Speeding train tipped to one side

Police investigating Japan's deadliest railway crash in decades believe the commuter train's lead carriage was going so fast it had tipped to one side before derailing and smashing into an apartment building.

Authorities examining the tracks at the crash site found scrapes along the outside rails but none on the inside, the national newspaper Yomiuri said. That suggests the lead car had tipped so far as it hit a curve that half its wheels were airborne.

Survivors riding at the front of the train have told TV networks that the carriage had pitched so steeply that passengers were unable to remain standing without holding on to rings dangling above.