Based on the lessons learned from the derailment of the Tohoku-Hokkaido Shinkansen due to the earthquake that observed a seismic intensity of 6 or higher in March, the government set up a committee of experts and other committees to plan for earthquake disaster countermeasures so far. We have begun verification with a view to reviewing things such as moving forward.
On the Tohoku Shinkansen, the train running in the March earthquake derailed and injured 6 passengers, and the damage such as overhead lines and viaducts went up to about 1000 places, and it was about 2 until it was restored and returned to the normal timetable. It took a month.
Taking the situation seriously, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism set up a committee to verify derailment measures and seismic retrofitting of the Shinkansen, and on the 31st, 12 experts on railways, civil engineering, disaster prevention, etc. attended in addition to the person in charge of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The first meeting was held.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Atsushi Uehara, Director General of the Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, said, "We would like to bring together the most advanced wisdom we can think of at the moment to take measures against the earthquake that may occur tomorrow."
After that, at a private meeting, the committee members commented that they should hurry up measures such as seismic retrofitting, with a view to reviewing the implementation plan for earthquake disaster measures along the Shinkansen. is.
As for earthquake countermeasures for the Shinkansen, the introduction of devices to prevent wheels from deviating significantly from the rails and seismic retrofitting of viaducts have been promoted, but in this earthquake, some vehicles had unexpected deviations. In addition, the structure before seismic retrofitting has been damaged, and we are going to verify whether the measures so far have worked sufficiently.