2022-03-16: M7.3 earthquake off Fukushima coast, tsunami warning, Tohoku Shinkansen derailed

[railsquid]

Derailed north of Fukushima, apparently; report in Japanese: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20220317/k10013536411000.html .

 

Unusually there was a large-scale power blackout across the Kanto area, which has only just been fixed (at least in the vicinity of Chez Railsquid).

[railsquid]

Looking at the TV news now, the Shinkansen viaduct in the area where the derailment occurred has suffered a fair bit of damage of the sort which will probably need major reconstruction.

[railsquid]

The derailment:

 

 

[maihama eki]

Nearly the same time of year as the Great Tohoku quake. Sending my positive thoughts to the folks in that area. This has to bring back some bad memories.

 

Once again, the earthquake detection and shut down system saves the Shinkansen from a more serious situation. Was the damage to the viaduct due to the earthquake or the derailment?

 

The irony that only car 13 stayed on the track - I guess in Japan, car 4 would be the unlucky one.

 

 

[Yavianice]

Some clearer pictures here

 

https://mainichi.jp/graphs/20220317/mpj/00m/040/009000f/4

And a closeup of Squids youtube vid here: 

H5+E6 consist

Edited March 16, 2022 by Yavianice

[railsquid]

16 minutes ago, maihama eki said:

Once again, the earthquake detection and shut down system saves the Shinkansen from a more serious situation. Was the damage to the viaduct due to the earthquake or the derailment?

 

I assume the earthquake; in the picture I saw the viaduct legs were clearly at an angle and had shedded a fair bit of concrete.

[railsquid]

NHK report showing more damage: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20220317/k10013536981000.html

[railsquid]

JR East twitter:

 

 

 

 

 

[Kamome]

Glad you’re alright though @railsquid

 

We didn’t feel it in Kyushu. One scientist on TV was saying that this is likely to be an aftershock from the one 11 years ago, if I understood him correctly. 

[railsquid]

It's been 11 years of aftershocks... Still it was a useful practical exercise in dealing with a power cut, which I haven't experienced here other than a couple of momentary outages.

[railsquid]

And the reason for the widespread power cut was the automatic shutdown of power stations in the affected areas (net exporters to the Kanto area), which lead to a network imbalance which neccessitated a sudden reduction in consumption.

[railsquid]

39 minutes ago, railsquid said:

Still it was a useful practical exercise in dealing with a power cut, which I haven't experienced here other than a couple of momentary outages.

 

Useful lessons learnt:

1) Having a wide selection of torches and other ad-hoc lighting devices around the house (and an ample supply of batteries) is definitely a Good Thing, but for longer outages we need a couple of larger lamps which can be carried around, placed on the floor or hung from a hook

2) The mobile network was still operational, but (as I expected) hopelessly overloaded, and largely useless as a source of immediate information; the analogue emergency-use radio was much more informative (pat on back to self for keeping a set of the required batteries in the box), but as we don't normally listen to radio, time was wasted finding a channel, so I've printed the local NHK frequences on a label and attached it to the radio

[Yavianice]

Short video from inside the shinkansen that got shaken off the track

 

 

[200系]

To provide some additional context, from what I've seen the derailment happened after the train had already successfully come to an emergency stop, with the S wave simply throwing the cars of the track, and yes that seems to have been as scary as it sounds.

 

Interior footage seems to confirm this, though a warning for headphone users, it gets really violent once the S wave hits:

 

 

As can be seen in this video, the emergency lighting is on (signaling that the power was cut by the earthquake detection system (1)) and both automatic and manual announcements are being made about the train being stopped because of the (approaching) earthquake. And judging by the lack of sound during the first seconds of the video it is clear the train had come to a dead stop before the derailment happened.

 

I'm really glad to hear there have been no (serious) injuries on this train, though unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case for this earthquake in general with at least 3 confirmed deaths. Seeing how violent this derailment was, with a number of the rotating seats being pushed through their their locking mechanisms by sheer force, I'm wondering though if there wouldn't have been more injuries if the train had been full, especially taking into account the way car 6 ended up.

 

Though not at all important in comparison to the human toll caused by earthquakes like these, I'm wondering what the future holds for the H5 and E6 formations involved in this derailment. The formations involved in previous derailments, 200 series formation K25 which derailed during the Niigata Kenchū earthquake in October 2004, and 800 series formation U005 which derailed during the Kumamoto earthquake in April 2016, were scrapped afterwards, and with the violence of the derailment, and the way the H5 series formation in particular seems to have fared, especially car 6, I wouldn't be surprised if a similar fate will be in store for those two.

