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JR Hokkaido Railway Co, which is already under fire for a series of derailments and other problems, said Wednesday that track defects had been left unrepaired in 170 more locations.
The announcement came after a JR Hokkaido spokesman was visibly uncomfortable at a televised news conference on Tuesday afternoon, admitting that he didn't have enough information to answer reporters' questions.
After a freight train derailed on the Hakodate line last Thursday, JR Hokkaido said an emergency inspection revealed that track defects had been neglected at 97 locations. In many cases, track width had increased beyond the safety limit.
JR Hokkaido said Wednesday that all defects have now been repaired, Fuji TV reported.
Adding to the company's problems was another incident on Tuesday when white smoke was seen rising from beneath a car on a train at Shiranuka Station on the Nemuro line.
On Tuesday, the company was reprimanded by the transport ministry which has extended its investigation of the rail operator's maintenance procedures until Friday, Fuji TV reported.
Meanwhile, Hokkaido Gov Harumi Takahashi said she plans to meet Thursday with JR Hokkaido President Makoto Nojima and urge him to make sure the company pays greater attention to safety measures.
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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gogogo
Tip of the iceberg, I'm sure all the other train companies are now checking their lines and silently fixing them.
This all comes down to money, where and why was it not spent on repairs?
GW
Ok.............now adding in my REALITY FACTOR I estimate the number of problem areas exceeds 300 or more!
some14some
agreed, but end up with same apology : "Moushiwake Gozaimasen !"
nath
Scarcely believable. Glad they spotted these before disaster happened.
Nessie
That's easy: It's because Hokkaido is sparsely populated and municipalities are scattered. We have 22% of Japan's land area and only 5% of the population. JR Hokkaido regularly operates in the red.
cwhite
Japan has one of the best track records in the world when it comes to public transportation. Most of the accidents over the years have been from human error rather than maintenance issues or hardware problems. However, we are now entering the era when many of those neglected hardware problems will start to surface. Add mother nature (earthquakes, floods, heatwaves, typhoons, etc) and expect more problems creeping up. I can only hope that Japan can fully automate the check process of all public transportation and find errors early on before they kill someone.
TSRnow
I guess they are going to have to close down some lines to meet the safety standards then.
Nipporinoel
One answer fits all situations in Japan.
This is most " regretable" but I'm sure they will " sincerely reflect on the situation", "collect all relevant information swiftly " and "take appropriate action speedily ", "to avoid public confusion".
Saul Schimek
Credit where credit is due. they checked for the problems
toshiko
JR Hokkaido said Wednesday that all defects have now been repaired, Fuji TV reported. so they are all repaired. I guess theyr epaired as they found
SquidBert
GW, You just might be right, NHK reports today that the defect count has now reached 260.