A train almost entered a track where another train was stopped Sunday night at JR Kumamoto Station because the signal, which was being manually operated, was green, and a similar incident took place on the same track a few minutes later, transport ministry officials said Tuesday.

The signals normally used at the station were under repair and manually operated ones were in use at the time, the officials said.

The Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry dispatched two investigators Tuesday to the site, as the trouble could have led to a serious accident, they said.

The driver of a train from JR Ginsui Station in Fukuoka Prefecture saw the stopped train and applied his emergency brake, bringing his train to a halt about 80 meters from the stopped train at around 9:24 p.m. Sunday.

The train from Ginsui entered the track after the other train departed.

But about three minutes later, a train from JR Kokura Station in Fukuoka Prefecture was about to enter the same track while the train from Ginsui was still there.

The driver of the train from Kokura stopped his train using emergency brakes about 150 meters from the Ginsui train, the officials said.

The two trains were running at about 30 kph when they entered the station, the officials said.

The manually operated signals were in use between 9 p.m. Sunday and 5:30 a.m. Monday.

Train schedules has been disrupted because of rain and the intervals between trains were shorter than usual, the officials said.

The carrier, Kyushu Railway Co., said, "The signal trouble was regrettable."