Kaitaichi Railway Accident

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Pushed into one another car of the accident train

In the railway accident at Kaitaichi ( Japanese 山 陽線 特急 列車 脱 線 事故 , San'yō-sen tokkyū ressha dassen jiko ) derailed on September 23, 1926 between the Kaitaichi and Akinakano stations in Hiroshima Prefecture, the express train No. 1 of the Japanese State Railways ( JNR) in a typhoon . 34 people died.

Starting position

Persistent rainfall in September 1926 had widespread flooding and storm damage across Japan.

At 9:30 a.m. the train “No. 1 “ Tokyo Station in the direction of Shimonoseki . It was part of an intercontinental connection between Europe and Tokyo via the Shimonoseki – Pusan ferry service ( 関 釜 連絡 船 , Kampu renrakusen ). This made the train one of the most prestigious of the JNR, which many well-known personalities of the time also used. The train consisted of a steam locomotive of the type 18900 (the later locomotive of the class C51) with the number 28977 and eleven express train carriages of the types 22000 and 28400, which were mostly still made of wood. The train left Itozaki on-the- go station at 1:46 p.m. for Hiroshima and reached Akinakano station at 3:28 p.m. three minutes late.

The train operated on the San'yō route , a main line that was regularly inspected.

the accident

Aerial view of the scene of the accident from the Osaka edition of the Asahi Shimbun

Due to a downpour and the resulting problems with the water runoff, a railway embankment on the San'yō route through the Hataga River ( 畑 賀Fluss ), a tributary of the Seno ( 瀬 野 川 ), was initially undermined in Aki County (today: the district of Hiroshima). and then washed away. The gaps between the inspection aisles turned out to be not close enough for the extreme weather conditions, and there was also no plan on the part of the railway to adapt railway operations to the extreme weather conditions. Shortly after the train had passed Akinakano station at 3:28 p.m., the inspection personnel on the route reported the damage to the embankment. Since the train had already passed through the station, it could no longer be stopped. He drove into the gap in the tracks created by the swept away embankment , derailed and fell over. Since the wagons were mostly made of wood, they were largely smashed. Although the inspection staff provided assistance on site, numerous people died, including the 45-year-old Mayor of Kagoshima , Atsushi Ueno? ( 上 野 篤 ), a 50-year-old Norwegian of the whaling company Tōyō, the head of the Methodist community in Japan, member of the navy and the like. a. Among the injured were Major General Terauchi Hisaichi and Andō Nararoku (1900-1984), honorary president of the Odakyū Dentetsu .

consequences

Cenotaph in memory of the misfortune

34 people died and 39 others were injured. The accident attracted a lot of attention worldwide because it was part of an international route and affected one of the leading express trains in Japan. The public criticism of the circumstances that had led to the accident was therefore particularly great. To commemorate the victims of the accident, a Buddhist place of prayer ( 専 念 寺 ) was set up on the Akinakano railway station . There is also a stone statue of the Buddha with the names of the victims engraved on the base.

As a result, passenger cars were only built as steel structures by the Japanese State Railways from 1927.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 34-14. 大 正 15 年 特急 列車 転 覆 大 惨 事 鉄 道 遭難 者 追悼 塔 . 長野 県 砂防 ボ ラ ン テ ィ ア 協会 , September 29, 2008, accessed May 17, 2014 (Japanese).

Coordinates: 34 ° 22 ′ 29.4 "  N , 132 ° 32 ′ 38.1"  E