Japan’s famous bullet trains fared reasonably well

My heart goes out to all those who suffer in Japan. I was thinking about the bullet trains and the thought of a high speed train derailing in a earthquake made me shudder. However for what I could find, the 30 seconds of pre-earthquake warnings was enough to automatically stop all high speed trains before any derailments could happen. There are unconfirmed reports that a stopped bullet train was caught in a tsunami (not derailed) and lost over 400 people, but again nothing confirmed.

In light of the nuclear power plant problems, this is at least a small bright spot of something that they did right. (That is the opinion of the author who wrote the first article below)

Read this for more info:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/26 ... ou-dolinar

http://www.rail.co/2011/03/16/east-japa ... arthquake/

There is no silver lining in this very dark cloud.

Japan's transport infrastructure, which is almost universally electrified, was crippled due to the electricity shortages. More to the point, the system for stopping trains in the event of an earthquake didn't save lives in this instance, since stopped trains were swept away, with the loss of all aboard.

Just as importance, Japan's HSR infrastructure hasn't been useful in evacuating survivors for effected areas. Even worse, single purposed, passenger only HSR infrastructure isn't useful for moving vital goods and commodities.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the more heavily built, standard gauge HSR right-of-ways survived with less damage the older narrow gauge passenger and freight trackage, but in this disaster, that fact amounts to meaningless trivia. The real disaster continues to unfold.

The reports about trains missing and being swept away are proving to be unfounded. I think as of now there is only a possibility of one missing, out of the dozens or even hundreds running at the time, I would say that's a decent percentage considering what might have happened. Your right about passenger only railroads being not useful for goods, and the electrical problems causing stoppages, although with the amount of debris that must have fell onto the tracks, I think that part doesn't really matter in the initial stages. The trains couldn't go far anyway. Unfortunately this will be a learning experience for many industries as well as governments.

The bullet trains are mostly elevated , especially in vallies and deltas whre the wave did the most damage . I also recall reading that no lives were lost in the "lost "trains , from pictures they stayed relatively intact .
The bullet train structures would be built to very high earthqauke resistance standards , as would anything else built since the 70's in Japan . ( the start of widespread use of reinforced concrete ) .
We must consider the sheer magnitude of this earthquake . i have been in a few mag 6 ones , and mag 8.9 is very hard to imagine . Actual earthquake damage was quite low considering the magnitude . of cause the tsuamai is a different story .

peterde wrote:The reports about trains missing and being swept away are proving to be unfounded.

That's similar to the denial of the true death toll from the 1906 San Francisco quake ( about 3000+ perished in that event, although the recorded figure was 345 ). The death toll from the Sendai Quake is almost certain to be greater than 10,000, mostly attributed to the tsunami. I'd hedge my bets that East Japan Rail, along with Japanese government officials are most definitely hiding the truth ( true extent of the Quake and tsunami's toll, and the loss of life ).

With the amount of damage, it's a miracle that even a few that didn't make it too high ground survived. Unless these trains were evacuated and their passengers taken to higher ground, it would be all but impossible for them to survive. To think otherwise would be somewhat foolish.

The photographs back up the story of trains being swept off tracks. It wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility for one of those commuter trains to have been washed out to sea, they've found houses and debris at sea ( I believe an individual was actually rescued from his home after two days at sea ).

I doubt they are hiding the truth . Probably more likely been very careful to establish the actual fatalities exist and also to identify bodies . How would you feel if one of your loved ones was on a train reported missing ??? . they will only confirm the deaths (if any ) once absoutely certain .
Here in New Zealand , the expected death toll was reported to be over 300 . it seems to have stabilised at around 160 . 22 people were reported to be crushed in the catherderal , they found no bodies .
aT this stage any reports of total fatalies are guesses at worst , subject to change at best . Also , while frustrating to outsiders , reporting fataliy totals to the media is not a pirioty all focus is on trying to save people .

There's still over 10,000 unaccounted for. Regardless of where those people were at the time, they don't get added to the official tolls until there's a body and it's ID'ed. Have to allow wiggle room for survivors who did get out and are simply hiding out with families, off the grid, etc. while the authorities are still stretched threadbare stabilizing the emergency. At some point when the the unaccounted numbers are whittled down as far as they'll feasibly go the clock starts ticking on a presumed-dead deadline for the rest.

In the case of a megatsunami the number of presumed deaths is going to be massive because there simply will be no bodies for the ones washed out to sea. This is going to evolve a lot more like Indonesia 2004's death toll than that of a purely on-land earthquake.

I have seen a tv picture of a train - probably Cape gauge - lying in a scattered condition. I find it hard top believe that any people inside could have survived that situation.

george matthews wrote:I have seen a tv picture of a train - probably Cape gauge - lying in a scattered condition. I find it hard top believe that any people inside could have survived that situation.

This one?

I tend to disagree. The cars are upright and non-crumpled, which looks more like the result of a lower-speed wave that simply lifted them off the tracks rather than truly carrying them away. I would not be surprised if the most on that was a few injuries.

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:More to the point, the system for stopping trains in the event of an earthquake didn't save lives in this instance, since stopped trains were swept away, with the loss of all aboard.

We're dealing with two disasters. The earthquake and the tsunami. The system designed for stopping trains worked perfectly for what it was designed to do. All trains stopped and there were no derailments due to the earthquake.

The tsunami that came a few minutes later would have only affected the low lying areas within miles of the coast. What do you expect? Trains to reactivate and try to outrun a tsunami not knowing if the track ahead is clear or the tracks survived the earthquake? In case of emergency go really fast on rails that you don't know survived the quake?

In an event where 20-30 thousand people died it seems short sighted to attack the trains.

It has been reported elsewhere that of the 4 trains struck by the tsunami, none were "bullet" trains, and all occupants escaped prior to the tsunami striking.

At any rate, the power was out after the earthquake, so they couldn't have gone anywhere anyways, to try and escape.

Not even a bullet train is going to go fast enough to out-run that wall of water.

Moral ? The bullet trains were not affected at all, other than being shut down due to tsunami damage, in the northeastern region.

All the trains did, indeed, stop exactly as designed, due to the earthquake.

Reports are all occupants did escape prior to the tsunami arrival.

That is, essentially, all we know.