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2 September | • | Swiss Air MD11 en route
to Geneva from New York crashed into
Atlantic off coast of Nova Scotia, Canada,
killing all 229 passengers and crew on board
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| • | Last four wagons of freight
train belonging to The Burlington Northern
Santa Fe Railway derailed en route to Los
Angeles causing explosion and fire but no
injuries
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3 September | • | Maintenance wagon collided
with ballast-spreading train on outbound
track of Aioi–Okayama section of
Sanyo Shinkansen delaying 18 shinkansen
trains including Nozomi by up to 50 minutes
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8 September | • | Four vehicles, including two
passenger buses carrying 98 Catholic pilgrims,
collided with overturned fuel truck on
arterial road in Araras, southeast Brazil,
bursting into flames and killing 53 people
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11 September | • | Boeing 747-400 aircraft
of Taiwan's China Airlines hit severe turbulence
over Pacific west of Hawaii injuring
11 passengers
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| • | Nangoku Kotsu bus company
operating in Kagoshima City, south
Japan, started operating women-only last
bus on every Friday departing Nishi
Kagoshima Station at 22:17 to allow female
passengers to take late bus home without
risk of annoyance by drunk male passengers
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12 September | • | Boeing B767 aircraft of
Vietnam Air overran Tan Son Nhut International
Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, southern
Vietnam
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19 September | • | Inaugural flight of
Skymark Airlines Boeing 767-300 between
Haneda and Fukuoka as first new airline to
enter Japan's newly deregulated domestic
market in 35 years. Fare of ¥13,700 (50%
lower than recommended fare) achieved by
hiring foreign pilots and offering simpler inflight
services
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23 September | • | JR East and Shiki Theatrical
Company inaugurated performing arts
complex in Hamamatsu-cho, Tokyo, as first
permanent theatre owned by JR East
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25 September | • | JR East reopened
Kuroiso-Shirakawa section of Tohoku Line
closed for 29 days due to torrential rains in
area at end of August that caused extensive
damage at 47 locations along line
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| • | Prototype shinkansen
cars built by JR East and JR West to be
kept permanently at JR Railway Technical
Research Institute. Front cars of STAR21
developed by JR East and of WIN350 developed
by JR West to be maintained at
Wind Tunnel Technical Center in Maibara,
Shiga Prefecture
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26 September | • | Japan's oldest Class 6
electric locomotive built in 1920 and still operational,
hauled freight train on Mikuni
Ashiwara Line of Keifuku Electric Railway,
Fukui Prefecture, to celebrate 70th anniversary
of line
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27 September | • | DC10 Aircraft of Japan
Airlines en route from Sendai to Hawaii hit
turbulence over Pacific injuring 11 passengers
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29 September | • | Lion Airlines Antonov carrying
54 crew and passengers destined for
Colombo lost immediately after take-off from
Jaffna Airport, northern Sri Lanka
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6 October | • | JR East celebrated 1 billion
passengers carried on three shinkansen
over 16 years of operation. Tohoku
Shinkansen carried approximately 656 million
passengers, Joetsu Shinkansen 335
million, and Nagano Shinkansen 9 million
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| • | JR East announced plans to
automate ticket gates at all stations on
Tohoku, Joetsu and Nagano shinkansen as
well as at Akita and Yamagata stations by
May 1999
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8 October | • | Pleasure boat sank on Lake
Banyoles near Barcelona, northeast Spain,
drowning 20 and injuring 44
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9 October | • | JR East began experiments
using German-made red and white crossing
barriers in comparison to domestic
yellow and black barriers at three locations,
including Uchibo Line in Chiba Prefecture
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10 October | • | The Akita Inland Traverse
Railway serving Akita Prefecture, Japan,
marked 10th anniversary by issuing ¥10
tickets compared to normal fare of ¥1620.
