Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 23 - 29 [POLITICS]

JR Kyushu also downplays safety

Akahata Sunday edition

Since a series of train accidents and troubles occurred in Hokkaido, public attention is increasing to railway companies’ safety management. Unfortunately, other transportation operators in the JR group seem to share with their counterpart in Hokkaido its profit-before-safety habit.

Following the derailment of a freight train on its Hakodate Line in September, JR Hokkaido discovered that a total of 267 problems on rail tracks had been left untouched.

“Hokkaido’s case is not someone else’s problem,” said a worker dealing with the maintenance of rail tracks in JR Kyushu.

The JR company in the Kyushu region discovered on October 7 that two of its trains had minor collisions with power poles standing along rail tracks in September. In emergency investigations following the collisions it was found that 75 power poles were standing closer to tracks than its safety standards call for.

“In some areas, we only have a little more than a dozen workers responsible for maintaining 230 km of tracks,” said the worker.

Staff shortages can also be found in other sections in the company. In 83% of areas JR Kyushu covers, trains run without conductors on board.

The number of employees in JR Kyushu decreased to 9,390 in 2013 from 14,589 in 1987, when the national government divided the Japanese National Railways (JNR) into six private companies.

Meanwhile, the railway company has extended the areas where its Shinkansen bullet train runs, opened a large shopping mall attached to Hakata terminal station, and began a luxury overnight train service.

All six JR companies are pouring money into Shinkansen and new luxury trains, while they have put off addressing the need for safety measures and conducted drastic downsizing, said Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member Kokuta Keiji.

In addition to increasing safety checks and enforcing safety standards on JR companies, the national government should reevaluate the JNR privatization in order to provide safe public transportation services, Kokuta stressed.

Past related article:
> Accident-prone JR Hokkaido puts profits before safety (September 13, 2013)