====================================== International Rail-Related news for Friday September 27, 2013 ====================================== 3 former JR West execs cleared of negligence in fatal 2005 derailment KOBE — Three former presidents of one of Japan’s biggest rail operators on Friday were cleared by the Kobe District Court of professional negligence in the deaths of 106 passengers when a speeding train derailed in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2005. On April 25, 2005, a speeding train on the JR Fukuchiyama Line jumped the tracks on a sharp curve during the morning rush hour at 9:18 a.m. and plowed into a residential tower. The driver and 106 passengers died in the accident, which also left 550 people injured in Japan’s worst rail disaster for four decades. It was determined later that the driver had been going over the speed limit because he was running late—an offense for which he had been punished once before. In the aftermath of the crash, four JR West executives were charged with professional negligence—Shojiro Nanya, 72, Masao Yamazaki, 68, Masataka Ide, 78, and Takeshi Kakiuchi, 69. Yamazaki was found not guilty in January 2012. The designated attorney, who played a prosecution role after prosecutors dropped the case, had demanded a jail term, arguing that Nanya, Ide and Kakikuchi should have anticipated the danger. The attorney and family members of the crash victims said JR West should have been held accountable for failing to take proper safety precautions such as installing an Automatic Train Stop (ATS) device that can stop a train from traveling too fast. The company’s corporate culture of punishing employees for their mistakes was also harshly criticized. But the court ruled that the three did not have proper opportunities to recognize the danger and that they were also not legally obliged to install such a device when the accident occurred. Public prosecutors had stopped short of indicting them, citing a lack of evidence, but a judicial review panel found the decision inappropriate, which led to their indictment in 2010 and the court appointment of a designated attorney. Japan Today/AFP ---------------------------------------------- Cement wagons derailed near Ketton - UK Wagons from a train carrying hundreds of tones of cement have derailed neared Ketton. Five wagons from the seven wagon train came off the lines on Monday. No one was hurt in the incident. Workers from Hanson Cement have been emptying cement from the railway wagons following the derailment, to allow the works to right the wagons with a crane. A temporary roadway was laid from the A6121 to allow lorries and the crane access to the site. Each of the railway wagons weighed about 50 tons, including about 38 tons of cement powder, which had to be transferred from the wagons to road tankers and removed from the track. Hanson Cement communications manager David Weeks said: “We are trying to get these big beasts back on the line. “We still don’t know what caused the incident to happen and we are carrying out an investigation.” Mr Weeks said the railway line is also being inspected for damage. The incident happened on the works’ private branch line when a small shunting locomotive was being used to take the wagons to the main Stamford-Oakham line where they are normally attached to a larger train. The wagons are still blocking the line and prevented Hanson Cement exporting its product by rail this week. However, Mr Weeks said the cement works exports a huge amount of cement by road and has silos to store any cement, which can not be immediately shipped so has not slowed down production. Mr Weeks said the accident was not being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive as no-one was injured.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 00:27:36 +0000
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