The 1956 Ariyalur train accident was a train accident on 23 November 1956 in Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu, India, where a train fell into the Marudaiyaru River, killing over 150 passengers after a bridge collapsed as a result of damage by torrential rain.

Due to torrential rain, in the night of 23 November 1956, pillars of a bridge that ran over the Marudaiyaru River were heavily damaged by flooding at Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu, around two miles from Ariyalur railway station.

[4] Due to the darkness, passengers mistook the river in full flow for sand, and drowned after they jumped into it.

[4][1] Indian railway minister Lal Bahadur Shastri wanted to take political and moral responsibility for the accident and offered his resignation to prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

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