Nine out of 10 major train stations in Japan have made, or are in the process of making, structural changes to platforms to help people who have fallen onto the tracks escape oncoming trains, the government said Friday.
The deaths of three people on the tracks at Tokyo's JR Shin-Okubo Station last January prompted the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry to ask railways in charge of 2,077 designated train stations across the country to make it easier for someone who falls off a platform to get away from the tracks.
On Jan. 26, 2001, two men jumped onto the tracks at Shin-Okubo Station to rescue a man who had fallen from the platform. All three were killed by an oncoming train.
In response to the ministry's call, railways have created crawl spaces under platforms and have built footholds from the tracks to the platforms, government officials said.
The safety improvements will be made at 1,861 train stations, or 90 percent of the total designated stations, by the end of March, up from 54 percent last March, the ministry said.
Some stations have also installed alarm devices on platforms that can be used to alert motormen that a person has fallen onto the tracks. Officials said 748 of the designated train stations, or 36 percent, will have such alarm devices installed by the end of March, up from 424 stations, or 20 percent, last March.
According to government figures, the total number of people killed or injured after falling onto the tracks or were hit by trains while on the edge of the platform has decreased in the past year. In 2001, the number was at 100, down from 142 people in 2000.
Some 15 people were killed after falling onto the tracks in 2001, down from 32 a year earlier. The numbers do not include deaths confirmed as suicides.