Railway accidents

Citation

(2007), "Railway accidents", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 16 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2007.07316dac.004

Railway accidents

27 December 2006 Amagasaki, Japan

The president of a Japanese railroad is resigning to take responsibility for an April derailment that killed 107 people, the country’s deadliest railway accident in decades, a company spokesman said today. Takes Kakiuchi will be replaced by the Osaka-based company’s vice president, Masao Yamazaki, West Japan spokesman Makoto Masamoto said. The crash of the West Japan commuter train on Apr 25 triggered national concerns about the safety of public transportation and prompted government inspection into the nation’s railway operation. The train jumped its tracks during the morning rush hour, barrelling into an apartment building in Amagasaki, about 250 miles west of Tokyo. The crash killed 107 people and injured more than 500 others, and was Japan’s worst since 1963. Investigators believed the train’s 23-year-old driver, who was among the dead, was far exceeding the speed limit. Train drivers face heavy pressure to keep to timetables in Japan, which is famous for its punctual rail service. West Japan Railway has acknowledged that psychological pressure on an inexperienced driver might have contributed to the April accident. West Japan has since improved an emergency braking system, loosened its timetables to allow for more time between trains and retrained its drivers in the run-up to the resumption of service.

13 January 2006 Krasnodar Region, Russia

A bus transporting workers after their shift at a local factory today collided with a train in southern Russia, killing 17 people and injuring four, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov aid that all the victims were on the bus, which was carrying 21 people from the Kontsentrat factory. The accident occurred at an unguarded train crossing, he said. The train was travelling from the resort city of Mineralnye Vody to Krasnodar, about 750 miles south of Moscow. Russian news agencies initially reported that the 17 dead were schoolchildren. The bus was severely damaged, complicating rescue efforts. The train was traveling from the resort city of Mineralnye Vody to Krasnodar, about 750 miles south of Moscow. The regional governor’s office declared tomorrow and Sunday (January 15) as officials days of mourning in the Krasnodar Territory, the Interfax news agency reported. Russian news agencies initially reported that 17 schoolchildren were killed but Kozhemyaka said the victims were all being transported from the factory.

23 January 2006 Bioce Area, Serbia and Montenegro

Many people were feared dead after a Montenegro passenger train jumped the tracks near the capital, Podgorica, and slid into a rock-strewn river gorge, officials said today. Army and police helicopters hovered over the crash site as access to the many injured was difficult in high winds, they added. “There is a great probability that there are many dead,” Transport Minister Andrija Lompar told the Serbia-Montenegro state news agency Tanjug. The local passenger train from the northern city of Bijelo Polje to the port of Bar derailed at Bioce, some 10 km north of the capital Podgorica. A taxi driver helping with the rescue effort told Reuters he saw seven or eight bodies in one spot alone, as well as many more injured. Tanjug said about 100 were admitted to hospital. “We took out a large number of wounded,” said Nebojsa Kavaric, director of the Podgorica medical centre. “It is very difficult to get the victims out … the terrain is rough, it is very dark. There are a lot of dead.” President Filip Vujanovic and Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic rushed to the crash site, in a canyon of the Moraca river where trees halted the slide of the coaches 40 metres from the water. “We were lucky because of the tunnel,” passenger Ivan Stanic told reporters at the scene. He said the train had slowed down for a tunnel. Stanic said people were screaming in panic and lifeless bodies lay on the rocks. A policeman at the scene said four wagons had jumped the tracks. “The four wagons were full of passengers,” railways chief Ranko Medenica said.

23 January 2006

At least 39 people were killed when the brakes failed on a train carrying more than 200 passengers, causing it to jump the tracks and crash into a ravine in mountainous Montenegro today. The government said 135 people were injured, 75 of them children thought to be returning from family ski trips. Trees slowed the plunge of the front coaches and they came to rest 40 metres from the river below. Army and police rescuers climbed down the steep slope in darkness to reach those trapped, smashing windows to extract survivors from a coach lying on its side. “Thirty-nine are dead, 135 are injured,” Montenegro Deputy Prime Minister Miroslav Ivanisevic told a news conference after an emergency cabinet meeting. All the injured were evacuated by mid-evening and rescuers were working on the recovery of the last two corpses in the wreckage. “The accident occurred because of a failure of the train’s braking system,” Interior Minister Jusuf Kalamperovic said. The local passenger train from the northern city of Bijelo Polje to the southern port of Bar derailed at Bioce, about 10 km outside the capital, Podgorica. Many of the passengers were thought to be families returning home from skiing trips. President Filip Vujanovic and Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic rushed to the crash site in a gorge of the Moraca river. The state declared three days of mourning. Transport Minister Andrija Lompar and National Railways chief Ranko Medenica tendered their resignations.

