JAPAN TODAY


 

TOKYO - Year-end train services were greatly disrupted in Tokyo and its vicinity Sunday due mainly to a fault detected on a shinkansen bullet train car at Tokyo Station, affecting nearly 228,700 passengers, the operator said.

A total of 376 bullet trains were suspended or delayed for up to one hour on the Tohoku, Joetsu, Hokuriku and other shinkansen lines, according to East Japan Railway Co.

JR East said it detected a malfunction in the emergency braking system of a bullet train on the Tohoku-Yamagata shinkansen line at 9:50 a.m. Sunday.

The fault forced the train to stay on Track 23 of the station for more than 90 minutes, affecting other shinkansen services and leading the already crowded platforms and concourses of the hub station to be packed with frustrated passengers.

"I had expected some congestion because it's the year-end but did not expect this at all," said Nao Nakajima, a 20-year-old student heading to Yurihonjo, her hometown in Akita Prefecture. "I wish I could go home soon and relax."

© KYODO