Train jumps track, crashes into apartment building (Japan)

[Art_from_Ark]

At 9:20 a.m. Japan time, a Japan Railways train jumped the track on the Fukuchiyama Line in Amagasaki City near Kobe and crashed into an apartment building, killing at least 37 people and injuring at least 220 others. The first 4 cars of the train derailed, and the first two cars crashed into the building and were heavily damaged. An estimated 580 passengers were in the train when the accident occurred.

(Sorry, link is in Japanese).

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20050425-00000002-yom-soci&kz=soci

As of 4:00 p.m. Japan time, rescue efforts are still underway, according to NHK news.

[Dover]

1. Awful!....those trains are fast. Here's a link in English >>

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050425h1.htm

[Art_from_Ark]

2. According to the Japanese article, it was a rapid service train

with a top speed of 120kph (70mph). The article says the speed limit where the accident occurred is 70kph. It was unknown how fast the train was going at the time.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. Witnesses interviewed on NHK are saying train seemed to be going too fast

People who were inside the train say there was a "floating sensation" just before the crash, with the smell of burning steel and white smoke in some of the cars. Passengers realized what was about to happen and started to panic.

[Rainscents]

3. I feel bad... So many dead and injured.

[Art_from_Ark]

4. NHK now says at least 50 dead, 239 injured

The accident occurred at a fairly gentle curve that was not protected by guardrail.

[psychopomp]

6. The driver had overrun the stop before the one near the accident

Japan Today - News - 50 dead, over 300 injured after train derails in Amagasaki - Japan's Leading International News Network
"At the stop before the accident at Itami Station, the train made an overrun of about 8 meters and had to back up before allowing passengers to get on and off, a JR West official said. It left Itami Station about 90 seconds behind schedule and passed Tsukaguchi Station about one minute late, he said."
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=&id=335311

I have heard that drivers succumb to enormous stress when they are late; the pressure on them to be timely would cripple many people. Perhaps he was trying to make up for lost time?

Sad story.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Inexperience may have played a role

The engineer's age was listed as 23

[Zech Marquis]

9. very sad news

when I lived in Japan, I loved taking the trains. So seeing this happen in Kobe is heartbreaking :-(

[Art_from_Ark]

10. The folks in the Kobe area have seen enough disasters

to last them a lifetime

[Art_from_Ark]

8. And you're right-- it is a very sad story

I feel very sorry for all the victims.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. Now they're saying the overrun was 40 meters-- 130 feet

The conductor and engineer apparently fudged the number down to 8 meters, for reasons unknown, but I would assume it would have something to do with the 23-year-old engineer's less-than-stellar train-driving record.

[Moderator]

11. kick to combine

[leftchick]

12. 50 Reported Dead in Japan Train Crash

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2005/04/25/54220.htm

A Japanese commuter train came off the tracks at Amagasaki, a suburb of Osaka, about 400 kms (255 miles) west of Tokyo, and rammed into a building at about 9:20 a.m. local time. News reports have put the death toll at 50 with over 300 injured. Rescue workers are still at the scene searching for survivors.


The cause of the crash, Japan's worst rail disaster since 1963, has yet to be determined. Preliminary reports from news agencies indicate that the train had overrun the station at its previous stop and was possibly running late. The engineer may have increased speed to make up the lost time, causing the derailment.

Five cars of the seven car train, carrying an estimated 580 passengers, left the tracks. The front two cars crashed into an apartment building and were reduced to a twisted mass of metal. So far it is unknown whether any occupants of the apartment building, which was only some 20 feet (3.5 meters) from the tracks, were among the dead or injured.

Japanese railways carry one of the heaviest traffic loads in the world, with an estimated 60 million people using the system every day. It is also considered one of the safest in the world. The most recent major crash occurred in 1991 when 42 people were killed and around 600 injured near the town of Shigaraki. It is the worst rail accident in Japan since a three-train crash killed 161 near Tokyo in 1963.

