Japan: Akita Shinkansen Line Resumes Operations After Train Derailment
The Akita Shinkansen Line resumed operations Monday after a bullet train derailed in a northeastern city on Saturday, its operator East Japan Railway Co. said.
The Akita Shinkansen Line resumed operations Monday after a bullet train derailed in a northeastern city on Saturday, its operator East Japan Railway Co. said.
The first of the train's six cars with 130 passengers aboard derailed at around 4:05 p.m. Saturday in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, but no one was injured in the accident.
Before being transported by buses and taxis to Akita Station and elsewhere, the passengers were confined to the train for some six hours, during which all services on the Akita Shinkansen Line connecting Akita and Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, were suspended.
On Sunday, JR East decided to partially suspend operations between Akita and Omagari stations on the line because of the accident.
Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment and found scars on the track.
The train had been running at a drastically reduced speed of 20 kilometers per hour because of snow at the time of the accident, JR East said earlier.
Just before the derailment, the driver heard an abnormal noise and tried to stop the train, it said.
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