At least 48 cases of problems with the circuit breaker not going down in the five years up to last year

NHK has disclosed that troubles in which the gates do not go down even when trains approach railroad crossings are occurring in various places, and railway companies have reported at least 48 cases to the Transport Bureau in the five years up to last year. I found out from the bill.

Experts have pointed out, ``This could lead to a major accident, and if we don't take measures, there is a risk that the number of cases will increase in the future.''

Last April, there was a problem at the Kotoden = Takamatsu Kotohira Electric Railway railroad crossing in Takamatsu City where the gates were not working.

The approaching train braked suddenly and stopped inside the railroad crossing, but no one was injured.

Furthermore, at other Kotoden level crossings, problems occurred in July and August last year when the crossing gates would not go down, and it is known that the cause was aging electronic components inside the crossing gates or malfunctions in the equipment.

NHK has filed an information disclosure request with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in order to ascertain the extent to which troubles in which gates do not go down occur across the country.

In the event of an accident or trouble, railway companies are required to report it to the Transport Bureau based on a national ministerial ordinance, so we independently aggregated and analyzed the disclosed information.

According to the results, it was found that 48 cases were reported in at least 24 prefectures in the five years up to last year.

In 39 of these cases, or approximately 80%, the approaching train either passed through a level crossing where the gates were not down or entered the level crossing.

In some cases, a train collided with a car inside a railroad crossing, injuring one person, and in another case, the train driver noticed that a car was crossing and suddenly applied the brakes in front of the crossing. .

Regarding the causes, 16 cases were due to ``equipment malfunction,'' 9 cases were ``unable to detect approaching train due to rusted rails or damaged parts,'' and 9 cases were due to ``human error.''

Hitoshi Tsunashima, a professor at Nihon University who specializes in railway engineering, said, ``This investigation shows that there was a good chance that a major accident could have occurred.'' The reasons behind this are poor management, aging equipment, and inadequate inspections. It seems that many local railways have common circumstances, such as not having sufficient human resources, and if measures are not taken, there is a risk that the number of cases will increase in the future.''

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism “Number of cases that cannot be ignored”

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said, ``We recognize that the number of incidents in which a barrier does not go down can lead to an accident, so we cannot ignore it,'' and added, ``There are various causes behind these troubles.'' Preventive measures are not easy. We are providing support for updating facilities, so we hope that railway operators will strive to maintain safety."

Reasons why the circuit breaker does not go down

NHK independently compiled and analyzed the causes of 48 cases.

[16 cases of equipment malfunctions related to level crossings]

There were 16 cases in which it was found that the equipment used to operate the crossing gates was broken or malfunctioning.

Some of these cases were attributed to equipment deterioration, while others appeared to be caused by lightning strikes.

[9 human errors]

In addition, 9 cases were caused by human errors, such as forgetting to turn on the power switch after completing inspection work, or making incorrect settings after replacing parts.

[Unable to detect... 9 cases]

Generally, gates use the rails to detect when a train approaches a level crossing and then get off the train, but there were cases in which the location of the train could not be detected. There were 9 cases.

Reasons for failure to detect the problem include rust on the rails, leaves that were stuck to the rails being trampled by wheels, and other cases where parts were damaged as the rails expanded due to the heat.

[Other...8 cases]

There were 8 cases of ``Other'' such as the circuit breaker getting caught on the cable and not coming down.

[Unknown]

In addition, there were 6 items that were "unknown".

Expert: “Possibility to increase”

We asked Professor Hitoshi Tsunashima of Nihon University, who specializes in railway engineering, about the results of this survey.

Regarding the number of at least 48 incidents in five years, Professor Tsunashima said, ``I think it can be said that they occur quite frequently.If the gates were up, it would be natural for cars or people to enter the railroad crossing, and it would be a big problem.'' "This shows that there was a good chance that it would lead to an accident."

On top of that, Professor Tsunashima said, ``Most local railways are under difficult management, and it is very likely that it is difficult to make sufficient capital investments.For this reason, it is important to try to use the equipment that is being used for as long as possible. This is a natural process, but if the limit is exceeded, it could lead to dangerous problems such as the gate not being able to go down.''He added, ``Rather than having each company individually consider measures to prevent problems, it is important to share them among multiple companies. I think we also need this kind of perspective."

Regarding the cause of the trouble, Professor Tsunashima said that there were nine cases of "human error", saying, "There may be a lack of skilled engineers, or there may be insufficient training regarding maintenance and inspection due to a lack of manpower. "There is," he points out.

Professor Tsunashima added, ``In addition to the effects of aging equipment and labor shortages, there are also climate changes due to global warming, so unless drastic measures are taken, there is a risk that the number of such problems will increase. We must urgently take measures to prevent this,'' he warned.

A circuit breaker that remains “down”

Among the problems at level crossings, there were not only cases where the gates did not go down, but also cases where the gates appeared to go down even though no train was approaching, or where the gates remained down and did not go up.

There were at least 21 such problems nationwide in the five years up to last year.

The causes included cases where cables appeared to have been accidentally cut with a mower, cases where equipment was aging, rails stretched due to abnormal weather, and parts broke down.