 

What I am kind of surprised to see though, is that the Tōhoku Shinkansen still seems to the derailment guards at least at this section of the shinkansen (and from what I could gauge most if not all of the Tōhoku Shinkansen). The installation of these guards was a recommendation coming out of the official investigation of the 2004 Niigata derailment, almost 18 years ago this year, and both JR Tōkai and JR West have been installing their own systems over the last decade, with both the Tōdaidō and the Sanyō Shinkansen being covered for a (large) majority of the route at this point in time. So I'm actually somewhat surprised that JR East hasn't yet managed to install a similar system on the Tōhoku Shinkansen during the last decade, especially taking into account the 320km/h operating speed and experiences with both the Niigata earthquake and the Dai-Tōhoku earthquake and it's continuing aftershocks.

 

-> Derailment guards as used on the Sanyō Shinkansen, as seen on the through tracks at Himeji. note the truss like structure between the tracks (author)

 

 

(1) The earthquake detection system functions, as far as I know, by using the P wave, the initial pressure wave which travels faster than the main shock wave, the S wave, to detect an upcoming earthquake. As the system detects the P wave, overhead power is cut immediately which results in the emergency brakes being applied by all shinkansen which are traveling in the affected section(s) at that moment, with the power cut also resulting in the (electrical) systems on the trains themselves no longer functioning, with only those that are necessary, for example the emergency lighting as can be seen in this video, powered by the emergency power supply (batteries).

Ironically, they stopped right next to one of the sub-stations for the Tōhoku Shinkansen.

 

Edit: @Yavianice appears to have posted the same video a second before I did, my bad.

Edited March 17, 2022 by 200系

[200系]

Adding to the above, with more and more high resolution images appearing online, I was finally able to confirm the formations involved.

For those who are interested, the following formations were involved:

 

-> H5 formation H2, she was built by Hitachi Seisakusho and entered service on the 8th of November 2014.

-> E6 formation Z9, built by Kawasaki Jūkō entering service on the 22nd of June 2013.

 

Though the news casts simply placed the location as between Fukushima and Shiroishizaō stations, the actual location appears to be at the Yanagi no machi maintenance siding (?) and sub-station, about 2 kilometres south of Shiroishizaō station.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9753093,140.6182578,3a,90y,350.64h,80.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXREtngAjHNIf0ACyWUyEZQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

In addition to the video, a couple of pictures of interior damage near and at the gangway connection between cars 4 and 5:

 

 

I'm really curious how this section looks at the partially (slightly) overturned car 6, as well as other damages sustained. Of note, the metallic structure which can be seen in the foreground of picture 2 is not a partially open gangway door, the shinkansen aren't fitted with gangway doors after all, but a sliding aluminium plate which is used to be able to close off individual cars to the elements should the formation be split during maintenance or for any other reason, these plates are normally stored during normal operations (I know potatoe potato, tomatoe tomato). Either the force of the derailment, or the new alignment caused by the derailed cars must have knocked them out of their alcoves.

 

I also forgot to add to my initial post, I'm glad to here that our member(s) closest to the epicentre appear to be safe, and though it is sad to see what happened to the Tōhoku Shinkansen, my main concern is with the people living near the impact zone, so let's hope the number of injuries and deaths remains stable from now on. That being said, this derailment in it self will most likely lead to further advances in terms of safety on the nationwide shinkansen network, and I'm quite interested in seeing more details emerge over the coming months/years.

 

Stay safe!

Edited March 17, 2022 by 200系

[Yavianice]

5 hours ago, 200系 said:

So I'm actually somewhat surprised that JR East hasn't yet managed to install a similar system on the Tōhoku Shinkansen during the last decade

 

While the JR Central Shinkansens have the derailment stopper on the inside of the bogie (requiring an extra rail), the JR East Shinkansens have a stopper on the outside.

[200系]

14 minutes ago, Yavianice said:

While the JR Central Shinkansens have the derailment stopper on the inside of the bogie (requiring an extra rail), the JR East Shinkansens have a stopper on the outside.

 

Interesting, I have to admit I wasn't aware this was the case. Makes sense I guess. I take it the L-shaped guides located just below the axle boxes are the stoppers you are alluding to?

 

http://tecs.g2.xrea.com/truck/trsg/sg110.pdf

[Yavianice]

The little stubs that poke down and are directly in front of the axle if viewed from the side, yes. For JR Central there is a stopper somewhere in the middle of the bogie, which is kind of wedged in between the guard rails of your picture. 

