Amagasaki Railway Accident

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The rear end of the derailed class 207 train

The Amagasaki Railroad Accident ( Japanese : JR 福 知 山 線 脱 線 事故 / jeiāru-fukuchiyama-sen dassen jiko / derailment accident on the JR Fukuchiyama Line ) occurred due to excessive speed on April 25, 2005 at 9:18 am in Amagasaki , Prefecture Hyogo , Japan .

Starting position

On the Fukuchiyama Line , between Tsukaguchi Station and Amagasaki Station, there is a tight curve with a speed limit of 70 km / h.

An approximately 700 passengers occupied express the railway company JR Nishi-Nihon ( JR West ) went here on the station Amagasaki to. He had run over the breakpoint at Itami train station , had to reset and was therefore 80 seconds late. The 23-year-old train driver now tried - with a very tight timetable - to make up for the delay by increasing speed.

Course of events

The train drove through the curve, probably to make up for the delay, at 116 km / h, 46 km / h above the maximum permitted speed. This initially led to the fact that his vehicles only touched the rails with the wheels on the left side, the outer side of the curve. The driver probably recognized the excessively high speed and applied the service brake without initiating emergency braking. Probably in order to avoid an additional report, because because of the slight delay, he was threatened with a strict and unpopular follow-up training. The train derailed . The first two carriages of the train crashed into the ground floor of an adjacent apartment building .

consequences

107 people on the train were killed, including the driver, 549 were injured. Nobody was injured in the apartment building.

The final report of the Commission of Inquiry into Aviation and Train Accidents assigned the main responsibility to the train driver , but also criticized the tightly calculated timetables and the inadequate driver training. The commission asked JR Nishi-Nihon to improve its driver training and to take greater consideration of safety when drawing up timetables.

In July 2009 the Kobe District Attorney ( Kobe chihō kensatsu-chō ) charged the President of JR Nishi-Nihon, Masao Yamazaki, with negligent manslaughter . Yamazaki then announced his resignation, but denied legal responsibility. The trial of Yamazaki began in December 2010. In January 2012, he was acquitted.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 42 (pp.70-72), Topics, March-July 2005.
  2. ↑ Train balanced on left wheels for last 100 meters, police say. In: The Japan Times . May 3, 2005, accessed April 25, 2009 .
  3. ↑ 航空 ・ 鉄 道 事故 調査 委員会 : 鉄 道 事故 調査 報告 書 ・ 西 日本 旅客 鉄 道 株式会社 福 知 山 線 塚 口 駅 ～ 尼 尼 崎 駅 間 列車 脱 線 事故 . 運輸 安全 委員会 , June 28, 2007, accessed September 14, 2014 (Japanese ).
  4. ↑ Organizational problems behind fatal derailment: JR West. In: The Japan Times . December 15, 2005, accessed April 25, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Editorial: Driving a train under pressure. In: The Japan Times . January 9, 2007, accessed April 25, 2009 .
  6. ↑ JR train driver faulted in final report on crash. In: The Japan Times . June 29, 2007, accessed April 25, 2009 .
  7. ^ JR West president indicted over crash. Negligence charge stems from deadly '05 derailment. In: The Japan Times . July 9, 2009, accessed July 9, 2009 .
  8. ↑ Ex-JR West chief denies crash guilt. Charged with negligence, Yamazaki says accident couldn't be foreseen. In: The Japan Times . December 22, 2010, accessed December 22, 2010 .
  9. ^ Court clears former JR chief in '05 derailment. Deadly crash could not have been foreseen. In: The Japan Times . January 11, 2012, accessed January 11, 2012 .

Web links

Coordinates: 34 ° 44 ′ 29.2 "  N , 135 ° 25 ′ 35.7"  E