Japan's high-speed rail safety factor is really so high

From the opening of the Shinkansen in 1964 until now, there has not been any major passenger casualties, but it is by no means "zero casualties" or "zero accidents", and there have been many failures and accidents, sometimes even to the brink of a great disaster, in the history of Shinkansen. Shinkansen has a history of many failures and accidents, sometimes even to the brink of catastrophe, but in the end, it was largely due to good fortune in addition to the safety measures taken. The Shinkansen has some commendable safety features, but they should not be overly mythologized.

Before discussing the safety of the Shinkansen, it is important to understand what the Shinkansen is, because many people, including many in the media, lack an understanding of Japan's railroads, and cannot distinguish between the Shinkansen and the Jurai Line. Because many people, including many media, lack of understanding of Japanese railroads, can not distinguish between "Shinkansen" and "JR", JR and private railroads & subway, and often take for granted that all Japanese railroads are regarded as "Shinkansen", and then the Yamanote Line in Tokyo, such as the city commuter railroads out of operation failure is also called "Shinkansen accident". "Shinkansen accidents" are called "Shinkansen accidents", as are accidents on local railroads such as the Shinetsu Kogen Railway, which is a single-lane, internally combustible railroad. ...... Therefore, it is important to note that Shinkansen is defined in Japanese regulations as "a mainline railroad with a normal train speed of 200 kilometers per hour or more in the main area", and that the international definition of "high-speed railroad" is based on a normal operating speed of 200 to 250 kilometers per hour. Since 200-250km/h is used as a distinction between "high-speed railroads" and conventional railroads, Shinkansen=Japan high-speed railroads, and Shinkansen accidents=Japan high-speed railroads, and Japanese railroad accidents. When it comes to railroad accidents in Japan, there have been various kinds of accidents on the Japanese railroads as a whole, including a number of accidents that caused major casualties, such as the "Five Major Postwar Railway Accidents" in the 1950s and 1960s, the Hokuriku Tunnel Train Fire Accident in the 1970s, the Shinyaku Kogen Railway Train Conflict Accident in the 1990s, and the JR Fukuchi Train Accident in 2005, as well as the JR Fukuchi Train Accident in the 1990s. The JR Fukuchiyama Line train derailment in 2005, but these accidents have nothing to do with the Shinkansen system, which is a high-speed railroad.

The JR Fukuchiyama Line train derailed due to speeding in April 2005, resulting in a particularly major railroad accident that killed 106 people and injured 562 others (pictured here is a 207-series train of the same type as the vehicle involved in the accident), and the party responsible for the accident, JR-West, has been harshly criticized by the public for neglecting safety in its daily operations and for oppressing its workers. However, the line is only a suburban commuter line similar to Beijing's S2 line and Shanghai's Jinshan Intercity Railway, which operates at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour and has no relationship with the Shinkansen system, which is a high-speed railroad, and the so-called "Fukuchiyama Shinkansen Accident" on the Internet is purely nonsensical.

The Shinrakogen Railway train collision in May 1991 resulted in 42 deaths and 614 injuries, and the two companies, JR West and Shinrakogen Railway, could not be blamed for the irregularities, but such a single line and so far no electrification of the local branch line railroads can also be regarded as the "Shinkansen", which can only be said to be the Japanese railroad Lack of basic understanding ......

Japan's Shinkansen map, the speed of 200 kilometers per hour or more "standard specification Shinkansen" Tokaido, Sanyo, Tohoku, Joetsu, Hokuriku, Kyushu, Hokkaido Shinkansen, magnetic levitation Central Shinkansen is currently under construction, in addition to the "mini-Shinkansen" non-standard specification Shinkansen In addition, there are the Yamagata and Akita Shinkansen, which are "mini-shinkansen" and have non-standard specifications.

A list of accidents and malfunctions in the history of the Shinkansen--

1. Tokaido Shinkansen Kamiya simulation line intrusion

The Kamiya simulation line was built in 1962 for high-speed train operation experiments, training of technicians, and public test rides before the official opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen. After the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen, the Kamiya simulator line was incorporated into the commercial operation area and no longer exists. The Kamiya simulator line was the birthplace of the modern Shinkansen, but it was also the site of the first accident in the history of the Shinkansen - a Shinkansen 1000 test train (the prototype of the Shinkansen 0 series of cars that went into service) crashed into a train at 10:55 p.m. on February 26, 1964, while the Shinkansen 1000 test train (the prototype of the Shinkansen 0 series of cars that went into service) was running on the ground. A Shinkansen 1000 test train (the prototype of the Shinkansen 0 series of cars that went into full operation) killed a man who trespassed on the line while conducting a high-speed test at 200km/h on the Kamiya simulator line, and the car was also damaged in several places after the impact. This was the "first accident" in the history of the Shinkansen, eight months before the official opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen. According to Japanese railroad regulations, it is illegal for ordinary people to enter the Shinkansen area privately, and the responsibility for the accident lies mainly with the deceased.

