Panel criticizes secret contact between JR West, probe committee+

OSAKA, Nov. 18 Kyodo -
An independent panel set up by West Japan Railway Co. harshly criticized secret
contact between company officials and members of a governmental railway
accident investigation commission, which probed into the cause of a 2005 fatal
derailment, the panel report showed Wednesday.

JR West executives, including former president Masao Yamazaki, approached
members of the then Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission and
obtained its draft report on the accident in advance.
In its report, submitted to transport minister Seiji Maehara via JR West
President Takayuki Sasaki, the independent panel said, ''The unjustness (of the
contact between the two sides) is quite obvious and it deserves strong
censure.''
''The information gathering (by JR West) was organizational,'' the panel said
following its one-month investigation. ''Access to the commission members
through back channels should not be approved in principle, and it would also
cast suspicions on the commission's independence and neutrality.''
JR West also reported to Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport
and tourism, that it punished 35 employees, including executives, who were
involved in the improper procurement of the governmental report.
In late September, the Japan Transport Safety Board, the commission's
successor, said the draft report on the cause of the derailment in Amagasaki,
Hyogo Prefecture, was leaked to Yamazaki, then JR West president, shortly
before the release of the final report in June 2007.
In response to Yamazaki's repeated requests, a commission member also called
for deleting from the report or playing down a clause disadvantageous to JR
West saying that the accident could have been avoided if the railway operator
had installed an automatic train stopping system called ATS.
Maehara told reporters after receiving the report, ''I expect JR West to push
forward its reconstruction and compensation for the accident victims.'' He also
said he will sack two commission members involved in the leakage.
Taking the information leakage seriously, the safety board will launch its own
investigation by a third-party group in December to regain public trust in the
state investigation on traffic accidents.
The commuter train derailment on the Fukuchiyama Line on April 25, 2005, killed
the driver and 106 passengers.
==Kyodo
2009-11-18 22:28:22