Tragedy in Japan

[jinksys]

According to Google News a train jumped the tracks and slammed into an apartment building, killing 81 people. Read:[url]
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/27/news/japan.php[/url]

[Mukade]

The toll is now up to 91, and it's unlikely that any survivors still trapped at this point will live, as we are going on day three now.

It's looking to be one of the worst train wrecks in Japan's history.

[illitaret]

Thats really sad
why do they have trains that close to everyone
Japan is too crowded it should just go and counquer china or somthin
Danm i forgot that they arent allowed too build thier military again
I guess the US will have too do it for them J\KB)

[Spaztick]

I think the close proximity of a train isn't the problem but the fact that the guy was worried more about getting to the next station on time than the lives of the people on board.

And survivors can survive for a few weeks.

[ShinDig]

Thats awful....

And yea..Spaztick is right

[Vengeance]

This is what a friend of mine told me, he lives in Japan.

the deaths are in the 100s and the hurt are in the 500s
That's probably what you do know, I didn't check the google news thing, but here is the rest of the story...
In Japan, the JR train company is PRETTY huge. And they got that way by being safe, and on time. But the company lost sight of being safe, and thought being on time is the most important thing.
Here is what happens when you arrive at a stop late.
They take you off driving duty and have you go to another place instead, this place could pratically be called a prison, from morning till night time you are punished to cleaning duty tests and mental torture. Some of the things they have you do is, go to a popular train stop area, and say "I was late (the amount of time you were late) sorry it'll never happen again" To EVERY train that stops at that stop. Talk about harsh... they keep you doing these things until they feel you have learnt your lesson, or are ready for normal train duty. Because of this and no designated finish, many train conductors have commited suicide.

This brings me to this situation, the driver of this train had "messed up" three times prior to being able to drive a train alone. So he had to undergo that torture 3 times. When driving that day on one of his stops he went 40 meters past the area that he was supposed to stop at (he originally lied about this saying he went over only 8 meters) because of this he had to make up this time about 1.5 minutes.
To do so, he had to up the speed that he normally drove at. Trains now a days have a cap on the train so that it can't go over 70KM/s but since this was an older train, it didn't have that wfighich allowed the conductor to go way over his speed limit, they are saying it was about 100-120 KM/s. He then hit a curve going too fast, and they are also speculating that there was also a rock on the track(sometimes crows like to put rocks on the track), which then caused him to crash into a mansion(that's what japanese people call it, but they are actually apartment buidlings) nearby.

Now you have to think... who is to blame here... the train conductor, or the pressure that they put on their drivers....
perhaps this person figured he was good enough dead being both late and stopping way past his normal stop area.... I for one think the JR should be blamed just as much as this person, the drivers are brainwashed into think time is more important than lives... which I believe cost them BIG TIME. No matter how late you are, peoples lives are more important.

[Schattenjedi]

OK, I have a new appreciation for the Deutsche Bahn. It puts our lives over being on time!

[Shibakoen]

I never knew about any of that punishment. That's really a shame they go through with that, but not surprising. I was actually on a train in Tokyo that over shot its station. It wasn't a JR line, though. It was on the Tokyu Toyoko line. I think the driver thought he was driving the express instead of the local train, so the second driver in the back had to hit the emergency stop when the first driver missed the stop. I just thought it was kinda funny and figured the driver might get chewed out or written up or something, but damn.

[Kei]

I would have probably done the same in his shoes... No one likes to be punished with shame. Especially the japanese...

[Matsumoto_hideto]

its sad



but im really not suprised




with their extremely tight standards


an accident like this was bound to happen


im sure there are many who agree