The Kamiya simulation line, which was used for high-speed train travel tests, was incorporated into the line section after the Tokaido Shinkansen opened and no longer exists.

2. Accident Involving Line Maintenance Workers on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line

At 7:32 p.m. on November 23, 1964, 10 line maintenance workers were working on the Shizuoka section of the Shinkansen Line when they were struck by high-speed train No. 207, Echo, which was in charge of the "0" series. The train ran for a kilometer before coming to a complete stop, killing five people on the spot and seriously injuring five others, making the scene a horrific one. The cause of the accident was the failure of the construction site watchman to pay attention, and the noise from the construction machinery masked the sound of the approaching train, which ultimately led to the tragedy. The fact that such a mass fatality occurred just over a month after the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen line is undoubtedly a wake-up call for the safety management of the national railroad. However, the accident has not received much attention since it was an "on-road accident" that did not involve passengers.

3. Accident of a broken axle on Hikari train of the Tokaido Shinkansen

On April 25, 1966, at 19:00, while Hikari Train No. 42 (No. 0) was running on a curve near Atamada, the conductor suddenly noticed an unusual vibration and sparks coming from the last bogie at the rear of the train, and the train entered the next curve with the rear bogie at the rear. Later, when the train entered the next curve, the rear bogie again showed abnormal vibration and sparks. For safety reasons, the conductor immediately contacted the driver to request an emergency stop, and after the stop, the conductor got off the train and inspected the vehicle, confirming that the tail bogie was indeed malfunctioning, and then "Light" No. 42 retreated into Fengqiao Station to stop according to the dispatching instructions, and the passengers on board were transferred to the subsequent train. The train was sent back to the depot for inspection and it was found that the axle of the last bogie had indeed broken, which could have caused the train to derail and capsize at high speed.

The accident didn't have serious consequences, but the Shinkansen was on the brink of collapse, and it was the conductor's diligence that saved the day. Further testing of the damaged axle showed that metal fatigue caused by defects in the material processing of the faulty axle was the root cause of the broken axle, and afterward National Railways stepped up its quality control of vehicle parts to prevent substandard parts from coming online.

4. Tokaido Shinkansen Disconnection at Osaka Station

At 17:30 on February 21, 1973, an unloaded return train, No. 715A, which was in charge of the 0-series, ran into a stop signal at Osaka Station due to a brake failure, and the train slid out of the contact line and broke through the turnout at a low speed, coming to a stop on the main line of the Shinkansen, and the dispatch center instructed a malfunctioning operation without confirming the situation. The dispatch center instructed the train to return to the vehicle base immediately without fully confirming the situation, and as a result, the train was derailed when it passed through the previously crushed switch, and the accident led to the disruption of the Tokaido Shinkansen line for 18 hours, affecting a large number of passengers' travels.

This was the first train derailment in the history of the Shinkansen, and fortunately there were no injuries or fatalities because it was an unloaded return train, but in fact, the Shinkansen had yet another brush with death -- less than a minute before the escaping return train, 715A, ran onto the main line. One minute before 715A ran into the main line, an operating train loaded with passengers had just sped by at 210 kilometers per hour; and when 715A derailed on the main line, the next normal operating train that came immediately after it had just entered the closure zone where the accident occurred, and after receiving the zone occupancy signal (the derailed 715A stopped in the closure zone), it immediately applied the emergency brake, and finally stopped less than 500 meters in front of the line divergence point, which is the location where 715A derailed. less than 500 meters before the point of line divergence where 715A derailed. If 715A's signaling and derailment had occurred a minute or two earlier or later, it would have been a head-on collision with a fully loaded passenger train. The Shinkansen was lucky to escape.

