Definitely a tragedy...and there really is no doubt in my mind that the conductor is at fault. What needs to be addressed, is was he under pressure from Supervisor's to get the train back on schedule? (it appears as though the train was running behind schedule!) IF this is the case, then more people are to blame for this accident as well! One thing to remember...if one train is late, it will cause other trains on the same track to be late as well, thus there was probably much pressure from his supervisors to get the train back on time. I have been in the control room for the shinkansen and let me tell you that it is a very stressfull environment for these guys to work in. (the controllers that is)