The government's final report on the horrific April 2005 train crash in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, is likely to criticize West Japan Railway Co.'s retraining programs as punitive in nature and a major factor in the accident, panel sources said Monday.
The transport ministry's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission will say the programs affected the mental condition of 23-year-old Ryujiro Takami, the driver who derailed the train, in its final report as a nonbinding "observation."
The accident left 107 people, including Takami, dead after the train left the tracks and crashed into a condominium complex.