Statement on Indictment of JR West President Yamazaki

8 July 2009

8 July, 2009, the Kobe District Public Prosecutor’s Office indicted West Japan Railway Co. President Masao Yamazaki without arrest for professional negligence resulting in deaths and injuries for an April 2005 train crash in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, which killed 107 people and injured 562.

According the press conference, the Kobe District Public Prosecutor’s Office said Yamazaki must bear responsibility for failing to ensure an Automatic Train Stop system (ATS) was installed in December 1996 when the company laid track along a steeper curve on a section of JR West’s Takarazuka Line. He was in charge of safety measures then. The prosecutors determined that Yamazaki should have been able to foresee that such an accident was possible. It is unprecedented in the history of train accidents that the prosecutors went as far as to raise the question of management responsibility as well as the late driver. From now on, it is said that “predictability of the accident” will be referred to a judicial court.

On the contrary, the prosecutors have decided not to bring charge against 12 other people including JR West’s former executives, Mr. Ide, Mr. Kakiuchi and Mr. Nanya, whom the next of kin filed complaint against. The next of kin have a deep distrust of the prosecutors’ decision that those three could not be questioned about criminal responsibility. As for the punishment called re-education which was said as the main cause of the accident by the transport ministry’s Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission, the prosecutors referred to the late driver’s mental distress. However, they concluded that “his mental distress could not be said to directly affect the driver on that day”. We have to say investigation of the Kobe District Prosecutor’s Office was not enough to give a clear picture of the accident.

After the train crash on JR Fukuchiyama Line, bereaved relatives and survivors have committed suicide and not a few survivors have suffered aftereffect of the accident. We have continued to condemn the “Nikkin-kyoiku”, above mentioned punishment, which resulted in this accident. In June 2007 the transport ministry’s Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission pointed out the “punitive measures to control drivers” such as Nikkin-kyoiku as a main cause of the driver’s delay in brake operation.

Top management has never tried to clarify the accident cause themselves so far since the accident in April 2005, which has intensified grief of survivors and bereaved families. What is more, the JR West is carrying on the re-education program, and has continued an attempt to crush JRWU who has pursued the root cause investigation. Inside the company, management told the workers to “apologize passengers as an employee of the company that brought out the accident” facing indictment of Yamazaki. Without accepting the responsibility questioned so far or trying to change JR West’s corporate culture of ignoring safety, the company shifts its responsibility to employees. Thus management’s stance is not different from before.

At the news conference at 18:00 Wednesday evening, Yamazaki said he was stepping down, saying, “I solemnly accept the indictment.” However, his indictment and step down amid unstable company quality which remains unchanged could lead to vague investigation of the accident cause and fall shadow on the safety measures.

We cannot accept a clear-cut end to the derailment and crash accident on the JR Fukuchiyama Line with indictment of Yamazaki. We will continue to investigate root causes and demand the company’s duty to explain it to survivors and bereaved relatives. We are determined to work out and fight for improving JR West’s business structure of ignoring safety.

West Japan Railway Workers’ Union (affiliated with JRU)