By Shigi Wada

The railway accident in Amagasaki, Japan, on 25 April 2005 shattered public confidence in railway safety in a country where tens of millions of people use the network every day. The accident, which happened during the morning rush hour, killed 107 people on the train, including the driver, and injured 460.

The train was operated by JR West, which is one of the regional railway companies created as a result of the national railway privatisation 18 years ago. This was the worst train accident since privatisation.

Excessive speed appears to have been the most direct cause. According to the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission, the train entered a sharp curve at a speed of 108 kph, far exceeding the set limit of 70 kph, and derailed, causing the carriages to crash into an apartment block. Track marks suggest that the driver applied the emergency breaks just before the curve. The commission has not yet concluded why the train entered the curve at this excessive speed.

However, a widely circulated presumption is that the driver, 23 years old with 11 months’ experience on the job, was trying to recover a 90-second delay following a 40-metre overrun at the previous station.

As for indirect causes, the failure of the company to instal the new Automatic Train Stop (ATS) system and guard rails in time is the most cited by many train experts. Most urban commuter trains in Japan now operate with ATS, which automatically decelerates the train if it exceeds the speed limit. Some busy lines are equipped with the even more advanced Automatic Train Control (ATC) system.

JR West had recognised the need for ATS on this line and at the time of the accident was planning to install the system. During rush hours, trains operate every four to five minutes. The number of trains on the line, as well as their speed, have increased since privatisation. This increase was made in order to compete with another private railway line running nearly parallel to the JR West line. Having failed to make necessary safety investments prior to such an increase, the company cannot expect to avoid being blamed for putting profit before safety.

Punitive measures questioned

Some elements of the “re-education” or training programmes for “underperforming” drivers in the company have also been speculated upon in the context of the accident. The contents of the programme are said to be punitive rather than preventive. The young driver concerned was once taken out from his roster after making an overrun on another line, and put into the re-education programme in the office for 13 days. The overrun incident that just preceded the accident may well have triggered the memory of the re-education/training programme and put him under excessive pressure to recover the delay.

According to a survey carried out by the JR-Rengo union after the accident, more than one third of their member drivers in JR West (1,101 out of 3,025) has been through the “Nikkin Kyoiku” (directly translated as “day shift education”) programme over the last three years. While nearly 90 per cent of the drivers think that re-education/training is necessary when mistakes in driving are made, 75 per cent feel the current programme needs to be improved.

Among those who went through the programme, 40 per cent claim that they received inappropriate treatment, such as loud verbal abuse from managers and exposure to ridicule by being allocated menial tasks and a specially designated desk in the office.

The four unions organising JR West workers, namely ITF affiliates JR-Rengo, JRU and Kokuro plus the non-affiliated Kenkoro, jointly issued a statement on this accident on 27 April, which called for the installation of ATS, as well as proper compensations for the victims. Trade union pluralism still exists in JR companies, but the unions spoke with one voice in their statement. Having been requested by the unions, emergency meetings on safety have been held several times with management.

The unions have taken up many issues on safety and are achieving concrete improvements. They believe that safety is the utmost priority for the railway system and that trade unions have due responsibility to secure it for their members as well as for passengers. X

Shigi Wada is Asia Pacific regional secretary of the ITF, based in Tokyo.