More Haste, Less Speed

Introduction

[A/N]: Hello everyone it is RBMapleLeaf welcome to the very tragic tale that is More Haste, Less Speed

[A/N]: This is a non-fictional story based on the fatal accident that occurred in Osaka on April 25th, 2005. It is better known as the Amagasaki Derailment and tragically 107 people we're killed including the driver in question. For respect of the victims involved names will bear no resemblance to those involved in the accident in question. It will also gloss over the investigation and the lessons learnt from this tragic accident. But more about the driver and conductors names later.

[A/N]: JR West the train company involved has certainly not forgotten about this accident and has taken measures ever since the accident.

[A/N]: This will be likely a short series roughly 15 chapters long and this will go from the operation of the train of the day, to the details of the driver and conductor as well as passengers who stated their experiences and the investigation itself.

[A/N]: With all, here is the breakdown of that tragic Monday morning in April of 2005.

[A/N]: Viewer discretion is advised as there will be photos from the crash site present.

[A/N]: The reason why this non-fictional story is called. More Haste, Less Speed. The inspiration came from Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (2010). I've never played NFS Hot Pursuit 2010, but I did watch the gameplay and one of the missions was called "More Haste, Less Speed." When I searched up its definition it states.

"You make better progress with a task if you don't try to do it too quickly." Which I believe fit perfectly with how this disaster turned out. It will be revealed in the following chapters. This disaster would've never happened if a few factors didn't occur and keep in mind that accidents don't just occur out of thin air but from a series of critical events.

I do want to reiterate although I did say the names of this non-fictional story would be altered in respect of the victims and those who did lose their lives.

The real name of the driver involved in accident was 23-year-old Ryūjirō Takami

But after Chapter 1 & 2 the driver involved in the accident will be referred to as Kobayashi Akiro

Also, the Conductor real name was Matsushita Masatoshi. He was 42 at the time of accident but not much is known about the conductor. More information in the proceeding Chapter when we discuss about the background of both men.

But if we make any mentions regarding Matsushita Masatoshi besides this chapter or the next chapter. We will refer to him as Hashimoto Eiichiro. Once again this to respect the names of the people involved.

So, after the summary of the real-life accident

Driver: Ryūjirō Takami --> Kobayashi Akiro

Conductor: Matsushita Masatoshi --> Hashimoto Eiichiro

You will get a reminder at the end of Chapter 1 as well.

This first chapter will summarise the real-life occurrence that was the 2005 Amagasaki Derailment and afterwards it will speak about in detail about how the day progressed, the events leading up to the accident, the subsequent investigation and action that has taken.

This non-fictional story will rely on customer testimony, the final report released by the JTSB in 2007 and the usage of footage from World in Motion video: The Train Crash That Exposed Japan's Toxic Work Culture, National Geographic Seconds to Disaster: S6, Ep5 Runway Train and Wonder: Trapped Underground for Hours After Horrific Train Crash | Trapped S1 EP3

National Geographic focused on the events and reconstruction of the disaster and breaking down every critical event whilst Wonder focused mainly on how some of the survivors endured and survived in the turmoil. In addition, the final report released by the JTSB did release some passenger testimonies

Also, the final report or the english pdf copy does trim out partial info, some of which was quintessential so there are likely missing gaps in this story especially the events before the accident and also the work history of the driver. The Japanese version does have all the info but I've had to use translations, understand and interpret.

So, let's board this train, shut the doors and get ready to listen, because this accident exposed a dark secret in Japanese rail.