JR West’s Safety Measures Making No Progress, Families Say
By Kyodo News International, Tokyo
Apr. 23–OSAKA — About half of the respondents in a Kyodo News survey of families of some of the 106 passengers killed in a train crash in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 25, 2005, maintain that safety measures by West Japan Railway Co. have not made progress.
The survey, conducted in late March through early April, received responses from 47 family members of 43 of the deceased passengers and found that 80 percent of those family members have yet to agree on compensation with JR West, and most of them have not even had compensation negotiations with the company.
A rush-hour commuter train on the Fukuchiyama Line derailed at a curve and crashed into a condominium building, killing 106 passengers and the driver, and injuring more than 550 people. Speeding was blamed for the accident, the worst in JR history.
Of the surveyed family members, 23, or 49 percent, said the company’s safety measures have made no progress or almost no progress. The percentage is up from 37 percent in a similar survey a year ago. Fifteen family members, or 32 percent, said such measures have made progress to some extent.
After the accident, JR West announced safety improvement measures, including the installation of an automatic train stopping system, review in training of employees, and establishment of a corporate culture giving top priority to safety.
The survey found only four of the 43 families have reached agreements on compensation. Those who have not yet reached agreements or started negotiations said they have not yet sorted out their feelings, or that their priority is an investigation into the cause of the accident.
Three executives of the company resigned after the accident to take responsibility but joined its subsidiaries as executives, and 37 of the 47 surveyed family members said this is problematic.
Twenty-seven family members said they cannot understand for what purpose the executives resigned, and 19 others said they should resign from the subsidiaries.
More than 30 of the family members said that JR West should investigate the cause of the accident and clarify the company’s responsibility. As to a question about who should be held criminally responsible, 32 people said JR West’s executives at the time of the accident, 11 said the driver, and 16 said the conductor. Some of these replies overlapped.
The survey found that more than 80 percent of the responding families are still feeling uneasy, and more than half of them are concerned that the accident will fade with time. Thirty-five to 40 percent said they have been unable to mentally recover or that they now have no family members to support them in their old age.
One respondent said, “I cannot do my job as I am still unable to get on a train.” Another said, “I am taking tranquilizers.” An accident investigation panel under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held a meeting Feb. 1 this year to hear opinions from the bereaved families and key figures and is now trying to compile a final report on the accident.
In March, JR West completed a facility in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, to show materials about the accident.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Kyodo News International, Tokyo
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