Derailment and fire on Sekisho Line

[bikkuri bahn]

TV news report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFmq4bo9Les

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQ49bxO1wWfXWRrom-KupZCyLX_Q?docId=CNG.681b0dc7994bfeb863fd4b1505d64db6.2e1

 

The train was Sapporo-bound Super Ozora #14 ltd. express DMU.  Disregard the picture in the article, it isn't even of a train station in Hokkaido!

[bikkuri bahn]

JR Hokkaido has a preliminary press release detailing the circumstances of the accident. Included are track and train diagrams.  It appears a drive shaft on the green car broke and fell/dragged on the track, and somehow the second to last car derailed.

 

http://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/press/2011/110528-1.pdf

[westfalen]

A lot of detail in that press release, which in itself is surprising to non-Japanese eyes, but I can't work out from the google translation which car caught fire, the one that lost the drive shaft or the one that derailed. It looks like JR Hokkaido have two things to get to the bottom of, why the drive shaft fell off and why the fire started. The crew did a good job stopping as quickly as they could, just unfortunate it was in a tunnel.

[gmat]

Some English News articles:

 

From Japan Times:

40 injured in train tunnel accident

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110529a8.html

 

From Japan Today:

Train operator criticized after derailment, fire

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/train-operator-comes-under-fire-after-derailment

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[miyakoji]

Ah japantoday.com...  .

 

No one died.  No one was even seriously injured as far as I've read.  Count your blessings, as the saying goes.  As another saying goes, shit happens.  I read there are like 25000 individual train services everyday in Japan.  Although, I think I heard that one of the Tokyo subway lines has 300 daily each way, so 25000 might be low.  Incidents will happen.

[bikkuri bahn]

The burnt-out shell of the train was pulled out of the tunnel (snowshed) by a DE10 today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJU26W8Tc4

[gmat]

Today's NHK News had an animation that showed the drive shaft falling off and being lodged under the wheels of the second car and the friction from being rubbed between the rails and wheels caused the fire, so I guess it's the second car where the fire started.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[keitaro]

the car looks like the rear car though ?

[miyakoji]

I'm a bit surprised at how much the frames weakened and sagged.  iirc, the roof of an automobile is sometimes, or often, structural.  Apparently cars drive differently after becoming home-made convertibles because of additional flex in the chassis.  I wonder how many structural components are within the walls and roofs of railway carbodies.

[rankodd]

I'm a bit surprised at how much the frames weakened and sagged.  iirc, the roof of an automobile is sometimes, or often, structural.  Apparently cars drive differently after becoming home-made convertibles because of additional flex in the chassis.  I wonder how many structural components are within the walls and roofs of railway carbodies.

 

It's not only home made convertibles that get wobbly after having a can opening taken to them. When a car manufacturer makes a model into a convertible, it's often heavier than the original because of all the extra structural reinforcement it goes through to compensate for the lost top. And even then, it's usually still not as stiff as the original.

[bikkuri bahn]

I believe the sagging/warping of the car shell was caused by the extreme heat of the fire, amplified by being inside a tunnel. The underframe was relatively unaffected, as witnessed by the ability of the DE10 to pull the trainset out of the tunnel.

 

According to Tv reports I saw, the Hokkaido Prefectural Police is investigating JR Hokkaido for any lapses in maintenance/inspection, specifically in regards to the failed drive shaft.

[bikkuri bahn]

More info about police investigation into this accident:

Police open negligence investigation in wake of Hokkaido train fire

 

SHIMUKAPPU, Hokkaido -- Police have opened an investigation into Hokkaido Railway Co. (JR Hokkaido) on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury following a May 28 fire that gutted an express train here and sent 39 of its passengers to hospital.

 

full article:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110530p2a00m0na007000c.html

[miyakoji]

Youtube contributor m6s24hst put this out in the last 24 hours:

 

 

I'm glad to see that they didn't shut down the whole line.

[westfalen]

"I'm glad to see that they didn't shut down the whole line." Not surprised seeing the line back in operation but I am at seeing the burnt out train still there after so long. Around here, once the investigators have documented things the train would be quickly moved out of sight, having the wreckage sitting there covered with tarps that long with trains passing the accident site is not good for public relations.

[bikkuri bahn]

I think the problem is that the location is an extremely remote area, with limited highway access.  Perhaps the stock is not in a condition to move by rail, and bringing low bed trailers to the scene may be difficult, as well as equipment to scrap on-site.  JR Hokkaido may just not have the resources to rapidly clean up something like this, compared to rich railways like JR East or JR Tokai.

[bikkuri bahn]

Sections of the fire-gutted trainset have begun arriving at Naebo Depot in Sapporo, after being cut into quarter sections and brought by flatbed trailer from the accident site.  The sections will be further inspected by investigators at Naebo.

 

source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/hokkaido/news/20110623-OYT8T00668.htm