The biggest impact of the accident is that it has shaken the "ATC myth" (ATC stands for "Automatic Train Control"), which many people in Japan had believed had been eradicated since the Shinkansen's opening, under the foolproof command and control of the ATC system. Many people in Japan believed that the Shinkansen had eliminated the risk of human error and that no accidents would ever occur, but the reason why Train 715A, the return train, entered the signal and derailed under ATC's "infallible" control is very complicated. By the running into the main line of the contact line on the day of the workers in the road maintenance operations because of uneven oiling, resulting in low-speed operation of the train when the wheels skid idling, the result is that although the on-board equipment in the ATC signal command repeatedly implemented emergency braking, but the wheels "hold the dead" train still appeared to go over the slip slip and broke through the turnout to enter the main line, at this time ATC system should have immediately prevented the advent of signaling the derailment of the train. ATC system should have immediately prevented the impulse signal train to continue to move, but the signaling system mistakenly 715A as the next normal operation of the train is about to pass and give it permission to travel, and then in the scheduling command to retreat due to the damage to the turnout and derailment. However, from another level, the ATC system in this accident is half of the merits and demerits, in the 715A into the main line, the ATC system found that the occlusion of the partition is occupied immediately sent to the subsequent train stop signal, so that the subsequent train immediately implement emergency braking to avoid rear-end collision, which prevented the further expansion of the accident.

In fact, the Tokaido Shinkansen had numerous problems in its early operation, with the 0-series wheel pairs not sticking enough to cause the problem of overshooting during braking occurring repeatedly before the derailment, as well as high-speed noise and sonic booms when the trains ran through tunnels (which had once become an environmental nuisance and led to a large-scale "Shinkansen Opposition Campaign" by people along the line), frequent occurrence of noise and sonic booms when trains ran through tunnels, and frequent occurrence of "Shinkansen Opposition Campaign" by people along the line. (which once became an environmental nuisance and caused a large-scale "Shinkansen Opposition Campaign" by people along the line), frequent off-line pantograph failures, rail wear and damage (the Tokaido Shinkansen later replaced all 53kg/m rails with 60kg/m rails), ballast track slurry and mud damage (the ballast track was later remedied, and later Shinkansen lines were built with slab-type ballast track in order to avoid this problem), and ice and snow accumulation in winter are all common problems. And so on is a common occurrence. But in all fairness, as the world's first high-speed railroad with a speed of 200 kilometers per hour or more, the Shinkansen had no experience in facing these problems and had to feel its way across the river, and from this level, it is forgivable that there were such problems and failures at that time.

The ballast track of the Tokaido Shinkansen nowadays is prone to snow and ice accumulation on the outer wall of the train in winter, and ice and gravel splash on the track when snow falls and hits the gravel ballast, posing a great threat to high-speed trains at an early stage, and so a protective mesh was later laid on the ballast track to prevent ice and gravel from splashing.

5. Tohoku Shinkansen Elementary School Student Accident

On August 4, 1983, an elementary school student walking on the Tohoku Shinkansen line was killed in a train crash in the Daiichi Takashimizu Tunnel. According to a later investigation, the victim's family was traveling by train at the time, and when the train stopped at Furukawa Station the elementary school student got off the train, but his family did not follow him off the train. The child, who had been left alone on the platform, went down to the track to walk after the train had departed and appeared to be trying to catch up with his family, and as a result, he was struck and killed by a high-speed follow-on train in the tunnel. This is the first passenger fatality on the Shinkansen since its opening, and while the blame lies mainly on the victim's side, the operator is also more or less responsible for lax station management.

6. Tohoku Shinkansen Line Maintenance Crew Accident

On the night of September 11, 1985, a line maintenance crew was working on the Tohoku Shinkansen line between Shin-Hanamaki and Morioka. According to the normal timetable, the train operation for the day had already ended at this time, but train No. 79 "Yamahiko" (200 series) did not pass through the maintenance area until 23:36 due to a delay, and the information of this delayed train was not notified to the crew in time, which resulted in the death of two workers who were working on the line when they were caught by surprise, and another six workers who were killed by a high-speed train that passed through the line. As a result, two workers working on the line were caught off guard and killed on the spot, while six others were injured when they were overturned by the strong winds of the high-speed train. The accident was another mass fatality in the history of the Shinkansen, similar to the one that killed and injured line workers on the Tokaido Shinkansen in 1964, but it also received little attention because it was an on-road accident.

