Japanese expand train crash probe
Police expanded their investigation today at the site of Japan’s worst train crash in decades, but workers called off the search for bodies after the death toll reached 106.
All the victims have been identified and nobody was listed as missing, said Hyogo Police spokesman Masahiko Furuta. Of the 580 passengers, more than 460 were injured in the crash.
The packed commuter train jumped the tracks on Monday at Amagasaki, about 250 miles west of Tokyo, and crashed into an apartment block. The 23-year-old driver, whose body was found on Thursday, is suspected of driving too fast.
Police today opened a full-scale inspection of the leading carriage, which workers on Thursday pulled out of the apartment it had hit after skidding off the tracks, Furuta said.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK showed uniformed investigators swarming around the mangled carriage, inspecting the driver’s compartment and nearby rail tracks.
Authorities have searched the offices of the train’s operator, West Japan Railway Co., over allegations of professional negligence. Investigators were also examining the train’s “black box,” a computer chip that stores information about the train’s speed and movements.
Officials reportedly believe driver Ryujiro Takami was going faster than 65 miles an hour, far above the speed limit on that stretch of track, after overshooting a station by 40 yards. He was 90 seconds behind schedule and many believe he was trying to make up for lost time.
Officials have also focused on Takami’s inexperience. He received his train operator’s licence in May 2004, and one month later over-ran a station and was issued a warning, railway officials and police say.
JR West President Takeshi Kakiuchi acknowledged today that psychological pressure might have played a role in causing the accident, and suggested a need for the company to improve its driver training.
“I’m afraid the driver was under heavy pressure and that might have played a role,” Kakiuchi said. “I believe our training programme works in principle, but the latest case raises a question of whether the training program should remain the same.”
Errant drivers are often berated by their superiors, and fear might have prevented him from making a rational decision, railway union officials said, adding that Takami had been subjected to such treatment for 13 days for a previous error.
Rescue workers called off the search late on Thursday but will continue to scour the surrounding area for possible victims, officials said. The last survivor was discovered on Tuesday.
Monday’s crash was especially unsettling for safety-conscious Japan because the country prides itself – and depends – on its highly efficient, punctual rail system. It was Japan’s worst rail disaster since a three-train crash in November 1963 killed 161 in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo.
The railway system’s clock-like precision may have led passengers to expect nothing less. The crashed train’s 90-second schedule delay was significant in Japan and a headache for passengers travelling through Amagasaki on any one of three lines that use the same stretch of track.
“Frankly I’d like to stop (using) JR but it’s still the most convenient,” said Hirofumi Ashida, a 47-year-old company employee who lives near the crash site, adding that he feels “extremely nervous” riding a train since the accident. “Safety is the most important. JR should be considering safety first.”
Despite worries about train safety, throngs of Japanese packed high-speed bullet trains today at the start of the spring “Golden Week” holiday season. Air travel was also heavily booked. Narita international airport outside Tokyo had a record 58,069 travellers leaving the country on Monday.
