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Posted at 11:47 PM EDT (0347 GMT) May. 6th, 2007 --
A cracked axle on the Fujin Raijin II coaster at Expoland killed one woman and injured 19 others when the coaster derailed into a safety handrail on Saturday. The cause of the cracked axle could be connected to the postponing of a routine dissasembly of coaster trains that Expoland does typically in Janurary or Februrary. Expoland dissasembles all trains on their roller coasters for close inspection using ultrasonic and magnetic devices to check for wear and tear on trains. The annual check up was postponed till May 15th due to lack of space cause by the Golden Week holiday period. Expoland remains closed till this Thursday for closer inspection of the coaster. Police continue to search the offices of the operator looking for possible ride operator negligence. Proceed to The Japan Times for complete story. Click here for the original story on the derailment of the Fujin Raijin II.
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Nitro Luvr
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 330
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Wow, now that is a shame. Postponing a deeper inspection has possibly led to a great tragedy. There is no guarantee that inspection would of found the crack, but it is not too comforting knowing it was not done either. I know they want to rule out all possibilities, but how in the world would a ride operator be negligent on this? There wasn't a restraint problem, or from what I can guess through the stories a safety violation, so how would a ride operator be responsible for something that usually falls into the engineers department for a ride inspection? Maybe they do it differently in Japan or I am missing something here, but I just don't understand how a ride operator could possibly be at fault on this one. Anyone else know how they can possibly be negligent? Unless they are just referring to the inspectors themself and not the actual person dispatching the ride. Otherwise, me personally, I am confused. Bottom line, it is tragic in itself and my heart goes out to the families.
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| 5/7/2007 12:46 AM |
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Kyle L
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 6730
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So, we can't find space so we postpone a inspection 3 or 4 months? Pretty much a good example of not setting forth priorities.
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| 5/7/2007 12:48 AM |
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vedved82491
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 905
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At least this is a better image for the coaster. Coasters are portrayed [or attempted to be portrayed] as large killer machines, but when the maintainance and other things come into play, then it's a whole other story. Until this news about the postponed inspection, it was assumed that the coaster was deemed "unsafe" and "dangerous"...at least to those who like to think of it that way. Now with this evidence, theres an actual person to blame and point a finger at
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| 5/7/2007 1:34 AM |
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mikey53
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 243
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I still can't believe this! This has to be the scariest thing imaginable to see or worse for the riders to even be apart of. This totally puts maintenance in prospective as to how important it is to keep guest safe on these potentially dangerous thrill rides and not just Roller coasters. I just hope every other Amusement park in operation take notice to this tragic situation and keep maintenance to safe levels, because this is truly horrible.
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| 5/7/2007 2:42 AM |
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joedonuts1011
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 492
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Has Ed Markey had anything to say about this?
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| 5/7/2007 12:04 PM |
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Komatz70
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 451
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Nitro, I think they are refering to the operator of the park being neglegent, not the person running the ride...Bottom line is, management failed in thinking of safety and only cared about cash coming in.
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| 5/7/2007 3:04 PM |
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vedved82491
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 905
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Comes to show no matter how simple or complex inspection is, it decides whether you live or die.
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| 5/7/2007 10:43 PM |
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