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Govt Report Cites Speeding As Cause of JR West Train Crash

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Tokyo, Sept. 6 (Jiji Press)--A government committee investigating the April train derailment in western Japan that left 107 dead and 555 injured published an interim report Tuesday, suggesting that speeding was the cause of the nation's worst train accident in more than 40 years.

In the report submitted to Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kazuo Kitagawa, the committee of his ministry said that the commuter train, a rapid service carrying about 580 passengers, was traveling at speeds of over 110 kilometers per hour, more than 40 kph above the speed limit, when it went off a curved section of the track.

The incident occurred near a crossing about one kilometer from Amagasaki Station of West Japan Railway Co.'s Fukuchiyama Line in Hyogo Prefecture at around 9:19 a.m. on April 25 (12:19 a.m. GMT), just after the morning rush hour peak.

The report noted irregular driving by Ryujiro Takami, the 23- year-old driver of the train, before the derailment.

As Takami drove the seven-car train to the starting station of Takarazuka at about 8:55 a.m., he slowed it almost to a halt 450 meters ahead of the platform, then suddenly accelerated it to 70 kph, ignoring a signal indicating a 55 kph speed limit.

At a switch 140 meters before the platform, the train was traveling above a 40 kph speed limit, prompting the automatic train stop system to sound an alarm in the cab. When he ignored the alarm, the emergency brakes were activated to stop the train.

After leaving Takarazuka, the train overran Itami Station, the last stop before the accident, by 70 meters and had to be backed up. The train left the station 80 seconds behind schedule.

Takami applied the brakes when the train entered the deadly curve, but it was too late to prevent the train from tilting leftward and jumping off the rails.

The first five carriages of the train were derailed, with the two front cars smashing into a nearby apartment block.

The report proposed a number of remedial steps to prevent a similar accident, including detailed recording the driving performance of trains such as brake operation.

It also urged trains to be equipped with more accurate speedometers, noting that the indicator of the doomed train was showing speeds about 4 kph less than the actual speeds.

The committee will further examine how the derailment occurred and investigate the background for the accident, including disciplinary programs for drivers at JR West.

The final report is expected to take more than one year to complete.END

Source: Jiji Press English News Service

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