Lead:
Traffic accidents are often harrowing, and in the late 1980s, a train collision on China's Shanghai-Hangzhou railway killed and injured 128 people, almost all of them Japanese Confucians. Behind this tragedy is the negligence of the locomotive crew and a series of unfortunate events. However, the accident triggered eight rounds of difficult compensation negotiations between China and Japan, and finally reached an agreement, which also raised China's railway management to new heights. This article will dive into this event, revealing the details and story behind it.
Train tragedy: China and Japan collide The accident scene is chaotic
It happened at about 2 p.m. on March 24, 1988, when a train honked its horn and left Shanghai Zhenru Station.
The train is number 311, and it will stop here for a short time, waiting for locomotive 1 before heading to Kuangxiang Station. The victims of this tragedy were a special guest group, 193 members from Kochi Gakuyi High School in Japan, and their destination was Hangzhou, a study tour organized by the Japan Transport Corporation.
The journey began three days ago from the Port of Kochi, Japan, via Osaka International Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, then by train to Suzhou, then planned a day trip to Suzhou, and finally took train 311 to Hangzhou, arriving at its destination in the evening.
Tragedy erupts: an accident in which brake tests are overlooked
However, the turning point in fate came when Train 311 entered Kuangxiang Station. According to the regulations, a brake test must be carried out before the locomotive enters the station, but the two locomotive crew members seem to have violated the regulations for some reason and did not perform the brake test on time. When entering Kuangxiang Station, the station phone was not answered, and the locomotive wireless phone could not be contacted, resulting in the two locomotive attendants not confirming the outbound signal and not taking braking action in time.
The assistant at Kuangxiang Station noticed the abnormality and raised a red signal flag to signal the 311 train to stop, while calling the drivers of the 311 train and the 208 train through a wireless phone to request an immediate stop.
However, Train 311 did not appear to respond and could not be contacted. Just as the train was about to leave the station, the two locomotive attendants noticed an exit signal with a red light ahead, and they braked urgently, but due to the inertia of the train, the brakes failed, causing the train to continue moving forward, and finally collided with the 208th train that was about to enter the station.
The tragedy occurred at 14:19, causing the No. 1 luggage car to collide, and the second hard sleeper car after the locomotive of train 208 was also seriously damaged, the base was removed, and the damaged line was more than 50 meters long, with a total of 46 sleepers.
Because of this serious collision, some trains had to continue to run and carry out repairs, and the entire accident affected the railway operation for up to 24 hours.
Emergency rescue: Difficult and bad weather
After the accident, the scene was chaotic and the operators were terrified. Nearby workers and farmers crowded on, some rushed to call the police, and others came to investigate the accident. At the same time, the conductor of car No. 1 also arrived at the scene, and locomotive No. 208 went to the railway dispatch station to report the accident.
Local firefighting, public security and other departments quickly rushed to the scene of the accident, and at the same time, medical teams from a large hospital in Shanghai also arrived one after another to carry out emergency rescue work.
Dozens of ambulances, police cars and fire engines gathered at the scene, but due to the large number of people involved in the rescue, the scene leaders had to order a cordon and temporarily seal off the scene to ensure that the rescue work could be carried out in an orderly manner.
However, after the accident, the weather became harsh. Rain began to pour down, thick fog filled the air, and visibility dropped sharply, further slowing the rescue. In addition, the carriage was seriously damaged due to the train collision, which increased the difficulty of rescue.
Responsibility and Mourning: International Public Opinion and Compensation Negotiations
The accident was not only distressing, but also sparked extensive discussion in the international community.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to this incident, the leaders of the State Council expressed their deep condolences to the Japanese Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke with the Japanese Foreign Ministry by telephone, and the Director General of the China National Tourism Administration expressed his condolences to Japan. At the same time, the Chinese Embassy in Japan apologized to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
However, the accident also raised the issue of compensation, due to the huge gap between the economic levels of China and Japan at that time.
This led to disagreements between the two sides on the issue of compensation. The Chinese side believes that the amount of compensation they provide is already very high according to China's national conditions. However, the Japanese side believes that this amount is obviously insufficient to meet international standards, and the gap is too large.
As a result, the two sides engaged in eight difficult rounds of compensation negotiations, which not only disputed the amount, but also reached an impasse due to the inconsistency of the negotiating venue. In the end, the two sides reached a compromise, and from the third round, negotiations were held in Shanghai and Tokyo, respectively.
After seven months of negotiations, China and Japan finally reached an agreement on compensation. According to the Shanghai Railway Accident Compensation Agreement, the death compensation for each Japanese victim is 4.5 million yen, which is determined and paid by the Shanghai Railway Bureau. At the same time, for the 36 injured Japanese, the Chinese side also provided different degrees of compensation according to the severity of the injuries.
In stark contrast, the only Chinese killed in the accident and the conductor on the other train were only compensated for 2,500 yuan. This huge gap revealed the reality that China's economic level was relatively low and the insurance system was not perfect.
Definition of responsibility: driver sentence, railway improvement
In terms of responsibility for the accident, the drivers of train 311, Zhou Xiaoniu and Liu Guolong, were arrested in accordance with the law on April 3 and April 22 respectively. On September 22, 1988, the Shanghai Railway Transportation Intermediate Court held a public hearing of the train collision case, and finally sentenced the two to six-and-a-half and three years in prison for traffic crimes.
The Shanghai-Hangzhou 3.24 bullet train collision accident has become a major event in the history of China's railways, which has aroused the attention of the international community and prompted the reform of China's railway administration. The Ministry of Railways has formulated a series of rules and regulations to improve train safety, including strengthening train brake tests, strengthening the implementation of locomotive operation regulations, and implementing hardware upgrade measures such as stationside coding. This tragedy became an opportunity for the improvement of China's railways, promoted the development and improvement of locomotive monitoring devices, and improved the safety of railways.
epilogue
This train collision has taught us that traffic safety can never be ignored.