Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 27 (pp.56–57)

Topics
November 2000 – January 2001


4 November •Sightseeing bus carrying 32 tourists, two guides and Greek driver hijacked by armed man in southern Greece but all hostages later released unharmed
9 November •Last Tokyo Station Concert held after 245 previous performances, starting in 1987
11 November •Cabled-hauled funicular train caught fire inside tunnel at Mt. Kitzsteinhorn, Austria, killing 155 passengers
•Tupolev aircraft of Dagestan Airline hijacked and landed at military base in southern Israel with passengers unharmed
15 November •Antonov aircraft crashed in Luanda, Angola, killing all 39 passengers and crew
24 November •Truck on level crossing of Keikyu Kurihama Line in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture hit by 8-car express train, injuring one passenger and stopping 37 trains affecting 16,000 people
28 November •Ministry of Transport published Transportation White Paper for 2000, analyzing urban transport, IT, environmental measures, declining birthrate, aging population, etc.
29 November •International Conference on High-Speed Railway, 2000 held by JR Central and JR West in Nagoya with representatives from 14 countries
2 December •Express train collided with derailed freight train near Patiala, India, killing at least 46 people
•JR East started massage service on six daily Yamabiko services of Tohoku Shinkansen at fee of ¥1,600 for 15 minutes.
6 December •Four cars of freight train derailed near Tsugaru-imabetsu Station on JR Tsugaru Strait Line, stopping 33 freight and express trains
12 December •Last phase of 40.7-km Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) Oedo Line opened to form 6-shaped loop line
•Agreement signed between Taiwan Rapid Transit Railway and Japanese business group including Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., to build 345-km shinkansen between Taipei and Guaxiong at total cost of ¥1.5 trillion
17 December •Two local trains collided on Echizen Line of Keifuku Electric Railroad in Fukui Prefecture killing one driver and injuring 25 passengers
18 December •Exploratory Committee on Shinkansen Maintenance decided to approve full standard shinkansen upgrades for Kagoshima Line in Kyushu and between Joetsu and Toyama on Hokuriku Shinkansen with completion of former in 2012
19 December •Airbus Industry started production of A380 800-passenger plane surpassing capacity of Boeing B747 with 50 advance orders from six companies
4 January •National Police Agency announced 9066 traffic deaths for 2000, increase of 60 deaths over 1999
10 January •AMR parent company of American Airlines announced acquisition of TWA for total of US$500 million
12 January •JR East announced experimental introduction of Suica (Super Urban Intelligent Card) smart card from April on Saikyo Line
14 January •Russian Mi8 helicopter chartered by United Nations Development Programme crashed in Ubsa Province about 1000 km west of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, killing 9 people
•Yamagata Tsubasa shinkansen hit light truck driving in heavy snow on shinkansen track, killing truck driver
18 January •Kinki Nippon Tourist and Nippon Travel Agency (Japan's second and third largest travel agencies) announced intent to merge by January 2003. Two companies and largest shareholders (Kinki Nippon Railway and JR West) to establish joint preparatory company in March this year with JR West to transfer travel division to Nippon Travel Agency this autumn
25 January •DC3 aircraft of Lukat Airlines crashed in southern Venezuela killing all 24 on board
26 January •Drunken passenger and two rescuers killed by train on tracks of JR Yamanote Line at Shin Okubo Station. JR East announced intent to strengthen platform safety measures and to build memorial to heroic attempted rescuers
29 January •French and Italian governments signed basic agreement to build 52-km railway tunnel under Alps linking Torino in Italy and Lyon in France at total cost of about US$10 billion
31 January •Two JAL plans narrowly missed each other by 10 meters over Shizuoka Prefecture, injuring 42 passengers and crew during emergency avoidance procedure

Photos: The opening of TMG Oedo Line with Minister of Transport Ms Ogi (3rd from left) and Governor Ishihara of Tokyo (4th from left) cutting the tape Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station.
(TMG)


Milestones

Chikage Ogi
Appointed Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on 6 January. After career in entertainment, first elected to House of Councillors in July 1977

Shinya Izumi
Appointed State Secretary of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on 6 January. Joined Ministry of Transport after graduating from Faculty of Engineering of Kyushu University. Served as Chairman of Committee of Transport in House of Councillors, and Chairman of National Land and Transport Division

Kunihisa Ono
Appointed Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Construction after graduating from Faculty of Law of University of Tokyo. Served as General Councillor, Director General of Secretariat and Administrative Vice Minister

Toshiki Aoyama
Appointed Vice Minister for Engineering Affairs in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Construction after graduating from Graduate School of Kyoto University. Served as Director General of Construction Bureau in Tohoku Region, Director General of River Bureau, and Vice Minister of Construction for Engineering Affairs

Tadao Ogawa
Appointed Vice Minister for Land and Infrastructure in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Construction after graduating from Faculty of Law of University of Tokyo. Served as Director General of Housing Bureau, General Councillor, and Director General of Secretariat

Masato Obata
Appointed Vice Minister for Transport and Hokkaido Development in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Transport after graduating from Faculty of Law of University of Tokyo. Served as Deputy Director General of Transport Policy Bureau, Director General of Railway Bureau, and Director General of Secretariat

Jiro Hanyu
Appointed Vice Minister for International Affairs in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Transport after graduating from Faculty of Economics of University of Tokyo. Served as Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Bureau, Director General of Transport Policy Bureau, and Vice Minister for International Affairs

Hisakazu Oishi
Appointed Director General of Road Bureau in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Construction after graduating from Graduate School of Kyoto University. Served as Director of Road Environment Division, Councillor for Technics, and Director General of Road Bureau

Masafumi Yasutomi
Appointed Director General of Railway Bureau in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Transport after graduating from Faculty of Law of University of Tokyo. Served as Director General of Administration Department of Civil Aviation Bureau, Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Bureau and Director General of Railway Bureau

Tomoyuki Takahashi
Appointed Director General of Road Transport Bureau in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Joined Ministry of Transport after graduating from Faculty of Economics of University of Tokyo. Served as Councillor for Civil Aviation Bureau, Councillor for General Affairs and Director General of Maritime Transport Bureau

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