Japan's Famously Punctual Bullet Train Halted by Reptile Intruder
One of Japan's busiest bullet train lines screeched to a halt Wednesday after a snake tangled itself in a power line, triggering an outage that froze the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka at peak travel time.
The trains stopped around 5:25 p.m. local time and didn't resume until 7:00 p.m., stranding thousands during Japan's busiest holiday stretch. Golden Week, which consists of four national holidays in seven days, and will see trains, airports and holiday hotspots hit their peak. And the World Expo, which is being hosted in Osaka this year, bringing millions of foreign and domestic visitors to the city it concludes in October.
The snake entanglement occurred between Gifu-Hashima and Maibara stations, which suspended Tokyo-bound trains between Shin-Osaka and Nagoya, and the Osaka-bound trains between Shin-Osaka and Tokyo, according to Kyodo News.
While authorities worked to get power restored, passengers formed long queues and gathered around flustered station staff. One frequent shinkansen traveler, who was returning to Tokyo, said it was the first time he had experienced this. "I use the Shinkansen several times a month, but this is the first time I have experienced suspensions due to a power outage," said Satoshi Tagawa, 46.
Other passengers like Kazutoshi Tachi, 26 were less forgiving and expressed their frustration, 'I'm fed up with the troubles. I want them to run on time."
Oddly enough, this isn't the first time a snake has brought the shinkansen service to a halt. Last April, CBS News reported authorities had to remove a 16 in (40.6cm) snake from the train between Nagoya and Tokyo, which caused a more minor delay of 17-minutes.
It seems Japan has a new, scaly threat to punctuality.
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