Train derails in likely track switch snafu in western Japan

WAKAYAMA -- An out-of-serviced train derailed at JR Gobo Station in the city of Gobo, Wakayama Prefecture, on the morning of April 14, apparently due to a track-switching error.

There were no passengers aboard the four-car train. The driver and a conductor were not injured.

Due to the derailment, train operations between Inami and Kii-Yura stations on the Kisei Line were suspended for about 14 hours until 9 p.m. A total of 102 train services were canceled, affecting about 10,300 people. Full service resumed from the first train of the day on April 15.

According to the Wakayama branch of operator West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), the train was scheduled to leave Gobo at 7:14 a.m. for Wakayama. It was moving from a siding to a platform when some wheels of the second car came as much as a meter off the rails near a track switch junction at around 6:55 a.m. JR West suspects the derailment was caused by a track-switch operation error.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190415/p2a/00m/0na/010000c