The Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake —Railway Response and Reconstruction Masahiko Ogura
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F Earthquake Disaster Countermeasures eature The Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake —Railway Response and Reconstruction Masahiko Ogura on 23 October 2004. Some basic figures Echigo Yuzawa and Niigata were The Earthquakes are given in Figure 1. damaged, as well as sections of narrow- Figure 2 shows the JR East track that gauge track on the Shin’etsu, Echigo and A series of several major earthquakes suffered damage and the time it took other lines. rocked the Chuetsu region of Niigata before services were resumed. Fairly long along the Sea-of-Japan coast from 17:56 sections of the shinkansen track between Figure 1 Chuetsu Earthquake Seismic Activity Figure 2 Emergency Stops after Chuetsu Earthquake Yahiko Niigata Date and time of main earthquake: 23 October 2004 at 17:56 Yoshida Epicentre: ne Naoetsu Kakizaki Chuetsu district of Niigata Prefecture Kashiwazaki Echigo Li Tsubame Sanjo (37°3’N, 136°9’E) Richter Magnitude: Shin iko Niitsu 6.8 (Maximum seismic intensity (SI) ’etsu Line Line of 7, registered in Kawaguchi-machi) Yah Miyauchi Number of aftershocks: Higashi Sanjo Four around SI6 Iiyam Nagaoka Eighteen around SI5 Toka-machi a L 877 large enough to be felt NiigataNiigata ine Epicentre (23 October 17:56) (until 28 December) Echigo Kawaguchi Max. SI7 (Kawaguchi-machi) Peak ground acceleration Niitsu Urasa Tadami Line Non-JR East seismometer: Koide 2515 gal (in Kawaguchi-machi) Tsubamesubame SanjoSanjo JR East seismometer: Tadami 846 gal (at Shin Kawaguchi KashiwazakiKashiwazaki NagaokaNagaoka transformer substation, EchigoEchigo KawaguchiKawaguchi Joetsu Line Joetsu Shinkansen) KoideKoide Echigo Yuzawa Muika-machi NaoetsuNaoetsu Urasa Toka-machioka-machi Muika-machiMuika-machi Main epicentre Shinkansen EchigoEchigo Aftershocks Joetsu JR East narrow-gauge lines Yuzawauzawa epicentres Shinkansen (≥M6) to Tokyo Figure 3 Response Timeline Emergency Response Meetings Press Conferences Other Events 17:56 Began gathering information on possible 18:00 Response Headquarters established injuries and damage (Director sent from within JR East Head Office Headquarters) 18:19 First report indicates Toki 325 derailed between 19:40 First Emergency Response Meeting Urasa and Nagaoka • Ascertained Toki 325 derailment 20:25 Press conference • Ascertained injuries to passengers • Ascertained how many people on board • Overall situation • Toki 325 derailed 21:50 M. Otsuka, JR East President, • Ascertained positions of halted trains 23 October • No deaths or injuries prepares to return to Japan from 22:00 Emergency Response Meeting London, UK, where on investor • Planned passenger relief relations business. • Ascertained condition of damaged equipment 22:45 Press conference • Ascertained derailment situation • Eight carriages derailed • Decided to send Executive Director to derailment site • Situation of trains halted between stations • Relief effort plans, etc. 00:27 Press conference 03:30 Emergency Response Meeting • Relief efforts • Report on derailment 05:00 Derailment Investigation Committee • Passenger relief efforts start on-site investigation 08:00 Emergency Response Meeting • Report on derailment 09:03 Press conference • Report on equipment damage 10:30 M. Otsuka, JR East President, • Derailment situation • Planning 24 October passenger services arrives at Headquarters (visits • Equipment damage • Methods to get derailed cars back on track (proposals) site on 25 October) • Relief efforts 11:30 Emergency Response Meeting • Plans for 24 October passenger services 24 October • Methods to get derailed cars back on track • Report on equipment damage 13:00 Field Response Headquarters (proposal) • Plans for getting derailed cars back on track established, with Executive • Situation of staff sent to site for recovery efforts Director M. Ogura in charge 16:00 Emergency Response Meeting • Report on equipment damage 17:05 Press conference • Current passenger operations situation • Damaged equipment • User situation • Current passenger operations situation • User situation 46 Japan Railway & Transport Review 43/44 • March 2006 Response on Day 1 Figure 4 Passenger Movement and Evacuation after First Earthquake Figure 3 is a timeline of events on 23 and 23:23 Passengers begin disembarking Traffic situation under guidance from staff 7 trains 24 October. I was in Tokyo at the time members. Four buses take 22:20 Passengers begin (not including deadheads) passengers to Echigo Yuzawa disembarking under make emergency stop and as soon as we heard that a Station. guidance from staff 02:00 All passengers disembarked. members. Two • 4 trains halted between 02:40 All passengers arrived at Echigo By bus mini-buses and one stations; passengers shinkansen had derailed, JR East Yuzawa Station where spend taxi take them to disembark there night in train. evacuation shelter. • 1 train halted at platform; executive officers including myself 01:30 All passengers