The Railway Technical Research Institute will lay a test track as early as this autumn to run experiments aimed at shedding light on the causes of train derailments, such as the fatal Tokyo subway collision in March 2000, institute officials said Saturday.

The Japan Railway-affiliated research institute said the 500-meter track will be the country's first dedicated to researching the derailment of nonfreight trains. The track will have two sharp curves and will be laid within the institute's grounds in the city of Kokubunji near Tokyo.

A train will travel on the track at around 25 kph in experiments to simulate the fatal collision that occurred between two trains running on curves at low speeds near Nakameguro Station on the Hibiya Line in Tokyo's Meguro Ward, the officials said.