Around 50 railway officials lined the tracks and saluted as the day's first train slowly passed the site of the April 25 accident along a sharp curve in Amagasaki, at about 5:20 a.m.

Aboard were JR West President Takeshi Kakiuchi and more than 100 passengers, including bereaved family members and reporters.

"I wanted to ride the first train to be assured of safety," Kakiuchi said as he got off at Amagasaki Station. "When it passed the accident site, I felt myself shuddering and again apologized in my heart."

JR West had suspended services along the 17.8-kilometer section of the line between Takarazuka and Amagasaki stations following the accident while it reviewed its safety measures and installed advanced automatic train stop (ATS-P) devices along that stretch.

The suspension saw 21,201 trains cancelled, affecting 5.42 million passengers and incurring a 1.5 billion yen revenue loss, said JR West officials.

Meanwhile, a railway accident investigation panel of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is still investigating the cause of the accident in cooperation with Hyogo prefectural police.

The train is known to have entered the curve, where it jumped the tracks, at more than 100 kph, much faster than the 70-kph speed limit. JR West has lowered the limit to 60 kph.

On May 31, the railway presented a plan to the ministry outlining its safety measures. Included was some 60 billion yen in additional safety-related investments to be carried out up to fiscal 2008, bringing the railway's total safety outlays to about 290 billion yen.(IHT/Asahi: June 19,2005)