Around 7:40 pm on the 23rd, a limited express train from Shinkaichi to Osaka Umeda collided with a passenger car at the Takaba junction between Rokko and Mikage on the Hankyu Kobe 1-chome line, Miyayama-cho, Nada- Ku, Kobe. According to the Kobe City Fire Department and the Hankyu Railway, the lead vehicle of the train derailed. The passenger car was wrecked, but the driver’s man was safe outside the car, and some 400 passengers and the train crew were not injured. The Hyogo Prefectural Police Department is investigating the cause of the accident. The Transportation Safety Commission plans to dispatch two rail accident investigators to the scene on the 24th.

According to Nada station, the driver of the passenger car is a pickup and delivery company, and according to the investigation, “I was away from the car at the time. The side brakes were loose and the car may have moved to the intersection.”

According to Hankyu, the train was an eight-car train, and the driver noticed the car and applied an emergency brake, but it crashed and the front and rear wheels of the main vehicle derailed about 40 cm to the left. The passengers were guided by Hankyu and evacuated to the outside of the car. The Hankyu Kobe Line will suspend operation between Shinkaichi and Shukugawa until the last train on the 23rd, and will suspend the operation from the first train on the 24th.

The crossing has an alarm and a circuit breaker. The site is about 200 meters east of Hankyu Rokko Station, and the surrounding area is a quiet residential area. A woman in her 40s, who lives nearby, said frightened: “I heard a rattle after the whistle of the train and the house shook. I was afraid the train would come.” (Joint)