[leftchick]

13. Photos... This is awful!

:(



Rescue personnel work at the site of a train crash in Amagasaki, Hyogo prefecture, where at least 50 people were killed when the commuter train derailed and smashed into an apartment building.(AFP/JIJI Press)


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/ts/042405japantrain&a=&tmpl=sl&ns=&l=1&e=1&a=0&printer=

[Art_from_Ark]

14. The lead (#1) car was crammed into the parking garage of the apartment

building. NHK says that there may still be some victims inside. More about the crash here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1420110

[Goathead]

15. At Least 50 Killed in Japan Train Derailment

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=699940

AMAGASAKI (Reuters) - A crowded Japanese commuter train derailed and slammed into an apartment building on Monday, killing at least 50 people and injuring hundreds in Japan's worst train accident in more than 40 years.

As darkness fell nearly nine hours after the accident, rescue workers toiling behind blue plastic sheeting were trying to retrieve several people believed to be alive in the wreckage embedded in the building's first-floor car park.

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Update from Yahoo Japan news

now says 54 confirmed dead, 417 injured, injured taken to 33 different area hospitals. Some people are still believed to be trapped inside the wreckage, including the engineer. The conductor says the train appeared to be rounding the curve faster than usual. The emergency brake was pulled just before the derailment. 5 of the train's 7 cars jumped the track.

(in Japanese)

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20050425-00000011-yom-soci

[Bhaisahab]

17. Japanese commuter train hits apartment building (37 killed)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050425/WORLD25LAT/TPInternational/Asia

A crowded commuter train derailed and plowed into an apartment building in western Japan today, killing at least 37 people and injuring about 220 others, police said. The cause was under investigation. ...

[CountAllVotes]

18. At Least 56 Killed in Japan Train Derailment

AMAGASAKI, Japan (Reuters) - A crowded Japanese commuter train derailed on Monday and slammed into an apartment building, killing at least 56 people and injuring hundreds in the country's worst rail accident in more than 40 years.

Workers struggled into the night to rescue people trapped in crumpled wreckage and twisted metal in the first-floor car park of the building.

"From what rescuers have been able to see, at least four people are believed alive," a fire department spokesman said. "But the train is very badly crushed and it's hard to tell much more than that. We cannot deny that others may be in there."

Officials said they did not know the cause of the crash, which took place shortly after the morning rush hour. But passengers said they felt the train, which had been late leaving the previous station, had been moving faster than normal.

The fire department spokesman said 56 had died. More than 400 people were taken to hospital.

Five of the train's seven cars derailed in the

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20050425/ts_nm/japan_train_dc

:(

[Placebo]

19. This is terrible news.

Worse train accident in 4 decades, yikes. :(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. I'm not familiar with that stretch of track

but when I was in Osaka the last time, I was struck by how close the tracks were to apartment bulidings, and how the elevated tracks in particular gave the sensation of flying between apartment buildings

Does anyone know if these were elevated tracks? Otherwise, I can't imagine why the passengers would feel a flying sensation.

[Art_from_Ark]

21. All indications are that it was a ground-level track

Apparently the train was approaching a railroad crossing before derailing, and it struck a parked car before hitting the apartment building's first floor parking garage.

[Andrushka]

22. Saw the press conference here last night (Japan time)

The president and vice-president of JR West (the company that owns that line) held a press conference and I was appalled. You see, usually what happens is when some scandal or incident like this happens is that the top brass bows very long and very deep. However, whether they were loathe to admit responsibility (on behalf of the company) or are just heartless bastards, I didn't see that. Not good form in Japan. It sounds like it was the driver, but I guess they wanted to wait until investigations had been completed.

The president read awkwardly from a piece of paper how sorry he was. The vice president was arrogant, I thought, by saying "All we know is that it derailed". The press thought that the repetition of this answer wasn't enough. "Hey, 50 people have died here!," yelled one reporter.

At least the president went to apologize to the injured in local hospitals later.

The thing I have been thinking a lot is, those JR trains have a great view out the front window. You get a lot of kids up there - you know, it's almost as good as being the driver! I just hope that there were no kids in the first carriage at that time.

:-(

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Another derailment today, north of Tokyo

Just up the track from me, in fact. Apparently, the driver of a tractor-trailer rig tried to cross at a railroad crossing he was not supposed to at around 12:45 this afternoon (4-26 Japan time), and his rig got stuck on the tracks, in the path of a north-bound express train from Tokyo. Fortunately, he got out of his truck and pushed the emergency button, giving the train enough time to at least slow down enough to prevent collision shock injuries to the passengers. The train still hit the rig, and the #1 car derailed, but only the driver of the rig was injured, and then only slightly.

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/NewsPack/CN2005042601002348_National.html