The Shigaraki train disaster happened on the SKR Shigaraki Line when a train from Kyoto collided with a JR West train at the Onotani Signal Station, the only place where two trains should have been able to safely pass.
A special JR West rapid service train (501D) from Kyoto bound for Shigaraki had entered the Shigaraki Line at Kibukawa Station from the Kusatsu Line, transporting 716 passengers to the World Ceramic Festival that was being held in Shigaraki at the time. Going in the opposite direction, an SKR local train (534D) had left Shigaraki and headed for Kibukawa, despite a red signal. A Shigaraki Kogen Railway (SKR) train and a West Japan Railway Company (JR West) train collided head-on, killing 42 people and injuring 614 others. 