7. Passenger fall at Mishima Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line

(In 1987, Japan's state-owned railways, which had long been plagued by deficits, strikes, and accidents, carried out a reform of dividing up the privatization of railways, and the Shinkansen line operators have since changed from the former dominant national railways to the privatization of a number of JR companies. Among them, the Tokaido Shinkansen is operated by JR Tokai, the Tohoku, Joetsu, Yamagata, and Akita Shinkansen are operated by JR East, the Sanyo Shinkansen is operated by JR West, the Kyushu Shinkansen is operated by JR Kyushu, the Hokkaido Shinkansen is operated by the JR East, JR Hokkaido section, and the Hokuriku Shinkansen is operated by the JR East, JR West section.)

On December 27, 1995, at 1831 hours, Echo 475 (Department 0) stopped at Mishima Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line for three minutes to avoid a following express train, and a male high school student took advantage of the situation to go down to the platform to make a phone call. 1834 hours, Echo 475 stopped at Mishima Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line to avoid a following express train. Echo" No. 475 departed from Mishima Station at 18:34 according to the timetable, and the high school student who had gotten off the train to make a phone call immediately ran toward the door of the train after hearing the announcement on the platform, intending to "rush the door" to get on the train, and ended up getting his fingers caught in the automatic door that was being closed and could not get out of the way; however, neither the platform staff nor the conductor noticed the situation, and the train departed as usual. After the train departed as usual, the boy with his finger caught in the door was dragged by the train on the platform for more than a hundred meters, and fell off the track at the end of the platform and was crushed by the wheels, killing him.

JR Mishima Station Shinkansen platform, where the Shinkansen's safety record of "zero passenger deaths" was broken

The Mishima passenger fall accident was the first in the history of the Shinkansen to be attributed to the responsibility of the operator, although the victim himself was blamed for the dangerous act of rushing through the door to get on the train. Although the deceased's own dangerous behavior of rushing the door and getting on the train was to blame, the negligence of the platform staff and train conductor did have an unshirkable responsibility. According to the regulations, the train conductor has the responsibility to confirm the situation outside the train before departure, but when the accident occurred the train conductor was busy dealing with other matters and did not notice the passenger whose finger was caught at the door, while the staff on the platform saw the dragged male high school student and then mistakenly thought that he was a passenger who was sending his friends and relatives on the platform, and missed the last chance to stop the accident. In addition, the defects of the train design should also be held responsible, the 0 series car pneumatic door is closed immediately after the pressurized tightly closed, this design is easy to clip the passenger and is difficult to get out of the passenger, the automatic detection of foreign objects is also insufficient in the clip fingers and other small foreign objects can not be alarmed in a timely manner, in addition to the train's emergency stop device was limited to the staff to use, which makes the ordinary travelers even if they found anomalies In addition, the emergency stop device on the train was restricted to staff, making it difficult for ordinary passengers to rescue themselves even if they noticed something unusual. After the accident, JR revised the design of the automatic doors and the emergency stop device on the one hand, and added platform guardrails and cameras as well as reminder announcements to warn passengers not to engage in the dangerous act of rushing through the doors on the other.

8 In 2001, according to the court's judgment, JR Tokai, which was responsible for the operation of the train, paid compensation **** amounting to 48,680,000 yen to the victim's family.

8. Great Hanshin Earthquake

At 5:46 a.m. on January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter Scale, struck the Kansai region of Japan, and caused serious damage to the Sanyo Shinkansen Line, with the pillars of a number of elevated bridges being damaged and even collapsing, but fortunately the earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning before the start of Shinkansen operations, and no Shinkansen trains were affected. Fortunately, the earthquake occurred in the early morning hours before the Shinkansen began operations, and no Shinkansen trains were affected, but the Sanyo Shinkansen did not resume normal operations until early April. If the quake had struck during the day, the consequences might have been disastrous.

