The Brandsen rail disaster occurred on March 8, 1981, in Brandsen, a town in Buenos Aires Province in Argentina, when a passenger train carrying 803 passengers collided head-on with a freight train, killing 34 and injuring another 74.

[2] The accident occurred at 4:30 on March 8, 1981, when a passenger train named La Luciérnaga ("the firefly") operated by state-owned Ferrocarriles Argentinos that had departed from Mar del Plata Station on March 7 at 23:55, ran on General Roca Railway tracks to Constitución Station in Buenos Aires with 803 passengers on board.

Due to the high speed, the passenger train could not stop on time, crashing into the tank railcar.

After leaving the curve, I saw vehicles on the track so I activated the emergency brake but due to the high speed, the collision was inevitable.

The line to Mar del Plata was interrupted during several days due to some wagons could not be removed from the place of the accident.