[cteno4]

9 hours ago, railsquid said:

Useful lessons learnt:

1) Having a wide selection of torches and other ad-hoc lighting devices around the house (and an ample supply of batteries) is definitely a Good Thing, but for longer outages we need a couple of larger lamps which can be carried around, placed on the floor or hung from a hook

2) The mobile network was still operational, but (as I expected) hopelessly overloaded, and largely useless as a source of immediate information; the analogue emergency-use radio was much more informative (pat on back to self for keeping a set of the required batteries in the box), but as we don't normally listen to radio, time was wasted finding a channel, so I've printed the local NHK frequences on a label and attached it to the radio

You would be amazed how most households worldwide fail to have these simple items needed in an emergency! Growing up in California they were always just du rigueur for the emergency kit. Nice thing with the shop is I have a pile of big 18v and 40v lithium power packs I keep topped up all the time and some lanterns, flood lights and torches that work with them. Some of the lamps have 5v usb power and the 40v has a 110v ac inverter, so we can keep well a long time w.o having to keep fresh disposable batteries.

 

glad to here it was just a shake for you guys squid and all are well.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

Japan is certainly better prepared in that respect, there's a steady drip-feed of disaster preparation information, many stores (even convenience stores) have emergency goods sections, and a couple of times a year there are these useful natural reminders to keep everyone on their toes. Not that everyone will have the recommended minimum 3 days of supplies, and having a bunch of stuff is not necessarily the same as having what you'll actually need.

 

I do think increasing dependence on mobile internet connection, and the assumption it will be available and usable, will catch a lot of people out, e.g. when they find themselves in the middle of a widespread power outage and their fancy electronic payment methods no longer work, or are relying an online map to be able to find their way home...

[railsquid]

13 hours ago, 200系 said:

To provide some additional context, from what I've seen the derailment happened after the train had already successfully come to an emergency stop, with the S wave simply throwing the cars of the track, and yes that seems to have been as scary as it sounds.

 

What has been somewhat less reported is that there were actually two earthquakes; the first at 23:34 at M6.1 (maximum intensity / shindo 5-), which triggered an alert for Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures, which presumably would have also triggered the emergency stop. The main quake (now reported as M7.4, maximum intensity / shindo 6+ in multiple locations) occurred at 23:36 (the train staff announcement from about 0:17 says "再度緊急地震...", i.e. "another emergency earthquake [alert]..."), going by that video it was enough to throw the stopped train off the rails.

 

The alerts broadcast by NHK:

 

 

Note that the second alert at 23:36 was expanded a total of 3 times to cover most of east/north-east Japan. The chimes which indicate this is a significant event came at 23:37 and tsunami warning at 23:39.

 

I presume the second quake was what triggered the electricity shutdown in the Kanto area, as I was chilling out listening to music at the time, noticed what felt like a large-ish earthquake a long way away and was getting up to check when the power went off, and was scrabbling for light when the main one hit (which in Tokyo was "only" shindo 4, but went on for a long time).

Edited March 18, 2022 by railsquid

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

The alerts broadcast by NHK:

 

 

Note that the second alert at 23:36 was expanded a total of 3 times to cover most of east/north-east Japan.

 

 

BTW this "feature" was implemented in 2018 ("PLUM method") which, following the initial alert, analyzes local measured intensity as the effects of the quake spread, enabling better predictions for areas further from the epicentre, rather than relying on the initial predictions only. This was an issue with the 2011 earthquake, where an alert was generated but didn't cover all areas which actually experienced severe shaking (shindo 5- or greater).

[bikkuri bahn]

Looks like JR East is looking to reopen Nasu Shiobara- Fukushima and Sendai-Morioka sections of the Tohoku Shinkansen by the 22nd of the month.  But the Fukushima-Sendai section which had the most damage re-opening date is TBD (within the month has been ruled out).  JR East is going to run extra services (rinji ressha) on the Joban Line to compensate, and to provide an unbroken Sendai-Tokyo link.  

[bill937ca]

 

[Yavianice]

@200系 Here are some insightful tweets regarding earthquake protection on JR East

Bogie of E6 Shinkansen with the "derailment stopper" on the axle (apparently adopted since the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake, when a 200 Shinkansen fell over)

 

 

In addition to the derailment stoppers, JR East also has a protection system to keep their track from warping; affixed every 5 meters. I am not quite sure how this works though; does it keep the track in place moreso than the normal fixtures? Or does it snap the track? If anyone has more info about these workings, then I'd be interested to know.

 

 

Here is a schematic of the derailment prevention system on the Tokaido shinkansen, the blue rails being the ones in your picture between the track, which blocks the derailment stopper so the train is kept roughly in the track (and doesn't flip over).