Abused Japan rail staff get help

By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Tokyo

The train crash in Amagasaki was the worst in 40 years

Railway unions in Japan have opened special help lines for employees facing public harassment in the aftermath of last month's huge train crash.

A total of 107 people died in the disaster, the worst train crash in more than 40 years.

The unions have reported nearly 200 cases of harassment, ranging from verbal abuse to physical injury.

Public anger has been growing over reports that the driver of the train was speeding as he was running late.

Many people also believe the railway company acted inappropriately by allowing other employees to attend parties on the day of the crash.

Harassment

There is a commonly used phrase in Japan, which has been heard a lot recently.

"Kigyo Sekinin" means company responsibility, and it is something that all employees are expected to feel for the actions of their employer.

Perhaps it slipped the minds of 43 workers at JR West, the operator of the ill-fated train that crashed three weeks ago, when they continued with their plans for a bowling contest even as their colleagues were pulling bodies from the wreckage.

The company employs more than 32,000 people, so it is perhaps understandable that not everyone felt they had to be involved in the rescue effort.

But that is not how many members of the public viewed their behaviour when it was published in the press.

Last week a female member of staff was knocked to the ground on a station platform.

In another incident, a driver was attacked in his cab by two men, and death threats have been left on drivers' windows.

The number of physical and verbal assaults has risen to a point where the railway unions have set up telephone help lines to counsel frightened staff.

When asked about this, few people said they supported the attacks, but few seemed surprised by them either.

One young man told the BBC that the attackers were simply looking for someone to blame for the crash.

He said it was normal for the entire workforce to be tainted by company mistakes.

The managers of JR West have tried to make amends in the traditional Japanese way - bowing deeply, looking remorseful and visiting the homes of the victims, subjecting themselves to the fury of the bereaved families.

But their contrition has not been enough. Revelations about the intense pressure put on drivers to run their trains on time, a likely factor in the crash, have not helped.

Feelings are rarely expressed openly in Japan. Instead it is the railway staff who are paying the price for a disaster which has shattered public confidence in the system everyone in Japan depends on to get around.