The scene of the derailment of the Tokaido Shinkansen between Toyohashi and Mikawa Anjo, where two maintenance cars collided and derailed,on July 22. (©Kyodo News helicopter)
On July 22, two maintenance vehicles collided on the tracks at Gamagori in Aichi Prefecture. That caused the suspension of all service on the Tokaido Shinkansen between Hamamatsu and Nagoya for an entire day. In all, 328 scheduled train departures were canceled, affecting around 250,000 travelers.
Foreign tourists at Tokyo and other major rail stations appeared confused because they could not understand the announcements in Japanese.
In this mishap, parent JR Central Japan Railway Company made two big errors. The first, of course, was allowing the collision of maintenance vehicles to occur in the first place. That was compounded, however, by poor communication with passengers.
Finding Answers
A similar collision of maintenance vehicles took place on the Sanyo Shinkansen line in 2010. It knocked out service for half a day. Nevertheless, the incident this time is the first to cause an impact of this scale.
At a press conference, a JR Central spokesperson revealed that there had been a brake failure for some unexplained reason.
Most likely either one of the vehicles was defective to begin with or the vehicle inspections before the start of work had been inadequate. Saying there was a "high possibility" of a defect in the vehicle or the early morning inspection is insufficient. Instead, the cause of the accident needs to be discovered as soon as possible.
Prioritizing Good Communication
Another problem is the inadequate response following the accident. The collision took place before dawn on July 22. But Tokyo Station and other major train stations were crowded from early in the morning.
Initially, JR Central announced that it expected to restore service at some time "past noon." Therefore, many travelers who had reserved seats on morning trains switched them to trains departing in the afternoon. However, in the end, the afternoon departures were also canceled. This further added to the general confusion.
Language was an additional issue. Announcements were not understood by many foreign visitors caught in the pandemonium.
Understanding Crisis Management
An iron rule of crisis management is to be extremely careful so as not to make unfounded, optimistic predictions.
At Hamamatsu and Toyohashi, for example, there was pandemonium as passengers rushed in large numbers to try to board one of the trains on the regular lines. With Shinkansen traffic suspended between Hamamatsu and Nagoya, the only alternative public transportation option was the JR Tokaido Line. But there were only a limited number of carriages operating upon that stretch. Therefore, entry into the stations needed to be restricted.
Shoring Up Transport Options
This accident has revealed the vulnerability of transport between Tokyo and the Nagoya and Kansai regions. The region is heavily dependent on the Tokaido Shinkansen. However, there are limits to how many long-distance buses and air flights can be added. Also, although the Horkuriku Shinkansen line was recently extended to Tsuruga, prospects for its further extension to Osaka are dim.
The Linear Chuo Shinkansen is expected to cut travel time from Shinagawa Station in Tokyo to Nagoya to just 40 minutes. However, since Shizuoka Prefecture has still not approved the start of construction for the Southern Alps Tunnel, the planned opening of the Linear line has been delayed until after 2034.
An early opening of the Linear Shinkansen is highly desirable. It could provide backup for the Tokaido Shinkansen, which is such a core transportation artery for Japan.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
