Posted on 04/24/2005 8:33:58 PM PDT by srm913
Believe it was only going 43 miles per hour.
I doubt it. If any sabotage happened, it would be in Tokyo, where the Chinese are everywhere. It looks like the 'unexperienced engineer' theory holds the most water. These guys work the whole day 5am-12pm, and then take a day off, and inexperience or cockness mixed with fatigue could explain a lot.
I personally knew a strange fellow who was a JR Nishi-Nihon worker and had a lobster hand (3 middle fingers missing) thanks to a Shinkansen (bullet train) coupling. While train driving is treated with extreme professionalism and care in Japan, all it takes is just one missed second.
bttt
Thanks for the post.
Fox now puts the death toll at 57.
But no matter how many lives lost -- still a terrible tragedy.
I thank both of you for this information. I based my comment on the way short line commuter trains are run in Calif. The Japanese have a higher regard for safety than American railroads.
As we can see with the growing internet, with Free Republic's own maturity and the maturity of it's netcitizens, that kind of crap is way on the wane.
Prayers for those sad, distressed people and their souls. O-inori shimasu.
I've taken that kind of Japanese local train in that kind of Japanese neighborhood many a time. I can sympathize with those still alive and stuck on such trains, too.
Just for the food and the shotokan training (which the new baby has put on hiatus) but thanks for the ping. I do follow accident investiagtions. How very sad and tragic this was. I've been praying for those affected.
Toll is now up to 59 dead, 441 injured out of 580 passengers. They're still digging through the rubble at this hour, sadly.
What a terrible tragedy. In a country known for its technological advances, it's hard to believe such a thing could occur...but it has. There is always room for human failure.
I can't believe they build apartment buildings ao close to the tracks, esp. with high-speed train. But I kow they have limited space.
I used to muse, while riding the Myrtle Ave. elevated in Brooklyn to classes at St. John's University (the el tracks passed numerous 4-story apt. houses) ...what would happen if this thing went off the tracks. You could actually see into the apartments and watch women cooking, men reading their evening papers, etc. It was that close.
I empathize with our Japanese friends, and send them my sympathy and prayers.
>>>I can't believe they build apartment buildings ao close to the tracks, esp. with high-speed train. But I kow they have limited space.
An apartment 100 feet from a train station costs double the same apt. 1 mile from a station. The real sad fact of this crash is that those danchi (apt. buildings) usually have parks packed with small children. It's a good thing that the crash didn't happen one hour earlier, or the number of dead and injured would be 5 times what it is now.
Sadly, the death toll is now up to 78.
Count is currently 73. It's all that's playing on the news today.
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