalised in Saint Petersburg. It is believed that, at the time of the derailment, the Nevsky Express was carrying 661 passengers in 13 carriages, of which the last four were thought to have been affected by the incident. Although initial reports blamed an electrical fault for the derailment, investigation showed that the derailment may have been caused by an act of terrorism; a crater was found in the ground near the crash site.
The government confirmed that the accident was caused by terrorists, making this attack Russia's deadliest outside the North Caucasus region since the 2004 Russian aircraft bombings.
About 44 minutes before the incident the high-speed train Sapsan was doing a trial run in the same area.
Russian media initially reported that the cause of the derailment was an electrical fault. However, witness reports of hearing a "loud bang", though another passenger told reporters in St Petersburg there had been no blast. Interfax news agency said a 3-foot-wide (0.91 m) crater had been found next to the railway track, though Reuters reporters at the scene did not see one. The discovery of a 1 m (3.3 ft) crater under the tracks altered the focus of the investigation as officials suspected that the incident might instead be the result of a terrorist attack. Later on 28 November, Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), reported to President Dmitry Medvedev that the train was derailed by an explosion of 29.288 MJ.
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