Express train collides with truck in Yokohama

[Gag Halfrunt]

From NHK News:

A passenger train and a truck collided at a rail crossing in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Thursday, killing one person and injuring many others.

The collision occurred around 11:40 a.m. at a crossing near Kanagawa Shinmachi station on the Keikyu Line.

Police and fire officials say a man, believed to be the 67-year-old truck driver, has died. A female passenger is seriously injured. They say 33 other people, including the train driver, are injured.

The railway operator, Keikyu Corporation, says the first three of the train's eight cars derailed as a result of the impact.

It says about 500 passengers were on board at the time of the collision, but everyone has now left the train.

Keikyu says the train would have been traveling at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

Security camera footage reportedly shows the truck entered the crossing from the right and got stuck there. Police are continuing their investigation.

Footage taken shortly after the collision shows black smoke rising from the wreckage. NHK's aerial shots show the remains of the truck beside a train car that's leaning off the rails.

Services on the Keikyu Line remain suspended between Keikyu Kawasaki station and Kamiooka station.

 

[Wivenswold]

Christ, that looks bad. They have so many level crossings there I guess it makes an incident more likely but man alive my heart goes out to all affected. There's CCTV everywhere around Japan's railways so there should be clear evidence of events which will hopefully absolve any railway workers of blame.

Now watch them get the line cleared and open by the evening peak.

 

[rg177]

Looks to have been a nasty one. I actually used that line a couple of days ago and its exceptionally busy at all hours so no doubt a lot of disrupted passengers for tonight's commute and tomorrow morning. No full cab partion wall either on Japanese trains, so some folk will have had one hell of a front row seat.

Yokohama has had its share of bad luck on the rails this week as a Subway train managed to crash into a wall after the driver claimed he "nodded off".

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190830/p2a/00m/0na/012000c

According to the Yokohama Municipal Transportation Bureau, the 42-year-old male driver suffered a minor leg injury in the accident, which occurred at Odoriba Station at around 8:35 a.m. on Aug. 29. "I dozed off," he was quoted as saying.

As for the Keikyu accident, the line is set to reopen tomorrow afternoon.

Disruption is cleared remarkably quick over here. That's not to say things don't go wrong (I've had a 130 minute delay and a 60 minute delay the past fortnight) but usually a couple of trains are delayed then everything resumes like clockwork once the issue clears.