Posted on 05/31/2011 7:57:56 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Manual stalled evacuation of smoke-filled Hokkaido train
The Yomiuri Shimbun
SAPPORO--The evacuation of a smoke-filled passenger train in a Hokkaido tunnel Friday night was delayed by a company requirement that fires be visually confirmed before action can be taken, it has been learned.
The accident occurred on the JR Sekisho Line of Hokkaido Railway Co. (JR Hokkaido) in Shimukappumura. After its fifth car derailed and apparently caught fire, the Super Ozora No. 14 express train made an emergency stop in the 685-meter-long Daiichi Niniu tunnel Friday night.
JR Hokkaido's operation manual requires that train staff visually confirm a fire before any steps can be taken, but the thick smoke that filed the train and tunnel prevented such confirmation.
Because the fire could not be seen, the train's 240 passengers were not immediately evacuated.
(Excerpt) Read more at yomiuri.co.jp ...
P!
So they couldn’t see the flames because the smoke was so thick???
Yeah, we want high speed rail ,too!
I guess that old proverb, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” doesn’t translate well into Japanese.
New proverb from Japan:
When there is no entry in the manual, there is no action.:-)
All that is not permitted is forbidden.
All that is permitted is required.
Yeah, I mean what are you gonna do?
A government regulation leads to disaster? Seems IMPOSSIBLE, doesn’t it!!
I think that should have been:
All that is not permitted is forbidden.
All that is not forbidden is required.
The Japanese are amazing in so many ways, but they really are robotic sometimes. Improvisation has to be forced on them from my personal experience.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.