2004 Derailment of Joetsu Shinkansen
At JST 17:56 October 23, 2004, an earthquake occurred, the epicenter near a 200 series Shinkansen train carrying about 155 passengers between Urasa Station and Nagaoka Station of Jōetsu Shinkansen, the north entrance of Takiya Tunnel. The train, which was heading for Niigata Prefecture from Tokyo with train number "Toki 325 (とき325号)", had 8 of 10 cars (except cars 6 and 7) derailed due to the earthquake. As the earthquake occurred, the trains were running with a speed of 200 km/h for Nagaoka, the emergency braking system started to work immediately at the alert of the earthquake. This is the first derailment of Shinkansen ever since the operation of Tōkaidō Shinkansen in October 1964. The derailment caused no injuries or deaths. The aftershocks continued to occur at Niigata region afterward, causing great difficulty in cleaning derailment wrecks. By November 18, 2004, the train wreck had been cleared and operations were resumed on December 28. Due to severe damage, the train was abandoned from service on February 25, 2005, and replaced by E2 Series Shinkansen On November 30, 2007, Japanese Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission released the official report regarding to this derailment of Jōetsu Shinkansen, and it gave advice readjusting the operations of Shinkansen.
Summary
The Derailment of Jōetsu Shinkansen (), occurred when a bullet train derailed on October 23, 2004 during an earthquake in the Chūetsu region of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It is the first derailment of a commercially operated Shinkansen (high speed rail in Japan).