An independent panel set up by West Japan Railway Co. has issued a report slamming the carrier's secret contact with the government that led to the leak of a confidential safety report to JR West officials looking to evade blame for the catastrophic Amagasaki train derailment of 2005.
The railway also said it would fire two people involved in leaking the report — without naming them — and set up yet another third-party group in December that will conduct its own investigation into the crash, which claimed 107 lives.
JR West executives, including former President Masao Yamazaki, approached members of the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission and obtained a draft of its report on the disaster in advance.
It then pressured panelists to downplay language in the report critical of JR West's role in the accident, which occurred when the Fukuchiyama Line train, traveling too fast, jumped a curve and slammed into a condominium high-rise in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.