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6 March | • | Express train derailed in
Jyväskylä, southern Finland, killing 10 and
injuring 39. Accident due to speeding to
recover schedule
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11 March | • | Three track workers of Teito
Rapid Transit Authority hit and killed in early
morning on elevated track of Chiyoda Line
in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
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12 March | • | Ministry of Transport approved
construction plans for three sections of
three new shinkansen: Hachinohe—Shin-Aomori of Tohoku Shinkansen, Nagano—Joetsu of Hokuriku Shinkansen, and
Funagoya—Shin-Yatsushiro of Kyushu
Shinkansen. Construction scheduled for
completion in 2018 with total budget of ¥1
trillion
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| • | Ten DD51 diesel locomotives
sold by JR West to Vietnam, left Goto Marshalling
Yard in Tottori Prefecture, Japan
for shipment to Vietnam. Gauge to be
changed to 1000 mm from 1,067 along with
brake changes
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18 March | • | Japanese National Railways
Settlement Corporation to restore part of
former Shimbashi Station to original state
at opening in 1872. East Japan Railway
Culture Foundation to be mainly responsible
for restoration work
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| • | Saab 340 aircraft of Formosa
Airlines flying from Hsin-chu, northwestern
Taiwan to Kao-hsiung, southern Taiwan,
crashed into Taiwan Strait shortly after takeoff,
killing all 8 passengers and 5 crew
members
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19 March | • | Lead car of six-car trainset
derailed by strong side winds during storm
near Imajuku Station in Nishi-ku, Fukuoka,
injuring three passengers
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21 March | • | Beechcraft two-seater plane
flying from Yao airport (Osaka Prefecture)
to Kochi airport, crashed killing two on
board
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22 March | • | A320 Airbus of Philippine Airlines
overran runway on landing at Bocolod
Airport on Negros Island and crashed into
building, killing 3 people in building, and
injuring 30 passengers and crew on plane
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25 March | • | Two E767 AWACS delivered
to Hamamatsu Base of Air Self Defense
Force. Huge surveillance radar capable of
collecting aircraft data over wider range and
lower altitudes than older E2C AWACs
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29 March | • | Russian-built Antonov transport
plane of Peruvian Air Force crashed
in northern Peru, killing 28 and injuring 20
evacuees from flooding
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31 March | • | Kuroishi Line (6.2 km between
Kawabe and Kuroishi) of former JNR closed
and replaced by bus service. Since line
transferred in 1984 to Konan Railway, deficits
increased to ¥84 million
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1 April | • | Ferry en route from Nigeria to
Gabon capsized in east Guinea Bay, leaving
at least 280 people missing
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4 April | • | Power failure on Sanyo
Shinkansen between Kokura and Ogori
stranded Hikari (Hakata to Tokyo) and
Kodama (to Shin-Osaka) carrying about
800 passengers in Shin-Kanmon Tunnel for
more than 2 hours
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| • | Small jet and light plane collided
in mid-air over Atlanta, Georgia, USA, killing
both pilots and three passengers on jet
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| • | Cruise boat on branch of R. Amazon
in northern Brazil caught fire leaving
up to 70 people missing
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5 April | • | Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, world's
longest suspension bridge at 3911 m, and
with centre span of 1990 m, opened, linking
Kobe and Awaji Island. Construction
by Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority took
10 years and ¥500 billion. Third bridge linking
Onomichi with Imabari to be completed
next spring
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6 April | • | Ferry capsized in Bihar, eastern
India, drowning at least 25 and leaving 125
missing
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16 April | • | Japan and China signed agreement
on cooperation in extensive areas of
railways. China plans to start construction
of 1310 km high-speed line with 39 stations
between Beijing and Shanghai. Maximum
speed to be 350 km/h, cutting present journey
from 17 hours to about 7 hours
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19 April | • | Light plane ran out of fuel and
crashed in Detroit, Michigan, USA, killing
pilot. Customs aircraft tailed plane for about
2400 km from Mexican border on suspicion
of drug smuggling, confiscating 408 kilograms
of marijuana from crashed plane
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20 April | • | B727 aircraft of Ecuador's Tame
Airlines crashed into mountains in eastern
part of Colombian capital of Santa Fe de
Bogota, killing all 43 passengers and 10
crew
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23 April | • | JR East announced recruitment
of female drivers and conductors in response
to revised Labor Standard Law
abolishing restrictions on women's overtime
and late-night work. First woman to drive
trains in 2001
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| • | Karisaka Tunnel (6.6 km) on
National Highway 140 opened to link
Saitama and Yamanashi prefectures.
Project took 40 years from inception and
total of ¥62 billion
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28 April | • | JR West introduced early warning
information system for earthquakes on
conventional lines (total length 890 km) focused
on Keihanshin urban network
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2 May | • | High-speed hydrofoil carrying 236
passengers and 8 crew en route from Hong
Kong Island to Macao hit underwater obstacle
1.5 km off Lan Tao Island injuring
115 people on board
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3 May | • | Grand Princess, world's largest
cruise ship, delivered to owner at Trieste
Port in Italy. Ship is 280-m long with displacement
of 109,000 tons, and accommodates
3000 passengers and 1100 crew
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4 May | • | Ceremony held at completed
Santolan MRT in Manila, Philippines, marking
start of test operations on that part of
Line 3
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12 May | • | Groundbreaking ceremony held
for JR East's new training centre in
Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture. Existing
training centres in Omiya and Sendai
to be integrated and moved to new centre
to be completed in March 2000
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13 May | • | Five Japanese domestic airlines
(Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Japan
Air System, Japan Trans Ocean Airlines
and Japan Air Commuter) announced complete
ban on smoking on all domestic flights
from this summer
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15 May | • | JR East unveiled results of tests
proving feasibility of ticket booking and
checking system using IC cards to begin in
2001
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20 May | • | Narita Airport (New Tokyo International
Airport) marked 20th anniversary,
recording aggregate total of 327 million
passengers over past 20 years
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28 May | • | Tokyo District Court ruled to rescind
remedy ruling issued by Central Labor
Relations Commission, concerning
former JNR union members not re-employed
by JR companies at privatization of
JNR in April 1987. Five JRs and JR Freight
had filed suit with District Court seeking to
annul remedy ruling
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