The occurred on October 15, 1956, when two passenger trains collided and derailed at Rokken Station on the

Japan National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR)

Sangu Line Sangu may refer to: * Sangu language (Gabon) * Sangu language (Tanzania) * Sanghu, Taplejung, Nepal * Sangu River The Sangu River is a river in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Its source is in the North Arakan Hills of Myanmar, located at 21°13´N 92� ...

Matsusaka is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 157,235 in 66,018 households and a population density of 250 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is famous for Matsusaka beef. Geography ...

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

. The accident led to improvements in the Japanese rail signaling system.

Accident

On the day of the accident, JNR Limited Express 243, consisting of a

JNR Class C51 The is a type of 4-6-2 steam locomotive built by Kisha Seizo Mitsubishi and Japanese National Railways (JNR) Hamamatsu Works . The C classification indicates three sets of driving wheels. The C51 introduced diameter driving wheels to Japan. C51s ...

coal-fired

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

with nine passengers cars was en route from

Nagoya Station is a major railway station in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Japan. It is one of the world's largest train stations by floor area (410,000 m2), and houses the headquarters of the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). Much of this space is located in ...

Toba Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Toba, Mie Prefecture. Japan. It is jointly operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and the private railway operator Kintetsu Railway. Lines Toba Station is served by ...

. Per the train’s driver and

fireman A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also a ...

, the

signal In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

at Rokken Station indicated that the train had right-of-way, and was proceeding with caution; therefore the train passed the platform of Rokken Station at a speed of 58 km/h. However, at the end of the platform, the driver found that the

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was missing, and that the signal displayed “stop”, which indicated that it was unsafe to proceed due to oncoming traffic. He applied the emergency brakes, but overran the safety barrier, causing the train to derail, with some of the passenger carriages partially on the rails of the main line. Only 20 seconds later, JNR Limited Express 246, consisting of a

JNR Class C57 The is a type of 4-6-2 steam locomotive built in Japan from 1937 to 1947. A total of 201 Class C57 locomotives were built and designed by Hideo Shima . Another 14 Class C57 locomotives were built for export to Taiwan in 1942 and 1953. The class ...

steam locomotive and eleven passenger cars bound for Nagoya collided with the derailed portion at a speed of 55 km/h. A total of 42 passengers were killed and 94 injured. Some of the victims suffered from severe burns due to steam from the ruptured boilers. Many of the victims were senior high school students on a field trip from Tokyo.

Response

The investigation report was inconclusive, as it could not be determined if the accident was a result of a delay in signal operation by the train staff or a misreading of the signals by the train driver. The courts found both parties guilty of negligence, with the train driver of JNR Limited Express 243 receiving the heavier penalty. Contributing factors included a delay in the schedule for JNR Limited Express 246 due to festivals at

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

, an inadequate emergency braking system, and the inability of Rokken Station to send an emergency signal warning to JNR Limited Express 246 after the derailment. After the accident, the JNR began to install an audible stop signal to the driver, and to place more emphasis of the development of an

ATS ATS or Ats may refer to: Businesses * ATS Wheels, or ''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör'', a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team * ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company ...

with automation of signal devices and use of colored lamps for signaling.

References

{{coord, 34, 37, 03, N, 136, 30, 27, E, type:event, display=title Derailments in Japan Railway accidents in 1956 History of Mie Prefecture Rail transport in Mie Prefecture 1956 in Japan Accidents and incidents involving Japanese National Railways October 1956 events in Asia