Japan Transportation

A packed express passenger train collided head on with a local train in western Japan, killing at least 24 people and leaving more than 375 injured, police and news reports said. An express train of the Japan Railway Co. rammed into a local train near Minaguchi, 200 miles southwest of Tokyo.

A record 212 people were killed in traffic accidents during Japan's "Golden Week" holidays, police said Friday. National Police Agency officials said the death toll, which covered April 29 to May 5 and included four national holidays and a weekend, was 25 higher than last year.

The toll in a train collision in western Japan grew to 42 dead and 402 injured Tuesday. It was the nation's deadliest railway accident in 28 years. The last body inside the crushed train cars was removed early today after a 14-hour rescue effort following the 10:35 a.m. head-on collision of a tourist train and a local train near the town of Shigaraki, 230 miles west of Tokyo, police said.

Officials Wednesday formally marked the completion of the final span of the world's longest double-decker bridge, which links Japan's main island of Honshu and its smallest island of Shikoku. The 5.8-mile suspension bridge will be opened to traffic next spring after the paved roadway and railroad tracks across the span are completed. Wednesday's ceremonies marked completion of a 5,653-foot segment of the bridge, the longest and final section.

A sleeper train broke down near the bottom of the Seikan Tunnel early Tuesday, stranding passengers only two days after the world's longest undersea tunnel was opened to rail traffic. The 33.4-mile tunnel, which links Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido with the main island of Honshu, was inaugurated Sunday morning amid great hoopla. Transportation Minister Shintaro Ishihara hailed the tunnel as "a technological feat without parallel in the world . . . a myth come true."

An administrative law judge recommended Thursday that five U.S. airlines be awarded direct routes to Japan from six U.S. cities. The judge picked United, Delta, American, Continental and America West airlines to fly the new routes in what is already a $6-billion annual aviation market for the two countries. Cities getting new flights would be Chicago; Los Angeles; San Jose; Portland, Ore.; Seattle, and Honolulu.

The Transportation Department on Thursday awarded Continental Airlines the highly contested air route between Seattle and Japan, complying with a court decision directing that the route be given to the airline. The awarding of the route, which currently is being flown by United Airlines, has been highly controversial. Continental, United and American Airlines all were seeking it on a permanent basis.

The world's longest tunnel, connecting Japan's northern island Hokkaido with the country's main island Honshu, is the 33.66-mile-long Seikan Tunnel, notes an international travel industry journal. The new tunnel, opened in 1987, cuts travel time between Aomori and Hakodate--the gateway cities of the two islands--to 2 hours. Previously, the trip by ferry took 4 hours, according to The Travel Agent magazine.