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Bullet train makers bolster anti-quake measures

TOKYO - Railcar manufacturers and the Transport Ministry are joining to bolster measures to cope with earthquakes, following the first-ever derailment of a Shinkansen, or bullet train, when a strong earthquake hit Niigata Prefecture on Saturday.

East Japan Railway Co's bullet trains are built by four companies: Hitachi Ltd, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, Nippon Sharyo Ltd, and Tokyu Car Corp.

The Joetsu Shinkansen that derailed is a 200 series model, developed before the privatization of the former Japanese National Railways in 1987. Such trains were manufactured by the four firms and Kinki Sharyo Co.

"Although the accident is still under investigation, we will actively cooperate once necessary measures become known," said an official at one of the manufacturers. He said that his firm is prepared to work on areas such as technologies to control the trains and systems to detect earthquakes.

The derailment of the Shinkansen is drawing interest from overseas as well. Major news media reported the accident in Taiwan, which is set to introduce such trains, and in China, which signed an agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to receive the technology.

France is also keeping an eye on the accident because its TGV is competing with the Shinkansen to win the order for a high-speed railway system that will join the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai.

Some Shinkansen manufacturers are puzzled by those overseas who doubt that Japan's bullet train is completely safe.

"Even though it did derail, I wish they would consider the fact that it did not tip over, even in such a large earthquake," said a manufacturer.

(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)

Oct 27, 2004

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