The Sanyo Shinkansen viaduct, which collapsed after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, was fortunately struck in the early morning hours before the start of the line's operation, but if it had happened during the daytime hours of the Shinkansen's operation, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

9. Sanyo Shinkansen tunnel concrete block falling accident

The Sanyo Shinkansen, which opened to traffic in 1975, was constructed with a certain amount of safety hazards, as sea sand with high salt content was used in the project, which, when mixed into the concrete, accelerated corrosion of the metal materials and led to a decline in the structural strength of the building. As expected, at 9:24 a.m. on June 27, 1999, Train No. 351, "Hikari" (Department 0), passed through the Fukuoka Tunnel on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line when there was a sudden power outage, and the train stopped near the exit of the tunnel for nearly 50 minutes. Subsequent inspections revealed damage to the contact network in the tunnel, as well as damage to the pantograph and roof of Train No. 351. The cause of the accident was the fall of a 50 x 50 cm concrete block in the tunnel, which struck the contact network and the roof of the train directly underneath the train. However, in July and October, concrete blocks fell from underneath viaducts and in tunnels on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line several times, and on October 9, five concrete blocks weighing a total of 226 kilograms fell from the Kitakyushu Tunnel*** during routine inspections prior to the commencement of daily operations, which led to the shutdown of the entire Sanyo Shinkansen Line on the same day. In order to solve the problem, JR-West carried out large-scale repairs and reinforcement work on viaducts and tunnels along the entire Sanyo Shinkansen line, in addition to stepping up line inspections.

10.Joetsu Shinkansen train derailment

At 17:56 on October 23, 2004, a powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck Niigata Prefecture, and on the Joetsu Shinkansen between Urasoe and Nagaoka near the epicenter of the quake, Train No. 325, a 200-series train, was running at 200 kilometers per hour. The train was running at 200 kilometers per hour when it received a seismic wave warning signal and immediately applied emergency brakes, but it derailed on a viaduct during deceleration due to the strong earthquake. Fortunately, none of the 155 passengers on the train were injured or killed, and the Jo-Etsu Shinkansen line was interrupted until December 28th due to the accident.

A train of 200 series cars derailed while running on the Joetsu Shinkansen after the Niigata-Nakagata earthquake, but fortunately there were no casualties.

This accident was the second train derailment in the history of the Shinkansen as well as the first derailment of a train in normal operation. Because the accident site was very close to the epicenter, it was difficult for the seismic wave warning device to provide sufficient warning time (seismic wave warning utilizes the time difference between longitudinal and transverse waves arriving at the ground, and the difference between the longitudinal wave and the transverse wave arriving right above the earthquake source is very small, making the warning effect unsatisfactory). (the time difference between the arrival of longitudinal waves and transverse waves directly above the earthquake source is very small, so the warning effect is not ideal), but the result of no casualties is a miracle. The reason for this is that the train immediately implemented emergency braking after receiving the seismic wave warning, although still derailed on the bridge, but due to the snowstorms along the route of the Joetsu Shinkansen line is mostly a snowy area in winter, and the tracks on the viaducts on both sides of the set up a snow removal ditch, and derailment of the 200 series of cars in order to prevent snow damage using the bottom of the car fully covered design, so that the train in the derailment of the skidding in the train did not become unstable overturned and fell off the bridge, and in view of the Hanshin earthquake of the previous experience The bridge pillars were reinforced and did not collapse again during the Niigata-Nakagoshi Earthquake, and it was fortunate that the derailment occurred in a straight line and that there were no opposing trains approaching at the same time.

11. Tokaido Shinkansen power outage accident

At 13:50 on January 29, 2010, while train No. 659 "Echo" (No. 300 series) was running on the Tokaido Shinkansen in Kanagawa Prefecture, the pantograph on the top of the 12-car train suddenly broke, and the contact wire suspension string was cut by the broken pieces flying out of the train, causing the train to be struck by the contact wire. The contact network suspension strings flew out, causing a power outage between Shinagawa and Odawara on the Tokaido Shinkansen, and the arcing of electricity ignited the grass on both sides of the line, causing a small fire for a short period of time, and the power supply failure was completely lifted at 17:13, resulting in the cancellation of 56 trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen on the same day, and affecting more than 140,000 travelers in the direction of the Sanyo Shinkansen as well. It was found that the main cause of the accident was that the maintenance staff forgot to tighten the upper bolts of the pantograph during the train maintenance, which caused the pantograph slide plate to fall off at high speed and broke the overhead line sling.

The morning after the accident, the Tokaido Shinkansen's Shin-Yokohama-Odawara section, which had experienced a power outage the day before, experienced another ATC signaling anomaly, which led to 14 up and down*** trains being delayed to varying degrees, affecting the travels of nearly 4,000 people, as "Hikari" No. 493 received the ATC signal "Ahead of you," after departing from Shin-Yokohama station. After departing from Shin-Yokohama Station, Hikari No. 493 received a false signal from the ATC signal indicating that there was a train in the block ahead and stopped. The signaling error is thought to be caused by a power supply failure at the substation, but it is not known whether it is related to the contact network cut just the day before.

