Japanese Railways Slow to Eliminate Dangerous Crossings

Japanese Railways have been slow to eliminate dangerous train crossings that lack automatic gates and red warning signals. These "class 4" crossings have been responsible for numerous accidents involving pedestrians. There are approximately 2,200 such crossings across the country. Despite a recommendation five years ago to either close or upgrade these crossings, only about 60 are closed annually due to obtaining residents' consent and the high cost of updates.

Only 18 of 79 railway operators surveyed reported having concrete plans to close or update their class 4 crossings, with high costs and lack of resident consent being the main reasons. Toyama Chihou Tetsudou, a railway company in Toyama City, cited the need to prioritize safe train operations over capital investments for upgrading crossings.

Chichibu Railway, which has the highest number of class 4 crossings in private railway companies, announced a plan to eliminate them in 2024 due to accidents, some of which resulted in deaths. Despite this, negotiations with residents for closing 30 of the company's class 4 crossings in Chichibu have not yet been finalized. Class 4 crossings do not meet current safety standards set by the Railway Operation Law, which requires warning signals and gates.

The accident rate per 100 class 4 crossings in 2024 was 1.01, significantly higher than the 0.65 rate for class 1 crossings. The Administrative Evaluation Bureau has recommended the abolition or upgrading of class 4 crossings since November 2021, but progress has been slow. Following a tragic accident involving a child at a class 4 crossing in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, the prefectural and city governments have decided to eliminate all class 4 crossings in the prefecture by the end of fiscal 2029.