Japan train crash toll tops 100, set to rise

AMAGASAKI, Japan - The confirmed death toll in Japan's worst rail accident in 40 years topped 100 today and was set to rise as rescue workers desperately tried to recover bodies still inside a crushed train car.

Seven bodies were extracted from the wreckage overnight and on Thursday morning, bringing the official toll to 101.

The remaining bodies are in the front carriage of the train, embedded in the ground-floor car park of an apartment building.

The car has been crushed to less than half of its original length of about 66 feet.

"It's been compressed into half its size so we can't see the inside at all, but we think there are 10 or so people still inside," a local fire department official said.

"Unfortunately, we cannot detect any vital signs."

Rescue teams have been using ultrasound equipment and other high-tech gear to check for heart beats and breathing, but there was no sign of life and no survivors have been found since early on Tuesday when three people were pulled from the wreckage.

Investigators have yet to conclude why the packed commuter train jumped the tracks on the outskirts of the western city of Osaka and smashed into a nine-story apartment building, but excessive speed seems to have played a role.

The driver of the train, a 23-year-old man with 11 months' experience, had overshot the previous station by about 130 feet, putting the train more than a minute behind schedule.

Media have also said the pressure put on the drivers by train operator West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) may have contributed to the accident, which also injured 458 people, many seriously.

Kenji Ito, an official at Japan Confederation of Railway Workers Unions said that JR West was particularly harsh on employees responsible for train delays, giving them reprimands, cutting salaries and subjecting them to a "re-education" process that in some cases was tantamount to being "pilloried.

The driver of the derailed train had also over-shot a station by 328 feet last June and may have been worried that he would be punished, media reports and analysts said.

SAFETY FIRST

The Transport Ministry ordered JR West on Thursday to compile a plan to improve the safety of its operations, including the training of drivers, Kyodo news agency reported.

JR West's top management, which is expected to resign to take responsibility for the crash, held a meeting with its union on Thursday, asking for cooperation to ensure safety.

Union leaders asked the company not to sacrifice safety for efficiency.

"We must overcome the current crisis together with the union," JR West President Takeshi Kakiuchi said.

JR West, which was completely privatized a year ago, has been trying to improve profitability by cutting costs, leading to speculation it may have cut corners on safety.

The automatic train stop system used in the area of the accident was of the oldest type and had no ability to apply automatic brakes if a passing train was going too fast.

The accident was the worst for Japan's heavily used rail network since 1963 when about 160 people were killed in a multiple train collision, and the most serious since Japan's rail network was privatized in 1987.

Japan's rail network transports about 21 billion people a year and the government is keen to assure the country that the system is safe.

- REUTERS