OSAKA (Kyodo) West Japan Railway Co. admitted Sunday that organizational problems, such as excessive streamlining, were behind a fatal train derailment that occurred in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, in April 2005.
The company's view was conveyed at its first meeting with a group of families of those who died in the disaster, according to the attendants.
However, during the closed-door meeting in Osaka, Shojiro Nanya, former JR West chairman, told the 36 attendants from the family side that he does not believe that the organizational problems directly caused the accident, the attendants said.
The bereaved families asked the company to examine the causes of the accident by itself, and the company said it will submit a written response on Jan. 12, they said.
Yasakazu Asano, 66, who lost his wife and his sister in the accident, indicated at a news conference his dissatisfaction with the company's stance of not admitting that organizational problems had caused the accident.
On April 25, 2005, the seven-car commuter train derailed at a curve on the Fukuchiyama Line in Amagasaki and crashed into a condo nearby, killing 107 people, including the driver, and injuring 562 others.