12. Sanyo Shinkansen track maintenance car rear-end accident

An accident occurred at 4:20 p.m. on July 22, 2010, when a track work machine car was rear-ended by a rail grinding car in the Suma Tunnel on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line, which did not result in any injuries or fatalities, but it took quite a while to remove the damaged car from the line, and the line resumed operation at 14:30 p.m. on the same day.

The accident caused no injuries, but it took a long time to remove the damaged cars from the line, and the Sanyo Shinkansen only resumed operation at 14:30 p.m. on the same day.

Normal circumstances, the operation of the rail car will be set up in the rear 300 meters collision avoidance devices, such as the rear of the car approaching will automatically apply the brake, but that day for some reason in the rail sanding car from the rear approaching the automatic brake did not start, due to the dusty tunnel, visibility is not good, rail sanding car driver until the distance of only 136 meters to the front of the car and hand brake, and ultimately with the The driver of the rail grinding car did not realize that there was a car in front of him until he was only 136 meters away and applied the hand brake, eventually rear-ending the rail car in front of him at low speed. JR-West did not provide a reasonable explanation as to why the automatic guarding equipment did not work properly on that day.

13. Great East Japan Earthquake

At 14:46 on March 11, 2011, a powerful earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale struck the Tohoku region of Japan and triggered a tsunami, which severely affected the Tohoku Shinkansen line, causing particularly severe damage to the contact network and bridge pillars. Affected by the earthquake, a train is near the Sendai station for empty test run of the E2 series of cars derailed, fortunately no one casualties, this is the shinkansen history of the third derailment accident , there are a number of operating trains affected by the earthquake in the operation of the emergency stop. It was not until Sept. 23 that the Tohoku Shinkansen fully returned to its pre-earthquake schedule.

The Tohoku Shinkansen's contact network and other facilities were severely damaged after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

14. Akita Shinkansen derailment

At 16:00 on March 2, 2013, a train derailment occurred on the Akita Shinkansen, which was the fourth train derailment in the history of the Shinkansen. It should be noted that the Akita Shinkansen and the Yamagata Shinkansen are both "mini-Shinkansen" or "miniature Shinkansen," and are based on an existing line (called the "Jurai Line" in Japan). "The mini-Shinkansen, or mini-Shinkansen, is a line based on an existing line (called the "Jurai Line" in Japan), which is rebuilt to allow Shinkansen trains to run through the line, similar to the existing line trains in China. The maximum operating speed is only 130km/h, which does not meet the speed standard of "Shinkansen" or "High-speed Railway" (≥200km/h), and it is also classified as "Jurai Line" rather than "Shinkansen" in Japanese law. Yamagata Shinkansen" and "Akita Shinkansen" are just common names for the through-train system, and the official names of the lines are "Ouwabon Line" and "Ouwabon Line - Akita Shinkansen". The official names of the lines are the "Ouwamoto Line" and the "Ouwamoto Line-Tazawako Line", and the mode of operation is known as the "Shinkansen Direct Limited Express" or the "Shinjyo-Direct" (New: Shinkansen Direct Line). " (Shin: Shinkansen, Jae-rai: Jae-rai Line). Therefore this accident is accurately described as a "Shinkansen train accident on an existing line".

Train No. 25 "Komachi" derailed after hitting an uncleared snowbank.

The accident occurred on a section of the Akita Shinkansen and the Ouwa Main Line, where the Shinkansen trains run on 1,435mm standard rail and the existing Ouwa Main Line runs on 1,067mm narrow gauge rail, and the Ouwa Main Line's upper line was expanded to 1,435mm to accommodate Shinkansen trains, while the lower line was widened to 1,435mm to accommodate Ouwa Main Line trains, and the lower line was widened to 1,435mm to accommodate Ouwa Main Line trains. The downstream line was added a track on the outside to form a 1435mm&1067mm set of rails (three-lane rail). On that day, heavy snow fell in the Akita area, so the snow removal trucks were deployed to clear snow on the line, but the snow removal trucks used were in the incoming line (narrow gauge) specifications, and the result was that only the snow on the narrow gauge was cleared on the side of the set rail line, and the quasi-gauge line was not cleaned up on the outer side. At 16:00 that afternoon, "Komachi" No. 25 (E3 system to play) due to the blizzard speed limit of 20km / h operation, the result is due to hit the outer track on the uncleared snow pile and low-speed derailment, the accident did not cause casualties, but more than 130 passengers were trapped in the derailed train for up to six hours before they were transferred, and after the incident, caused a lot of media opinion of criticism. criticized.