Line inaugurated in April 1989 by taking over
former JNR line
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12 October | • | JR East held groundbreaking
ceremony for Heart Itsuhashi care facility for
elderly to be constructed adjacent to JR
Sendai Hospital. Construction to be completed
in late June 2000 at total cost of ¥12
billion
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15 October | • | JR East Planning and
Kokuyo (office equipment manufacturer)
opened offices equipped with computers at
Yaesu Exit of Tokyo Station
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| • | Plenary session of Japan's
Upper House approved disbandment on 22
October of JNR Settlement Corporation
established 10 years ago to dispose of
former JNR debts. Remaining work to be
taken over by Japan Railway Construction
Public Corporation, and government to take
over majority of long-term debt (¥27.7
trillion) and reduce interest burden by
advanced redemption of interest-bearing
debt
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| • | Fuji Kyuko Co., operating
train services around base of Mt. Fuji, Japan,
began test run of two trains allowing
carriage of bicycles by passengers to ease
road traffic congestion around scenic areas
and save energy
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| • | 7.2-km Line 14 (also called
Météor) of Paris Metro opened from
Madeleine to Bibliothèk Nationale. Six-car
unmanned EMUs with rubber-tyred wheels
run at maximum speed of 80 km/h
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18 October | • | Passenger train derailed in
suburbs of Alexandria, Egypt, colliding with
commercial area near station killing 46 train
passengers and injuring 101
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23 October | • | JR East completed test run
of new Series 500 commuter train for local
Chuo and Sobu lines. Width increased by
15 cm to alleviate rush-hour crowding. Ten
trainsets (100 units) to start operation in late
December
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28 October | • | Air China Boeing B737 aircraft
with 104 passengers and crew flying
from Beijing to Kunming hijacked by pilot
and landed at Chusei International Airport,
Taipei
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31 October | • | Fairy Queen steam locomotive
manufactured in England in 1855
returned to active service carrying tourists
twice monthly between New Delhi and Alwar,
India. Locomotive preserved since 1971 in
National Rail Museum
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18 November | • | Keihin Electric Express
Railway Co., Ltd. opened new Haneda Station
linking terminal building at Tokyo's
Haneda Airport to central Tokyo. Construction
in progress since 1993 at total cost of
¥50 billion
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24 November | • | Jiro Kawasaki, Japan's
Minister of Transport, submitted 1998 Transport White Paper to Cabinet. Report sheds
light on promoting transition from private
cars to railways, and barrier-free public
transport concept for elderly and disabled
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25 November | • | JR Kyushu announced
abandonment of plan to construct new
Fukuoka head office building scheduled for
completion in spring 2001. Instead, will
rebuild head office in front of Hakata Station
at budget of ¥5 billion
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26 November | • | Saitama Prefectural
Police conducted drill at JR East Omiya
Works for handling train derailment. First
time train (to be scrapped) actually overturned
in police-sponsored drill
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27 November | • | Tama Monorail (5.5 km)
linking Kamikitadai (Higashi-Yamato City)
and Tachikawakita (Tachikawa City) opened.
Monorail connects with JR Chuo Line at
Tachikawakita and with Seibu Haijima Line
at Tamagawa Josui. Southern half of monorail,
spanning 10.61 km between
Tachikawakita and Tama Centre scheduled
to open in fiscal 1999
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| • | Passenger shot bus driver
in Seattle, Washington, USA. Out-ofcontrol
bus crashed through barrier onto
road 15 meters below, killing two passengers
and driver. Perpetrator committed suicide
by shooting himself
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30 November | • | Test run of free-gauge train
held by Railway Technical Research Institute
at Kokubunji, Tokyo. Free-gauge train
able to run on both shinkansen and narrowgauge
lines by automatically changing wheel
gauge on gauge-changing section between
standard and narrow-gauge sections. Further
100 km/h tests scheduled between
Yonago and Yasuki on Sanin Line, and highspeed
tests at 250 km/h planned on Pueblo
test track in USA from April 1999
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