Railway Track Little Damaged By Train Derailment in Yamagata

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–An investigation by police and a government committee on Monday found that no section of the railway track was heavily damaged in Sunday’s train derailment in a snowstorm in northern Japan.

Yamagata prefectural police and a committee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport conducted the joint on-site investigation after a six-car express train of East Japan Railway Co. derailed in the town of Shonai, Yamagata Prefecture, Sunday evening, killing four passengers and injuring 32 others.

A strong wind was blowing as the train crossed a bridge over the Mogami River, which flows into the Sea of Japan, and the train seemed to lift off the tracks before it derailed, the train driver was quoted as telling police.

Meanwhile, the train carried no speed recording equipment and an old-style automatic train stopping device with no odometer, according to JR East’s Niigata branch. The lack of these apparatus may hinder investigation into the cause of the accident.

The train was 68 minutes behind schedule due to heavy snow. The railway operator explained, however, that the control center never suggested that the train driver try to reduce the delay. The train was said to be running at around 100 kilometers per hour, below the speed limit of 120 kilometers.END