Ocean11 0 Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 The driver hasn't been found yet... Mrs 11 keeps saying things "If there's this much carnage from a derailing when everything's normal, what's it going to be like when the Big Earthquake hits Tokyo and they won't have the ambulances and the Super Rescue Team and the helicopters, and everything's on fire...?" Hmm, grim thought. Link to post Share on other sites
spinninglimbs 0 Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 Not pretty thats for sure. I thought they'd got the alive driver yesterday, must be mistaken. (It sounded strange finding the guy who was probably deep down in the most crushed up place....) Link to post Share on other sites
farquah 0 Posted April 26, 2005 Author Share Posted April 26, 2005 I read the driver escaped, and is in hospital with some superficial injuries but nothing too seriuos. I would think some questions to be answered though. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 If hes still alive I wonder if he'll try to kill himself. Would you think thats a Japanese thing to do? He better be fired if hes still alive! Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 Quote: what's it going to be like when the Big Earthquake hits Tokyo and they won't have the ambulances and the Super Rescue Team and the helicopters, and everything's on fire...? Then there is nothing to worry about, isn't it? There is not much you can do in those situations. Link to post Share on other sites
sock_monkey 0 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 the driver (23) is believed dead (they think they found his body), the conductor (42) is the one that has superficial injuries. evidence suggests that the driver was speeding at 100km/h (the limit at that spot is 70km/h) to make up lost time because he overran the last station by 40 meters and took a minute to back up (he then asked the conductor to report it as 8m) the speed alone is not enough to explain the derailment since officials say a train could go through it at up to 130km/h. they think that rocks on the rails could have contributed. also, there were only older safety monitoring devices at that spot, newer ones would have detected the excessive speed and put on the automatic breaks. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 Crows have an annoying habit of leaving rocks on rails as a way to mark the locality of food they bury or hide for later. (Crows also like to use children's slides ... for sliding down on their little feathery bums) ... according to the lunchtime segment I saw on "Crows, Love Them or Hate Them, They're Funny Old Bastards". Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 the news has said that he was going over 100km but they arent sure how much over yet. Link to post Share on other sites
Middleman C Charbroiled 2 0 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 I live pretty near this mess. Crows get my vote for being really cool. I hope people don't blame them. Link to post Share on other sites
Middleman C Charbroiled 2 0 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 There was another accident as well it seems: Japanese commuters, who were shaken by the deadly wreck, had their confidence further shaken Tuesday when a commuter express train collided with a truck in a northern Tokyo suburb, derailing the first car of the train and slightly injuring the driver of the truck, police and railway officials said. The accident took place in Ibaraki prefecture north of Tokyo about 12:48 p.m. (11:48 p.m. ET) after the semitrailer stalled at the Hatori Station crossing, police said. The driver of the truck jumped out and activated an emergency alarm, but the train was not able to stop in time. Japan Rail East officials said the conditions of the train's conductor and passengers are being checked, but no serious injuries are expected to be found. Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 I have friends now who are officially "scared of JR". But theres some serious pride damaged here. Link to post Share on other sites
Hokkaidough 4 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 I've heard that today as well. Speed the train was going at was 108km/h apparently. Link to post Share on other sites
gamera 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Now it is reported that the train might have reached 120kms/h or more when it got derailed and crashed. Ridiculous that they made it a rule for drives to report how much seconds their trains get late on time arriving Amagasaki station this month. I don't think it's possible for drivers to keep the train schedule so tight, even 1 second's delay needs them to report. Strange. If old persons or kids would like to get on a train but they walk slow, it causes a 10 seconds' delay. Can never forgive their way. Link to post Share on other sites
Thunderpants 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 You are so right Gamera. I just finished reading an article on NYT about the japanese obsession for punctuality. It is such a great website, full of interesting articles, unless you are republican take some time to read this one, i'm not going to do the copy/paste thing.... You have to register to get acces to the articles, . It's free, and you will NOT get spammed. ..just do it, ok? Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Punctual trains are good. Punctually is generally good. And Japanese people can be very forgiving of unpunctuality if you're apologetic about it and don't make a habit of it. And it's not as if Japanese trains regularly jump the rails because they're running late. The driver in this case seems to have been something of a unique problem... Link to post Share on other sites
yamayamayama 2 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I agree, the bottom line is that being on time is a good thing. The crazy stuff about obsessing over it might be a problem, but being on time is not a bad thing. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I saw on the news that they were saying that the train would have to be going about 133km for it to derail where it did and that the trains maximum speed was 120km's. My cars maximum speed is 180 but it can do 240km! Most seem to want to blame the driver, but who is pressuring these drivers to report if they are seconds late to a train station. JR should be responsible. In Oz if your train came within 5 minutes of the schedule it was a bonus! Link to post Share on other sites
white-void 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Quote: I saw on the news that they were saying that the train would have to be going about 133km for it to derail where it did and that the trains maximum speed was 120km's. My cars maximum speed is 180 but it can do 240km! Trains are different from cars. You might have noticed that trains run on tracks and there are other considerable differences. You can't compare the speed thing like you did above. And anyway if you have a big accident in your car while you're bombing along at 160km/h on a 100 road, people might think you would take responsibility for your speeding. Other people have also said that at less than 133 (eg 110, 120) the train could theoretically come off the rails. The silly "by the second" rules apart, if some madman driver is going over 50% over the speed limit, surely he has to take at least a fair bit of the flack? Link to post Share on other sites
LiquidX 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 It's up to 103 dead now. That is one big crash.. lots of hurt pride going on. This morning on the tv they were badmouthing the UK and other countries train system and looking into that, what other countries think. Typical. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I just saw a lunchtime special about JR's punishment system for drivers. Apparently if they do something to cause a delay, they have to go for punishment training. It sounds like something out of the old Imperial Navy, only minus the face slapping. It has driven at least one driver to suicide. In bad cases, they have to stand on the platform and announce their error to every train that comes in as special humiliation and as a warning to other drivers. The JR West union rep was having fun dishing the dirt. JR West's director made a comment about this in public saying that there can be no driver instruction without pressure. Sounds like he rather lacks empathy and imagination. I don't see why it shouldn't be possible to ensure hyper-efficient running (which is still desirable, whatever people from the UK might think) with safety. JR West features in a number of Socially Responsible Investment funds. I wonder if the fund managers are aware of their punishment regime. Investing in that doesn't seem very socially responsible to me. Link to post Share on other sites
gamera 0 Posted April 29, 2005 Share Posted April 29, 2005 Sad http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050428p2a00m0dm011000c.html " title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" /> Link to post Share on other sites
ROM 0 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 If I understand the news now correctly, some group of JR peeps had a big bowling party and enkai hours after the accident. Are JR trying to self-destruct or something? Link to post Share on other sites
NutteyCubey 0 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 How long do you give before Mr Top Guy does the suicide thing.... Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 JR have been found out. Sadly, I bet more than a few large companies would have similar cans of worms opened if something big happened like this. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted May 6, 2005 Share Posted May 6, 2005 Thats been really quiet here since that first day, I didn't know so many people had died. You see we have an exciting election going on here, rivetting it is. Link to post Share on other sites
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