Train driver pulled from wreck
2005-04-28 10:25
Amagasaki - Workers pulled the uniformed body of the driver from the wreckage of Japan's rail disaster on Thursday as the death toll rose to 105 people, police said.
The actions of 23-year-old Ryujiro Takami are at the centre of the investigation into Monday's deadly wreck, which is widely believed to have been caused by excessive speed. Takami may have been racing because he was 90 seconds behind schedule.
The government on Thursday said it was considering a new train driver certification system in the wake of the morning rush-hour disaster in Amagasaki, about 410km west of Tokyo. More than 450 people were injured.
"I wonder if we should be leaving driver qualification to train operators," Transportation Minister Kazuo Kitagawa told reporters Thursday. "Perhaps the government needs to be more actively involved in driver qualification and training."
Currently, aircraft pilots and ship captains must pass state exams to operate commercial flights and vessels, but there is no state exam to officially certify train drivers do not, according to Transport Ministry official Yoshihito Maesato.
Rescuers had not officially abandoned the search for survivors, though they believed a teenager extracted from the wreckage on Tuesday morning was the last one alive. They pulled out eight bodies on Thursday, fire department officials said.
Authorities probing the accident have searched the offices of the train's operator, West Japan Railway Co, over allegations of professional negligence. Investigators were also examining the train's "black box," a computer chip that stores information about the train's speed.
Makoto Kono of Hyogo Prefectural Police said that a body pulled from the first car of the wreck had been identified as Takami. He was clothed in his uniform.
Takami got his train operator's license in May 2004. One month later, he overran a station and was issued a warning for his mistake, railway officials and police said.
Media reports said officials believe the driver was going faster than 100km/h in Monday's crash, far above the speed limit on that stretch of track.
JR West union officials on Thursday met with company executives to demand improved safety measures such as the installation of more advanced automatic braking systems along tracks to halt trains exceeding the speed limit.
Media reports have said the tracks where the accident occurred were equipped with an older automatic braking system that lacked the ability of newer models to stop trains travelling at high speeds.
Deadly train accidents are rare in Japan. Monday's accident was the worst rail disaster in nearly 42 years.
- AP