Recovery Work Continues After Tohoku Bullet Train Derailment
Recovery work on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line continues one week after a bullet train derailed in Miyagi Prefecture after a powerful earthquake.
The magnitude 7.4 quake hit northeast Japan last Wednesday. East Japan Railway Company said the train's emergency brake was applied after the quake was detected, but that 16 of its 17 cars derailed.
Workers have put five of the cars back on the rails. The company says it will take about 10 days to move the train.
Damage, including distorted rails and broken overhead power lines, has been confirmed at about 1,000 places on the line.
Investigators from the government's Transport Safety Board say the damage is mainly on the section where the train came to a halt, and that no damage is seen ahead. They suspect the train derailed right before or after it stopped.
They hope to clarify how the quake impacted the train to cause the unusual derailment.
Service remains suspended between Koriyama Station in Fukushima Prefecture and Ichinoseki Station in Iwate Prefecture. The company aims to fully resume the service around April 20.