The Osaka High Court has upheld a ruling that found three former heads of West Japan Railway Co. not guilty over the horrific Amagasaki train derailment in 2005, in which 106 passengers and the driver were killed and over 560 injured.

The court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed against the acquittals of Masataka Ide, 79, Shojiro Nanya, 73, and Takeshi Kakiuchi, 70, all former presidents of JR West, in the derailment of a speeding rapid-service train on the JR Fukuchiyama Line that sent it crashing into a condominium building in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 25, 2005.

The trial's focus was on whether the defendants could have foreseen the possibility of an accident on a tight curve on the line.

Presiding Judge Nobuyuki Yokota said in Friday's decision the three former JR West chiefs could not have foreseen the danger.