Mikawashima Railway Accident

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Mikawashima Railway Accident

In the railway accident in Mikawashima ( Japanese 三河 島 事故 , Mishikawashima jiko ) on May 3, 1962, three trains derailed and collided , killing 160 people. This was one of the most momentous rail accidents in Japanese history .

Starting position

The accident occurred at 9:36 p.m. in Mikawashima station in Higashi-Nippori , a district of the Arakawa district in Tokyo on the Jōban line of the Japanese State Railways (JNR), which was extremely busy. Three trains were involved in the accident. The first train , No. 287, was a freight train coming from Tokyo to Mito on a branch line . The branch line ended in the main track of the Jōban line. This entrance was secured by a signal and an associated safety switch .

the accident

The freight train passed the signal that required "stop" and was automatically diverted from the main line on the safety switch. He derailed at the end of the safety track. However, the locomotive and a tank car that followed it overturned and remained in the clearance profile of the neighboring track .

The second train , No. 2117H, a multiple unit and suburban train, which was traveling from Ueno to Toride , also left Mikawashima station at 9:36 p.m. and collided with the derailed vehicles that protruded into the clearance profile of the track and also derailed. 25 injured were the result. The travelers activated the emergency door openings, got out and began to walk back to the station. The officers in the signal box at the station were so busy with the first accident that they forgot to check whether another train was approaching the scene of the accident in order to warn them.

So it could happen that the third train , No. 2000H, which came from the opposite direction, drove into the derailed second train. The first passenger car was smashed and three other cars derailed. These in turn killed and injured many travelers who had escaped from the second train and ran back to the station.

consequences

A total of 160 people died and 296 were injured.

After this accident, the JNR changed its safety policy: After an accident - regardless of its extent - trains in its vicinity were generally stopped. In addition, by April 1966, an automatic train control system with emergency braking was installed across the board for trains that crossed a signal indicating “stop”. To this end, the railway infrastructure was equipped with 43,000 induction loops and 13,000 vehicles with induction receivers. A radio emergency signal was also introduced, which prompts trains to stop within a radius of one to two kilometers after a dangerous event.

The Jōban line received new operating rules adapted to the much stronger traffic. It was also structurally adapted: Passenger and freight traffic were given separate tracks.

Further worth knowing

Barely a year and a half later, the Yokohama railway accident (1963) on November 9, 1963 led to another serious accident which was very similar. The freight train, which was initially derailed, did not, however, run over a signal indicating a “stop” , but freight wagons were derailed due to technical problems.

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matsumoto.
  2. ↑ NN: 102 dead in triple Tokyo train crash . In: The Japan Times v. May 4, 1962 (Reprint ibid. Of May 20, 2012, p. 8.)
  3. ↑ Matsumoto.
  4. ↑ Matsumoto.
  5. ↑ Saito, p. 11.

Coordinates: 35 ° 43 ′ 57 ″  N , 139 ° 46 ′ 58.6 ″  E