Posted on 02/23/2002 8:48:01 AM PST by dighton
FUKUOKA -- The driver of a rapid service train that crashed into a local train Friday night, injuring 90 people, had mistaken a signal and speeded up his train against train operation regulations, police said Saturday.
The operator of the train was apologetic about the crash. "The driver of the rapid train made a basic mistake. We feel deeply sorry about the accident," a Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) spokesman told a news conference in Fukuoka.
Police are questioning the driver of the rapid train, 48-year-old Fumiaki Murata, on suspicion of professional negligence, resulting in injuries. The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry's Railway Accident Investigation Commission has also launched investigations to establish the cause of the crash.
Ninety people on the two trains were injured, some seriously, in the accident that occurred on the JR Kagoshima Line in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, at 9:35 p.m., the local fire department said. Eighteen of them were hospitalized.
The local train bound for Arao from Mojiko stopped between Ebitsu and Kyoikudaimae stations at around 9:25 p.m. after its driver heard a strange noise. While examining his train, the driver found the body of a wild boar that had apparently been hit by the train on the scene.
He got back onto the train and was about to depart when his train was hit by the rapid service train bound for Araki following on the same line from Mojiko.
Hundreds of meters behind the local train the rapid train had stopped in front of a red signal. In accordance with train operation regulations, Murata restarted his train at a low speed after stopping at the signal for one minute.
However, he mistakenly sped up his train after sighting a green signal not intended for trains running on the main track, causing his train to crash into the rear part of the local train.
The red signal is called a "block" signal. A railway section between two block signals is called a block section that only one train can enter. When a block signal is red, a train must stop before it for a minute and then run at 15 kilometers per hour so that it can stop suddenly at any time.
Murata followed the regulations. However, he sped up to 45 kilometers per hour after seeing a so-called "relay" signal. The relay signal indicates whether a train can get out of the block section where the driver cannot see far ahead, but was not for the rapid train that was running on the main track.
© 2002 The Mainichi Newspapers Co.
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