It has been 17 years since the derailment of the JR Fukuchiyama Line, which killed 107 people, in 25 days.
While many railway companies are working on safety measures, there are local railways that have caused three derailment accidents in just over 10 years, and there are issues faced by railway companies such as a shortage of engineers due to personnel reduction and a decrease in safety awareness. However, we are seeing the reality that it may affect safe operation.
The Toyama Chiho Railway, which is headquartered in Toyama City, caused a derailment accident 14 years ago and 10 years ago during commercial operation with passengers three times.
No one was injured, but according to the investigation report of the Japan Transport Safety Board, the three derailment accidents were ▽ railroads were not properly managed such as leaving old sleepers ▽ railroad tracks. It was severely pointed out that the company that had neglected safe operation was not aware of it, such as prioritizing other repairs while grasping that the range of railroad ties was wider than the standard value in the previous year's inspection. ..
As a result of interviewing the company, we have come to see two issues that railway companies nationwide also have.
One is "the shortage of engineers responsible for track maintenance due to personnel reductions."
The Toyama Chiho Railway operates a total of more than 100 km, but on the other hand, the number of transport personnel has decreased by more than 30% in the last 30 years with the declining birthrate and aging population of 10.26 million (FY2020). increase.
The company has been trying to rationalize its management while operating income is declining, and the number of track maintenance workers has now been reduced to two-thirds of what it was 20 years ago, and the work load per person has definitely increased.
After reflecting on the fact that the company repeated three derailment accidents, we decided to proceed with "outsourcing" of the workers who are in charge of track maintenance, etc. We have changed the system so that we can respond promptly.
A veteran man who has been working as a track maintenance worker for nearly 30 years said (50) "I am grateful for outsourcing because there are not enough people anyway because the repair points such as rails will come out one after another. ..
In addition, we will create a new manual for track maintenance work, change the conventional method for veteran workers to make decisions based on their experience, and proceed with work based on specialized knowledge and data. I decided to.
Another issue is "decrease in safety consciousness," in which after an accident, feelings become loose with the passage of time, while reflecting on it.
Yoichi Hasegawa, Technical Manager of Toyama Chiho Railway, said, "I swear that the accident will never happen again immediately after the derailment accident, but as time goes by, it gradually relaxes among the employees. There may have been a place where there was a feeling of tension. We have to work hard on how each person can maintain a sense of tension, a sense of crisis, and a sense of responsibility. "
As a countermeasure, the company is trying to improve internal communication in order to share risks.
In addition to increasing opportunities for executives to actively talk to young people, lessons learned from past derailment accidents so that young employees working in the field can easily tell their superiors when they notice signs of risk such as hiyari hats. It means that we are trying to convey it and prevent it from weathering.
Yoichi Hasegawa, Technical Manager of Toyama Chiho Railway, said, "I would like to properly face the reason why the derailment accident was repeated, and all the staff members should be aware of it and work to prevent recurrence."
Automatic train stop Not installed on local lines
Since the Fukuchiyama Line derailment accident was caused by entering at a speed that greatly exceeded the speed limit, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said that even if the driver made a mistake, the emergency brake would be applied automatically. We asked railway operators nationwide to install "train stop devices" in dangerous places.
▽ For sharp curves and ▽ downhills where speed is easy to reach, ▼ When the maximum speed exceeds 100 km, ▼ Routes where 10 or more round-trip trains run in one hour are obliged to be installed by 2016.
On the other hand, while it was stated that routes below that level "need to be systematically maintained", it was not mandatory, so according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, about 20% of the places that need to be installed nationwide are still installed. It means that it has not been done.
What is not installed is that it is a local line with few users, and according to the people concerned, "the basic parts such as track maintenance of rails are full, and there is an aspect that it is difficult to spend on additional equipment."
Regarding JR companies, ▼ JR West, Tokai, and Shikoku have all been installed, while ▼ JR East has steep downhills and points on local lines, and there are places where installation has not been completed.
▼ JR Hokkaido and Kyushu have declined to announce the specific progress, but it seems that the installation will be limited to some routes, and they are considering the places where they have not been installed.