Tobu rail employee arrested in fatal crossing accident
Asahi
Pedestrians were allowed to cross even though a train was closing in at high speed.
Police on Wednesday arrested a Tobu Railway employee for suspected negligence resulting in the deaths of two pedestrians at a busy Tokyo rail crossing the previous day.
Two others were injured, one seriously, officials said.
Kanji Komatsu, 52, was operating one of the few remaining manually operated rail crossings in Japan.
Police said he mistakenly opened the gates at the crossing near Takenotsuka Station in Adachi Ward around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, sending pedestrians into the path of an Asakusa-bound Tobu Isesaki Line commuter train.
Komatsu opened the gates without confirming safety on the crossing, police said....more...
Man threatens to blow up Tobu line train following fatal accident
Mainichi
A man threatened to plant a time bomb on a Tobu Railway line train in Tokyo early Thursday, two days after two women died in an accident on a Tobu crossing, police said.
An employee received a call at Narihirabashi Station on the Tobu Isesaki Line in Sumida-ku shortly before 8 a.m.
"I cannot forgive the accident at Takenotsuka Station so I will plant a time bomb on a train," the caller, whose voice sounded like a middle-aged man, was quoted as telling a Tobu employee on the phone. "I plan to place it under the seats."
When the Tobu employee said that he was not in a position to give an answer, the caller hung up.
Tokyo police officers investigated Narihirabashi Station in Sumida-ku and trains around the area but didn't find anything suspicious.
The man called only once and the railway continued to operate trains as scheduled....more...
