4 Workers Killed by Train in Eastern Japan’s Tochigi Pref.

Kanuma, Tochigi Pref., Aug. 20 (Jiji Press)–Four male workers in their 50s and 60s died on Thursday after being hit by a limited express train at a station in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan. The accident happened around 10:45 a.m. at Shin-Kanuma Station on Tobu Railway Co.’s Nikko Line in the city of Kanuma. According to the railway operator, the four were engaged in weed clearing work near the tracks under the station platform. They were hit by the six-car Spacia X train, bound for Tokyo’s Asakusa Station from Tobu-Nikko Station in Tochigi. The four were Kazuyoshi Ishikawa, 67, from Utsunomiya in Tochigi, Toshihiko Watanabe, 65, also from Utsunomiya, Shigenobu Oke, 53, from Nikko, and Kazunari Sato, 54, also from Nikko, the Tochigi prefectural police department said. Tobu Railway officials, including Takao Suzuki, head of its railway business division, held a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon. “We deeply apologize to the bereaved families,” Suzuki said. “We will thoroughly implement measures to prevent a recurrence so that such a serious accident never happens again,” he added. According to the company, the four worked for a subcontractor. A total of 10 employees were engaged in the work. The four victims were near the tracks under the platform to spray herbicide. A worker had been deployed as a lookout some 80 meters away to warn other workers of approaching trains and use a flag to signal the train driver once the workers had evacuated. The train driver said he had sounded the horn after seeing a signal from a lookout. Another lookout, who was supposed to be some 300 meters away, was not in a position to communicate with other lookouts, the company said. Details are being investigated, the company said. None of the about 50 passengers on the train were injured. The Japan Transport Safety Board sent three railway accident investigators to the accident site. Following the accident, Tobu Railway suspended services in both directions on the line between Shin-Tochigi and Shimo-Imaichi stations. The accident affected some 2,600 passengers. In February 1999, an out-of-service train struck and killed five workers during cable replacement work on the Yamanote Freight Line operated by East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward. In January 2006, three workers of West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, were killed after being hit by a train during track maintenance work on the Hakubi Line in the town of Kofu in the western prefecture of Tottori, while two other workers were injured. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]