Work To Move Quake - Hit Derailed Shinkansen Train Begins
East Japan Railway has begun work to move a Shinkansen bullet train that derailed in a powerful earthquake earlier this month.
The bullet train was running on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line in Miyagi Prefecture on March 16 when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off Japan's northeast coast. Of the 17 cars in the train, 16 came off the tracks. Four passengers were injured.
The operator has been working to get the derailed cars back on the tracks since March 20.
On Sunday, workers connected the first and second cars to a traction vehicle to move them to Shiroishizao Station about 2 kilometers away. The vehicle took around 20 minutes to tow the cars to the station.
JR East expects all the cars will be removed from the site by around next weekend. The cars will then be moved to a base in the prefecture.
Service remains suspended between Koriyama Station in Fukushima Prefecture and Ichinoseki Station in Iwate Prefecture. The company aims to fully resume service around April 20.