Its just like a train wreck...

Actually it is one:
50 Dead, 300+ injured in Amagasaki (near Osaka) train wreck

OSAKA — At least 50 people died and about 300 others were injured when five cars on a seven-car rapid commuter train derailed, sending two cars slamming into an apartment building Monday morning in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, police and firefighters said.

Maybe its just my sociopathy turning up, to try and make a joke out of it. It seems as though an allegedly inexperienced train driver is to blame, or J-Rail just has a handy scapegoat. Apparently he overshot the previous stop, and had to reverse the train into place, and then was running late, so possibly he was exceeding the 70km/h speed limit. Of course he was doing this because he was inexperienced, not because of the pressure placed on J-Rail employees to be punctual or else.

I just saw this on SBS news and it does look pretty bad, worst in Japan in 40 years they say. One of the carriages is almsot pancaked into the side of an apartment complex. Oh, and it was full of school-students too. Very Bad News.

There may also have been a parked car involved (who parks on train tracks?)

The police said the train is likely to have derailed before hitting a car parked in a parking lot as there was no sign of impact on the tracks, while the transport ministry initially said it derailed as a result of hitting the car.

JR West said it is not known whether the derailment or collision happened first.

In other news: I'm gonna be changing this site a bit, nothing major - just putting the bio and contact details a bit out of the way, and switching weather stations to Weather Underground and maybe other things as I see fit.

PS - Caring Cola Cans Chat for Company, and Cash

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