eki no tikaku de ziko ga hasseisita.

Because 近く here is being used as a noun-like word meaning the vicinity / the area nearby.

• 駅の近く = the area near the station
• The particle の connects the noun 駅 to 近く, just like saying the station’s vicinity or more naturally near the station.

By contrast, 近い is an adjective meaning close. So you could say:

• 駅に近い = close to the station

But in this sentence, the speaker wants a place expression: in the area near the station, so 駅の近く is the natural form.

で marks the location where an event happens.

In this sentence:

• 駅の近くで = near the station / in the area near the station

Since an accident is something that occurs at a location, で is the correct particle.

A useful comparison:

• で = where an action or event takes place
• に = destination, existence, or point in time, depending on context

So here, because the accident happened there, で is the natural choice.

が marks the thing that is the subject of 発生した.

So:

• 事故が発生した = an accident occurred

The accident is the thing that came into existence or happened, so it takes が.

This is especially common in neutral descriptions of events, reports, and news-style sentences.

Because this sentence is presenting a new piece of information in a neutral, report-like way.

• が often introduces or identifies what happened
• は would set something up as the topic

This sentence sounds like a straightforward report:

• Near the station, an accident occurred

If you used は, the nuance would shift. For example:

• 事故は駅の近くで発生した。

This would sound more like As for the accident, it occurred near the station, which suggests the accident is already known in the conversation.

So the original sentence is natural for simply reporting an event.

発生した is the past tense of 発生する, which means to occur, to happen, or to arise.

In this sentence, it means:

• 事故が発生した = an accident occurred

Compared with 起きた, 発生した is often:

• more formal
• more common in reports, announcements, and news
• often used for accidents, incidents, problems, disasters, outbreaks, and similar events

So 発生した sounds a little more official or report-like than 起きた.

Yes. 事故が起きた is also natural and means basically an accident happened.

The difference is mainly nuance:

• 事故が起きた = more everyday and conversational
• 事故が発生した = more formal, technical, or news-like

So both are correct, but 発生した matches the style of a formal report better.

The structure is:

• 駅の近くで = location
• 事故が = subject
• 発生した = verb

So the pattern is:

[place] で [thing/event] が [occurred]

Japanese often puts the verb at the end, so this is very normal word order.

Yes, in this sentence 近く is functioning as a noun-like word meaning nearby area or vicinity.

That is why it can appear in a pattern like:

• 駅の近く = the vicinity of the station
• 家の近く = near my house
• 学校の近く = near the school

So even though English uses near as a preposition, Japanese often expresses this idea with a noun-like structure.

It is read:

えき の ちかく で じこ が はっせいした。

Word by word:

• 駅 = えき
• 近く = ちかく
• 事故 = じこ
• 発生した = はっせいした

Japanese does not have articles like a or the.

So 事故 can mean:

• an accident
• the accident

Which one sounds best depends on context. In this sentence, with no previous context, English usually translates it as:

• An accident occurred near the station.

If the accident had already been mentioned, English might say:

• The accident occurred near the station.

Japanese leaves that distinction to context.

Yes, Japanese word order is flexible as long as the particles make the roles clear.

For example, this is also possible:

• 事故が駅の近くで発生した。

This still means the same thing.

The original:

• 駅の近くで事故が発生した。

puts the location first, which can sound natural in reporting or scene-setting. The version with 事故が first may put a little more focus on the accident itself. Both are grammatical.