 JCP Kokuta raps government for allowing JR profit-first policy At the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on May 16, Japanese Communist Party representative Kokuta Keiji criticized West Japan Railway Company for taking a profit-before-safety principle in connection with the April 25 derailment in Amagasaki City near Osaka that caused 107 deaths. He also said that the government is to blame for supporting the JR West policy. Given the possibility that excessive speeding to make up for a delay contributed to the accident, the JCP representative pointed out that the driver could not have increased the speed so much if the automatic train-stop (ATS) system had been installed. Following this fatal accident, the transportation ministry ordered JR West to set up a new ATS (ATS-P) as a precondition to resuming service. Kokuta pointed out that the government lifted an ATS obligation on private railway companies when Japan National Railways (JNR) were privatized and broken up in 1987, the aim being to exempt JR from the obligation, and asked the prime minister, "Hasn't the government delayed requiring all railway companies to install ATS because the ATS will apply the brake if a train exceeds the speed limit to make up for a delay?" Kokuta criticized the government for relaxing safety rules for JR, abandoning its responsibility in the name of privatization and deregulation, and allowing the JR profit-first principle to continue. Along with the 1987 privatization of JNR, JR began to put more trains in service in order to win a competition with other private railways. On the line where the derailment occurred, the number of trains running increased four-fold compared to 1987. But JR West failed to set a sufficient amount of time needed for safe operations, forcing drivers to speed up to catch up with the timetable when delayed. - Akahata, May 17, 2005 |