AMAGASAKI, Japan — At least 105 people were killed when a commuter train derailed April 25.
Investigators were probing the cause of the wreck, but, according to published and wire reports, driver inexperience and speed may be to blame. The speed limit was set at 43 mph on the stretch of track where the train derailed.
“There are very few train accidents in Japan in which a train has flipped just because it was going too fast,” The Associated Press quoted train expert Kazuhiko Nagase as saying. “There might have been several conditions at work — speed, winds, poor train maintenance or aging rails.”
Some reports indicated rocks were on the track, but that claim could not immediately be verified.
In addition to the 90 deaths, hundreds were injured when the train derailed, struck a car and then rammed a building.
