20 years since JR West derailment: Don’t forget importance of putting safety first

Editorial

15:46 JST, April 26, 2025

The most important duty and responsibility of public transit is to safely transport passengers to their destinations. It is important not to pursue profits or efficiency alone, but to always keep in mind that safety comes first.

Friday marked the 20th anniversary of the JR Fukuchiyama Line derailment accident, which claimed the lives of 106 passengers and the driver and injured 562 others. A memorial service organized by West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) near the accident site in the city of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, was attended by about 340 people, including bereaved family members and other individuals with connections to the accident.

The rapid train involved in the accident entered a curve at 116 kph, significantly exceeding the speed limit. Some of the cars derailed and rammed into a condominium building beside the tracks.

The driver had overshot the stop line at the previous station, causing the train to fall about one minute behind schedule. At the time of the accident, JR West had a “work education program” in which employees who made mistakes were severely reprimanded and forced to write reflection statements. The driver is believed to have been distracted by fear of this program.

Following the accident, JR West abolished this program. This was done out of reflection that the program had intimidated employees and led to a decline in work quality. To err is human. This incident can be said to have left the lesson that punitive guidance cannot prevent mistakes.

Another factor behind the accident, which cannot be overlooked, was the company’s corporate culture that overly prioritized profits and efficiency.

At the time, JR West was facing intense competition from private railways and had introduced tight schedules with increased train frequencies in an attempt to meet passenger demand. These circumstances are believed to have created an atmosphere in which delays were not tolerated, leading the driver to feel pressured to make up for lost time.

Are the lessons from that time still heeded today? In 2017, a problem arose at JR West in which a Nozomi Shinkansen train with a cracked bogie was kept in operation despite the driver and others noticing unusual noises.

Last year, data falsification over axle installation work emerged at such operators as East Japan Railway Co. and Japan Freight Railway Co.

Every railway company should thoroughly reexamine all its workplaces to ensure that safety consciousness has not waned.

Keeping the memory of the accident from fading is also a major challenge.

Japan Airlines, which experienced the crash of a Boeing 747 passenger jet in 1985, has made the wreckage of the accident aircraft viewable to the public to ensure the tragedy will be conveyed to the future. JR West will complete a facility to preserve the cars involved in the accident in December, but while it plans to use them for employee training, the railway operator has said there are no current plans for opening it to the public.

Consideration should be given to the possibility of future public access to the facility to ensure that the accident, which claimed many lives, will not be forgotten.

With Japan’s declining population, railway companies are facing increasingly challenging business circumstances. Labor shortages are also a serious issue. They must renew their commitment to ensuring that safety will never be neglected.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, April 26, 2025)