Four railway workers were killed on Thursday after being struck by an express train while carrying out weeding work along the tracks at a station in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, police said.
The four men, aged in their 50s and 60s, were removing weeds on the tracks when the incident occurred at around 10.45am at Shin-Kanuma Station on the Tobu Nikko Line, according to police and train operator Tobu Railway Co.
A total of seven workers were involved in the maintenance work, with the other three escaping unharmed. None of the train’s passengers or crew members was injured.
The train, which was travelling towards Asakusa in Tokyo, was approaching Shin-Kanuma Station and was scheduled to stop there when the accident happened. Around 50 passengers were on board at the time.
Train services along part of the Tobu Nikko Line were suspended following the incident as authorities began investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Under railway safety procedures, workers carrying out maintenance on tracks must have a designated lookout who monitors for approaching trains and alerts workers to clear the tracks.
Once all workers have moved to safety, the lookout is required to signal the train driver with a flag, while the driver must acknowledge the warning by sounding the train’s horn.
Tobu Railway said the driver sounded the horn after seeing a flag signal from the lookout. However, company officials said they had yet to establish whether the lookout had properly warned the four workers before the train approached.
The operator said it would continue cooperating with police as investigations into the tragic incident proceed.