25 January 2006 Amagasaki, Japan

West Japan Railway Co has reached an agreement over compensation with some family members of the 106 people who died in the derailment of a rush-hour commuter train in Amagasaki, HyogoPrefecture, last April, family members who attended a meeting with JR West executives said yesterday. In a first revelation of the agreement, JR West Chairman Shojiro Nanya was also quoted as saying the company had reached agreement on compensation with about 40 per cent of about 550 people injured in the accident nine months ago. Nanya answered questions about the state of compensation talks during the closed-door meeting, but did not mention the sum of the compensation or the number of bereaved relatives who had agreed to accept payments, they said. A JR West executive said that all of the agreements were reached earlier this month. JR West has said it will pay the highest amount ever for a train accident in Japan to the victims. JR West President Takeshi Kakiuchi said on December 27 that the company began compensation talks with some of the relatives of the victims, but said none of them were finalised. Kakiuchi will stay on as a director on the board in charge of compensation talks even after he steps down at the end of the month. Along with Nanya, JR West Vice President Masao Yamazaki, who will succeed Kakiuchi as president on February 1, was present at the meeting. To the residents of a condominium into which the JR express train crashed in the accident, JR West has offered the purchase price of the condominium plus moving fees. Thirty-eight of 49 households had agreed to the proposal as of January 18. In the April 25 accident, an express train on the JR Fukuchiyama Line running at more than 100 kph derailed at a curve before crashing into a condominium, killing 106 passengers and a driver.

29 January 2006 Domeli, Punjab, Pakistan

Dozens of people are feared to have been killed in a train accident in Pakistan, officials said. Initial reports suggest that six coaches derailed and plunged down an embankment at Domeli, near Jhelum city in eastern Punjab province. Rescuers are at the site of the accident and officials said there are many casualties. Hundreds of people were thought to have been on the train. The high-speed train was travelling to the city of Lahore from Rawalpindi. Troops have been sent to join rescue operations, while hospitals have been alerted and ambulances rushed to the area. Rescue workers were using whatever equipment was available to pull out the survivors. The railway authorities said they will launch an inquiry after the rescue effort is complete.

29 January 2006

At least two people were killed and 30 injured in a train crash in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province this evening, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao said. Six carriages of the non-stop passenger train derailed at Domeli, about 100 kilometers south-east of Islamabad. and plunged down into a 50-feet ravine, Sherpao said. Five of the injured are in critical condition, the minister said, adding that about 100 persons were on board the coaches derailed. Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said that army rescue teams and cranes were sent to the crash site to pull out the coaches. The high-speed train was heading to the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab from Rawalpindi, some 30 kilometers south of Islamabad. Sultan said that hospitals in the area have been alerted and ambulances rushed to thearea. Witnesses said that they were facing problems in rescue operation due to darkness. There was no immediate word on the causes of the crash and the railway authorities had ordered an enquiry.

30 January 2006

Pakistani authorities say they suspect yesterday’s train crash in eastern Punjab was the result of sabotage. At least three people died and up to 40 were injured when a train travelling to Lahore from Rawalpindi plunged down an embankment near Jhelum city. Federal railway minister Ishaq Khakwani says that there was evidence to suggests that sabotage caused the train to go off the tracks. He was, however, unclear about who could have been responsible. The minister said that the nuts and bolts from one of the tracks near a sharp bend had been removed with the intention to cause maximum casualties. There were over 600 passengers on the ill-fated train – one of Pakistan’s fastest. Mr Khakwani said it was a sheer miracle that most of them survived. The minister said “internal or external elements” could be involved in tampering with the railway track. The train toppled from the tracks in a remote mountain area and troops had to use another train to access the site. There have been several attempts in recent months to blow up railway tracks and other state installations in the troubled province of Balochistan, but it is the first time in many years that a passenger train has been targeted in any other part of the country.