The Yomiuri Shimbun
Tsunami washed away at least 23 railway stations in the Tohoku region following the earthquake that hit the country's northeast on March 11, East Japan Railway Co. has announced.
JR East has been checking damage caused by the disaster to seven rail routes in Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori prefectures.
To date, the company has found about 680 places where the tracks were damaged on the seven lines.
Damage to station buildings was most serious on the Kesennuma Line. Facilities at nine stations, including those at Shizukawa and Utatsu, were washed away.
A number of other stations--four on the Yamada Line; six on the Ofunato Line; one on the Ishinomaki Line and three on the Joban Line--also were washed away, according to JR East.
Portions of the tracks were washed out by tsunami or buried under rubble at 18 points on the seven lines, which also include the Hachinohe and Senseki lines. The damaged sections total about 22 kilometers. There also were about 160 places where the tracks were bent by tsunami.
Among the seven lines, track damage was most serious on the Joban Line. Between Iwaki Station in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, and Watari Station in Wataricho, Miyagi Prefecture, about 400 damaged places were found. However, this section includes areas where JR East has not been able to conduct surveys as they lie within 30 kilometers of the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
On the Ofunato Line, the company has checked only about 10 percent of the tracks. In all, the company has finished inspections on only half the tracks on the seven lines.
(Apr. 2, 2011)
