Shimoda Railway Accident

The Shimoda railway accident ( Japanese 線線列車正面衝突事故 , Tōhoku-sen ressha shōmen shōtotsu jiko ) was a head-on collision between two trains on November 29, 1916 after a breach of safety regulations between the two railway stations Shimoda ( 下田駅 ) and Furumaki ( 古間木駅 ) (today: Mizawa ( 三沢駅 )) on the Tōhoku main line (today Aoimori line ( 青い森鉄道線 ), ~ tetsudō-sen ), Aomori Prefecture , in Japan . At least 20 people died.

Starting position

The safety of train journeys made on the then single-track route through tokens . Only the locomotive driver who holds the token in his hand as a command for the corresponding route section is allowed to enter a route section . The token consisted of a disk that the dispatcher took from a device that was connected to a similar device in the neighboring station. Only one such drive command could ever be taken from the connected devices. It then blocked the output of further movement commands until the last token issued was re-entered into one of the devices. The two neighboring train stations Shimoda and Furumaki were connected accordingly and the section between them secured in this way.

Two trains , a special military train and a freight train , intended to depart from the two train stations in Shimoda and Furumaki in opposite directions.

the accident

After a misunderstanding, an employee at Furumaki station tried to take a drive command from the safety device. He did not have the qualifications to intervene in driving operations. Since a drive command had already been taken from the machine in Shimoda, he could not take any more in Furumaki. He assumed that the device was defective, opened it with force, took out a command and gave it to the driver of the train waiting in his station. Both trains started moving and met head-on on the open road.

consequences

At least 20 people died and 180 others were injured.

literature

Masao Saito: Japanese Railway Safety and Technology of the Day . In: Japan Railway and Transport Review 33 (December 2002), pp. 4-13 (7). (PDF file; 2.41 MB)

Web links

Photo from the scene of the accident

Remarks

↑ Today, Mukaiyama Station is still located between Shimoda and Furumaki stations ( 向山 Bahn )
↑ According to another source, there should have been at least 39 military personnel ( 日本の鉄道事故 (1949 年以前) ).

40.630262 141.370264Coordinates: 40 ° 37 ′ 48.9 ″ N , 141 ° 22 ′ 13 ″ E

[1] Today, Mukaiyama Station is still located between Shimoda and Furumaki stations ( 向山 Bahn )

[2] According to another source, there should have been at least 39 military personnel ( 日本の鉄道事故 (1949 年以前) ).