JR Bullet Train derails due to earthquake no injuries

[AmtrakMaineiac]

"According to rail operator East Japan Railway, or JR East, a bullet train headed from Tokyo to the northeastern city of Sendai on the Tohoku Shinkansen line derailed about 2 km from Shiraishi Zao Station in Miyagi Prefecture. None of the 78 people on board were injured.

JR East has suspended operations between Nasushiobara in Tochigi Prefecture and Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, and has sharply reduced the number of trains running north from Tokyo to Nasushiobara, as well south from Hokkaido's Shin-Hakodate Hokuto to Morioka.

The company said it may take "a considerable amount of time" until operations resume in full, due to the need to restore the derailed train and to thoroughly inspect all affected sections."

News report from Nikkei dot com

 

[cirdan]

Any idea at what speed he train was travelling when the derailment occurred?

It looks as if it must have been amazingly stable. A great tribute to Japanese engineering.

 

[George Harris]

This would be the second derailment of a Shinkansen trainset due to an earthquake. Further, these are two of only three Shinkansen derailments, ever. The third was a partial derailment of a train in 2013 in a blizzard, details of which I know nothing. There are some things that are simply impossible to prevent. The only thing you can do is to have a system that minimizes damage to equipment and injuries to passengers. There was another derailment of a Shinkansen trainset, this one in Taiwan and with only the last car derailing. Again, due to an earthquake. In this instance the speed was near 300 km/hr (that is 186 mph). In all cases no deaths, and little more in injuries that bumps and bruises.

The first derailment was on the Joetsu Shinkansen line October 23, 2004 due to a magnitude 6.8 earthquake. In this case the entire train bounced off the track. Since this was on the Japanese standard concrete slab track, the train essentially bounced and rolled along the concrete until it came to a stop. Most pictures I have seen show the train from the back. The last cars are further off the base due to a broken rail. The Japanese railroads run left-handed. Keep that in mind if you find one of these pictures. There was considerable study following this quake with a couple of details modified in order help keep the derailed equipment lined up with the track. I don't recall the speed, but I believe that it was around 200 km/hr (125 mph).

The Japanese standard concrete precast segment track is a significant factor is ensuring equipment stays in line with the track when derailed. Most of the early Shinkansen tracks are on standard ties and ballast, the ties being concrete. The concrete segmented slab track was first used on structures only, but is now used on at grade sections as well. (Other than the southernmost about 2 km of the Taiwan HSR, all is on concrete base track, mostly J-slab.)

 

[George Harris]

From the Japan Times of March 20: Bullet train derailed in Tohoku quake to take two weeks to remove | The Japan Times

The operator began work in the morning to remove the 17-car train that came off the tracks on a viaduct some 2 kilometers from a station in Shiroisi, Miyagi Prefecture. In all, 16 of the 17 cars derailed.
. . . .
The magnitude 7.4 quake struck off Fukushima Prefecture late Wednesday, leaving three people dead and more than 180 injured across 12 prefectures. All 78 passengers and crew members aboard the train were unharmed.

This location is about half way between Tokyo and the north end of Honshu island. Given the very low passenger count the train must have been near the north end of its run.