Japan begins safety checks of rail, air transport

Japan's transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa began safety inspections of rail and air transport systems on Monday in the wake of a series of accidents and mishaps,including the fatal train derailment and crash in Amagasaki, west Japan's Hyogo Prefecture, on April 25.

Kitagawa started the inspection visits with a stop at the Land,Infrastructure and Transport Ministry's regional branch office at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

Monday's inspections also cover the offices of Japan Airlines Corp., Tokyo Metro Co., East Japan Railway Co. and Tobu Railway Co.

Kitagawa said at a press conference that a team of experts at the ministry will be dispatched to the branch office for a month starting Monday to monitor its operations following an incident involving air traffic controller error on Friday.

A JAL plane carrying 51 passengers and crew members landed Friday night on a runway closed for maintenance at Haneda airport on instruction by the air traffic ontrol center. All 18 air traffic controllers on duty forgot about the runway closure. "It was quite regrettable," Kitagawa said. "I apologize to the public as the chief official in charge."

He also questioned the air traffic controllers about the cause of the incident.

It is unusual for a Cabinet minister to conduct on-site inspections on safety measures of public transportation. Kitagawa has decided on the move because the spate of accidents and problems continued even after the transport ministry had instructed them to tighten safety measures in March.

Kitagawa will travel to Osaka on Tuesday to inspect the offices of Nankai Electric Railway Co., Hankyu Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co.

In March, the ministry instructed railway and airline companies across Japan as well as nationwide air traffic control centers to comprehensively check their safety measures by the end of April.

The West Japan Railway Co. train's derailment and crash into an apartment building in Amagasaki took place despite the March instruction. It was Japan's fourth deadliest train accident in the postwar period and has claimed 107 lives so far.