Railway Workers Struck and Killed: Limited Express Train Hits Four Men on Tochigi Track

Kanuma, Japan—Four railway maintenance workers died after being struck by an oncoming limited express train while clearing weeds along the tracks of the Tobu Nikko Line. The fatal incident occurred at Shin-Kanuma Station in Tochigi Prefecture as the Spacia X No. 2 service approached the platform area. The victims, all employees of a subcontracted maintenance firm ranging in age from their fifties to late sixties, were applying herbicide beneath the station structure. Emergency services received urgent distress calls shortly before eleven in the morning following the catastrophic collision.

Tobu Railway officials confirmed that two lookouts had been deployed nearby to monitor approaching rail traffic and signal workers to evacuate the active zone. Preliminary corporate investigations indicated that one lookout positioned eighty meters away raised a warning flag to the incoming driver after signaling that the crew had cleared the tracks. The train driver stated that he sounded the horn upon receiving the manual clearance signal before entering the station corridor. Investigators from the Tochigi Prefectural Police and the Japan Transport Safety Board rushed to the scene to examine the contradictory accounts and communication sequences.

"We deeply apologize to the bereaved families, and we will thoroughly implement measures to prevent a recurrence so that such a serious accident never happens again," stated Takao Suzuki, head of the railway business division, during an emergency press briefing in Tokyo. Transport ministry inspectors reviewed operational manuals that permitted daytime weed clearance work while commercial trains maintained regular line speeds. Representatives from the Japan Transport Safety Board dispatched specialized teams to interview surviving crew members and inspect onboard data recorders. Railway unions immediately called for a nationwide safety audit of all active track maintenance protocols reliant on manual visual lookouts.

None of the approximately fifty passengers aboard the six-car express train sustained physical injuries during the sudden emergency braking. Tobu Railway suspended operations across the affected regional section for several hours, causing widespread commuter delays before limited service resumed late in the evening. Local prosecutors opened an independent criminal inquiry into potential professional negligence resulting in multiple fatalities as forensic autopsies commenced on Friday morning.