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New measures helped avoid tragedy with shinkansen derailed by quake

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If it had happened in another country, you can bet the train would have derailed at 320km/h and there would have been massive casualties. Sometimes I'm quite critical of Japan, but as far as train safety they seem to do a pretty decent job.

12 ( +15 / -3 )

Japanese trains never fail to amaze me. I got rid of my car a few years back to go fully rail and have never looked back.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

It's amazing that things actually work in this country, the West is falling apart

You should clarify this and not overly generalize about "things", because there are plenty of "things" that dont actually work!

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Incredible engineering / tech. After previous derailments happened during recent very strong earthquakes, enhancments were made to the rails themselves and to the train wheels (this section was updated) but even with these new measures this one train did derail but most importantly it has already stopped thanks to the tried and proven automatic detection systems in place. The shaking was unbelievable, there is a youtube video from a passanger inside the train and it is basacilly as if a truck has hit them. No-one in the train car shouted or panicked even though it was dark and they were being pummelled by the power of the earthquake. Amazing.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@JeffLee

I was surprised that there was a regular service running at 12:30 in the morning.

The quake happened a little after 11:30 pm, not after midnight.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Amazing stuff! The safety of the bullet trains in japan is without equal anywhere in the world!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I was surprised that there was a regular service running at 12:30 in the morning.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Well, good at least something has been learned from past disasters. To be fair, Japan is one of the countries best prepared when this kind of thing happens.

@Yubaru

I'm not really sure how they mean it, but I've heard the phrase mostly in situations that had much less to do with train service than with who was taking trains in which direction.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It's amazing that things actually work in this country, the West is falling apart

The West of Japan is falling apart? Time to vote for new leadership in that part of Japan to get things working properly then.

It is always important to keep updating basic infrastructure to keep things working well.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I usually don’t trust Japanese products, but we have to admit, these trains are best in the whole world. The Shanghai Meglev train is probably the number one, but according to the internet it was developed by either cooperation or stolen Japanese technology.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

> JeffLeeToday  07:17 am JST

I was surprised that there was a regular service running at 12:30 in the morning.

with maybe 70 passengers? (78 people aboard, including crew). no wonder JR East in Chiba-ken can't afford to staff stations, clean stations, have the madoguchi open even when staff are there, and have given up giving out timetables, cur out slightly discounted kaisuuken to Tōkyō, drastically cut back on local train services on the Bōsō.... got to keep those empty flagships running......

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

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