The picture above shows the Yamagata Shinkansen's "single-line parallel" section, with 1067mm narrow gauge on the left and 1435mm parallelepiped on the right (note that the train traveling on the right side of the line is not a Shinkansen train, but a regular train using parallelepiped), which has only a single line with many curves and level crossings, and therefore does not really meet the "speed" requirements. The speed does not really meet the standard of "Shinkansen".

The Akita Shinkansen derailment occurred on the section shown above, but not on the entire line. On the right side of the line is an expanded 1435mm gauge, but note that the left side of the line actually has three rails, a "set" of 1067mm narrow gauge (for incoming trains) and 1435mm gauge (for Shinkansen trains).

15.Yamagata Shinkansen crossing accident

At around 9:35 p.m. on December 29, 2013, Tsubasa Train No. 123 (400-series train) collided with a car at a level crossing on the Yamagata Shinkansen Line, resulting in the death of a woman in the car and minor injuries to one of the train's passengers. One woman in the hit car was killed and one passenger in the train suffered minor injuries. As mentioned above, the Yamagata Shinkansen is a "miniature Shinkansen" that was converted from an existing line and is managed according to the standards of an existing line, so there are still a lot of level crossings, and the line has not been completely closed like a standard-size Shinkansen, so this kind of collision at a crossing would be unthinkable for a standard-size Shinkansen.

16.Tokaido Shinkansen Arson Incident

At around 11:00 on June 30, 2015, a man ignited gasoline in the first car of Tokyo-bound train No. 225 "Kibo" (N700), causing a fire in the car, and the train stopped at an emergency stop in the vicinity of Odawara. The train came to an emergency stop near Odawara, and the driver and train crew immediately extinguished the fire with fire extinguishers. As a result of the accident, two people died, including the arsonist, while a female passenger in Car No. 1 suffocated due to inhalation of toxic fumes, and 28 passengers and crew members were hospitalized due to inhalation of toxic fumes, and some of the interior facilities of Car No. 1 were burned in the fire. The accident disrupted the operation of the entire Tokaido Shinkansen line, stopping 36 trains up and down the **** on the same day.

According to the investigation, the arsonist may have been suffering from psychological and mental problems due to a bad life, and chose to commit suicide by setting fire to a Shinkansen train. In order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, JR companies have taken measures to strengthen the Shinkansen passenger security, further strengthen the conductor's inspection of the train compartments, and increase the number of in-vehicle cameras and so on.

17.Sanyo Shinkansen vehicle parts falling off

At about 17:27 on August 8, 2015, Sakura Train No. 561 (N700 series) was running on the Sanyo Shinkansen between Kokura and Hakata when a protective cover covering the underfloor equipment on the underside of Car No. 2 suddenly fell off and struck the sidewall of Car No. 3, causing the car to fall off. A female passenger in the window seat was injured, and the dislodged part flew into the contact line and caused a short-circuit and blackout, resulting in emergency stops of three trains, including the train in question, and affecting approximately 15,000 people. According to the investigation, the reason for the dislodged parts may be that the bolts were not tightened properly during the maintenance work. The accident is the second in the history of the Shinkansen that the operator has been responsible for injuring passengers.

18.Kumamoto Earthquake

At 21:26 on April 14, 2016, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck Kumamoto Prefecture, which was a foreshock of the 7.3 Richter scale quake that hit the Kumamoto area in the early hours of April 16th. Due to the 6.5 magnitude earthquake on the 14th, a train of 800 series cars from Kumamoto Station to the Kumamoto Comprehensive Vehicle Institute back to the main line of the Kyushu Shinkansen Kagoshima Line derailed, but fortunately there were no injuries, which is the fifth train derailment in the history of the Shinkansen. As a result of the Kumamoto train derailment accident, coupled with the earthquake after the Kyushu Shinkansen piers cracked, the day of the Kyushu Shinkansen line shut down the entire line, and then affected by the 16th Kumamoto 7.3 magnitude earthquake, the Kyushu Shinkansen to the April 27th party to resume normal operation of the entire line.