Furthermore, influenced by the derailment accident of the Uetsu Line that happened in April 2005, railway track business operators are instructed to implement measures against gales formulated after performing the urgent general inspection of the anemometer and reviewing the inspection results. Additionally, the further enhancement of the gale observance system on railways is being worked out through increasing the number of new anemometers. Moreover, accident prevention is being worked out by implementing safety inspections etc., on railway track business operators for checking whether the measures for ensuring transportation safety are appropriate.

## (2) Strengthening preventive measures against railroad crossing accidents

Based on the “Railroad Crossing Enhancement Promotion Act” and the “8 $ ^{th} $ Transportation Safety Basic Plan”, various measures are being pushed forward and best efforts are being put into the prevention of railroad crossing accidents. The measures include the development of multi-dimensional road-crossing facilities such as constructing a multi-dimensional intersection, improving the structure of and building overhead walkways, and the development of railroad crossing gates and highly standardized safety equipment (such as obstacle detecting devices).

### 3. Safety measures for marine transportation

Reviewing the figures of the past 5 years, the number of fatalities/missing persons caused by sea disasters is on a decreasing trend. However, the number of ships that have met with sea disasters (number of sea disaster ships) is almost moving sideways, so it is necessary to further push forward safety measures.

## (1) Improving ship safety and ensuring the safety of ship navigation

## 1 ) Improving ship safety

Regarding ship safety, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is in charge of prescribing international standards. Currently, in order to cope with the revision of the SOLAS convention $ ^{1} $ that is scheduled from 2010 to 2011, the revision of the country's ordinance is being carried out. Moreover, Port State Control (PSC) $ ^{2} $ inspections are being implemented for eliminating substandard ships $ ^{3} $ .

## 2 ) Ensuring the safety of ship navigation

In order to cope with the change in marine transportation conditions (e.g. increase in ship speed) and ensuring the safety of ship navigation, new information technology was utilized. The enhancement and renewal of navigation signs were implemented in 610 spots for improving navigation regulations and systems for information provision.

In July 2009, the Act on the Partial Revision of the Act on Port Regulations and the Maritime Traffic Safety Act were promulgated. The enhancement of navigation assistance for protecting ships from danger and the establishment of new navigation rules according to the features of each sea area were taken. Aiming to implement this on 1 $ ^{st} $ July 2010, the 19 $ ^{th} $ Traffic Policy Council (Maritime Division) Conference was held in November 2009. In order to implement a new system based on the same Act, a report of the standard is being collected, such as, the sea area of the new navigation setup, and the size of ships instructed to wait outside the routes for preventing ships from danger, and it is being prepared for carrying out appropriate use.

Furthermore, Japan Coast Guard aims at the enhancement of nautical publications. Japan Coast Guard also issues nautical charts in English only as one of the sea disaster prevention measures for foreign crews. Moreover, in order to prevent human error that is the cause of 50% of collisions, the examination and inspection of “Sailing Coordination Assisting Systems (SCAS) $ ^{4} $ ” are also being carried out. In addition, the effectiveness evaluation of simple electronic navigation machines (e.g., Class-B AIS) has been initiated. Furthermore, the “Sea Disaster Accident Analysis Center” in the National Maritime Research Institute is working on the sophisticated professional analysis of accident causes, and is carrying out quick information analysis and information delivery during serious sea disasters.

Moreover, 84% of sea collisions are caused by “insufficient attention”. Therefore, in order to improve the awareness of the watch, a practical review was held from September 2008 for pushing forward the appropriate use of automatic navigation devices, and the guidelines were formulated and published in July 2009.

Regarding the pilotage system, in order to cope with the recent change of social situation related to the pilotage system, the revision of the Pilotage Act and related ordinances were carried out, and Tokyo Bay, Isesanka Bay and Osaka Bay were unified. Through taking these measures, the reduction of ship costs and the congestion alleviation by connection resolution are anticipated. It is expected that there will be further safety assurance of ship transport and an increase in transportation efficiency.

Furthermore, the straits of Malacca and Singapore are an extremely important marine transportation course for our country as above 80% of imported petroleum is transported on this route. The government of our country is joining the support-requesting project of coastal countries on the same strait according to the “Cooperative Mechanism”. At the same time, the manufacturing