arrive passengers disembark from Matsukawa at evacuation shelter. rushed to headquarters, with nearly 21:47 Trains inclined lead car resume shaft • 2 trains resume operations operations after inspections everyone arriving by 19:00. Echigo Yuzawa As the left column shows, our first (151.4 km) Jomo Kogen Max Toki Deadhead train Urasa Emergency Response Meeting began at (119.1 km) 327 On foot (181.0 km) (145.9 km) 19:40 attended by all executive officers 410 passengers who had arrived at headquarters by then. By this time, we had confirmed that a train 100.5 km—Ground 149 km—Ground observations had derailed, but fortunately with no observations (120 gal) and structural inspections (>200 gal) injuries, so the meeting did not have the Max Toki Deadhead Max Toki tension it would otherwise have had. 330 train 332 (103.2 km) 21:50 Passengers begin (177.7 km) 440 passengers disembarking under 316 passengers The centre column shows our press guidance from staff members and walk conferences after the meeting at 20:25, to Nagaoka Station. 22:28 All passengers By bus By By bus 22:45, and at 00:27 in the small hours of disembarked. and taxi Higashi train Imamachi and taxi Evacuation 00:20 All passengers arrived Sanjo Niigata inclined shelter the next day. At the time, we had no clear at Nagaoka Station Mitsuke walkway and three buses take inclined idea of circumstances in the disaster area. 70 or 80 to evacuation walkway shelter. An Executive Director who joined the Niigata Nagaoka Tsubame Sanjo (269.5 km) company at the same time as myself and Toki 325 (213.8 km) Toki 361 (237.4 km) Toki 405 (208 km) (225.8 km) On foot (247.1 km) now in charge of operations and 151 passengers 238 passengers 220 passengers (derailed train) marketing made it clear that we had to be On foot frank and open about everything that we Ground observations and structural knew and didn’t know. This was the right inspections (>200 gal) approach, and set the stage for the excellent rapport we maintained with the Toki 406 media over the next 60 days. 22:25 Passengers begin disembarking 19:11 Train resumes The column on the right highlights the By bus under guidance from staff operations members and walk or take taxis activities of our company President, Evacuation shelter to Mitsuke Station. Emergency stop 23:30 All passengers disembarked and Mr Mutsutake Otsuka. He was in London three buses and 20 taxis take 18:20 Passengers disembark them to Higashi Sanjo Station. Train permitted to on JR business when the quakes struck, onto platform from 00:15 All passengers arrived at resume operations lead car and three buses Higashi Sanjo Station. and luckily phoned his wife in Japan that take them to evacuation 00:20 About 200 passengers depart Deadhead train shelter. on local train for Niigata Station. evening not knowing about the accident. As soon as his wife told him a JR East shinkansen had derailed, he began preparing to return to Japan immediately, He put me in charge of the Field Response later, reconstruction has gone almost and arrived at headquarters in Japan at Headquarters and I flew by helicopter next entirely according to plan. 10:30 on 24 October, proving just how morning to the derailment site. We arrived Figure 4 shows the shinkansen stations small the world has become! He proved there at about noon and made a number from Jomo Kogen to the Niigata terminus our faith in him as a President who is of arrangements. I was trackside by 13:00 and the position of trains stopped on the always ready to go where he is needed serving as Chief of Field Response line after the earthquakes. and point us in the right direction. His Headquarters. I must confess now that I The Toki 325 shinkansen carrying 151 quick return has become something of a had no idea how our recovery efforts passengers derailed close to Nagaoka legend at JR East. would go, but thankfully, as I will explain Station and five other trains carrying Japan Railway & Transport Review 43/44 • March 2006 47 Earthquake Disaster Countermeasures passengers had stopped without derailing from 151 to 410 passengers and every between stations. Two other trains had Passenger Safety First passenger had to be guided to safety by also stopped temporarily but could the train crews and our employees who proceed almost immediately thereafter. The first shock halted trains carrying rushed from stations and depots. The evacuation routes were varied, with some passengers climbing a shaft from Figure 5 Situation after Derailment a tunnel and others descending from a Tokyo-bound (up) track viaduct. Our employees had undergone rigorous disaster-response training and Train travelling to Niigata To Niigata To Tokyo I was confident of their professionalism. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 One might have expected passengers to Niigata-bound (down) track panic, but our crews remained calm Tokyo-bound (up) track during the evacuation and kept the 22 of 40 axles derailed. Car No. 1 slipped into water passengers calm too. No one was drainage channel and came to rest at 30° angle Car No.