Tohoku Shinkansen to resume coupled train operations on Friday
East Japan Railway, or JR East, said Tuesday that it will resume from Friday operating coupled trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen line, which have been suspended since last week.
JR East suspended the operations in response to an incident in which a coupler connecting the Hayabusa No. 21 and Komachi No. 21 bullet trains on the line, which runs between eastern and northeastern Japan,
The incident occurred just after the double train left Ueno Station in Tokyo to head for Omiya Station in Saitama Prefecture.
JR East said that the decoupling is believed to have happened because of an electrical abnormality in the Komachi train, although the exact cause has yet to be identified. The operations of coupled trains will be resumed after stopgap measures are taken.
Shinkansen trains, including Hayabusa and Komachi, are connected and disconnected at Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture and at Fukushima Station in Fukushima Prefecture.
Due to additional work that became necessary following the incident, departures from the two stations are expected to be delayed by about five minutes.
The operations of coupled trains will resume from Friday except for some trains, and the services will operate on a normal timetable from Saturday.
Meanwhile, JR East will conduct its upcoming timetable revision Saturday as planned.
The company, which had a similar decoupling incident on the Tohoku Shinkansen line last September, is under investigation by the government's Transport Safety Board.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NHK
29-05-2025
- NHK
China launches probe to collect asteroid samples
China has launched a mission aiming to retrieve samples from an asteroid orbiting the Sun. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that a rocket carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 1:31 a.m. local time on Thursday. Tianwen-2 aims to collect rocks and other samples from the Kamo'oalewa asteroid and deliver them back to Earth in a capsule by late 2027. The report said the immense distance makes the mission difficult. The distance between the asteroid and Earth at their closest is about 40 times that between Earth and the Moon. Japan's Hayabusa mission was the first to successfully retrieve samples from an asteroid. Since then Hayabusa2 and US space agency NASA's OSIRIS-REx have also succeeded in retrieving asteroid samples.
23-05-2025
Tokyo's Yamanote Line Suspended Due to Wire Trouble
News from Japan May 23, 2025 13:02 (JST) Tokyo, May 23 (Jiji Press)--All services on East Japan Railway Co.'s busy Yamanote Line in Tokyo were suspended for hours early Friday morning due to wire trouble, found Thursday night. On the loop line, the company, better known as JR East, stopped the inner and outer circle services entirely from Friday's first train. The inner loop service, in which trains run counterclockwise, was resumed around 7 a.m., and the other service, which operates clockwise, around 8:25 p.m. But the number of trains was reduced, affecting some 197,000 passengers. According to JR East, a Yamanote Line train conductor Thursday night reported that sparks were seen flying from a pantograph. In response, JR East conducted an inspection and found abnormalities in 21 of the 50 Yamanote Line trains. The company stopped the outer circle service from around 9:50 p.m. until the last train of the day. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
The Mainichi
25-04-2025
- The Mainichi
Editorial: 20 yrs after west Japan derailment disaster, safety efforts remain paramount
April 25 marks 20 years since a morning rush hour train derailed on the JR Fukuchiyama Line in western Japan, killing 106 passengers and the driver and injuring 562 others. The accident was attributed to the driver's delay in applying the brakes, causing the train to hurtle around a steep curve far over the speed limit. Forming the backdrop to the deadly derailment was a reeducation program punishing train crew who made errors on duty. Dubbed "day-shift education," employees subject to the program were tasked with writing letters of remorse and continuing other work while being rebuked by superiors. The driver of the derailed train had been through this program three times in the past. As his train had overrun a station shortly before the derailment in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, it is likely he was worried about facing the program again and lacked concentration. In the wake of the disaster, West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) scrapped the controversial program. The railway operator also stopped imposing disciplinary measures on crew members for their errors, including when those errors led to accidents. We urge the railway company to revisit the lessons learned from the 2005 accident while striving to keep the memory of the disaster alive. To prevent serious accidents, it is essential to maintain an environment where mistakes are not covered up. Sharing and analyzing on-site information will help reduce risks. As a result of prioritizing greater speed, investment in safety had been delayed and there was no automatic train stop system (ATS) at the derailment site. Measures need to be adopted on the assumption that anyone can make mistakes. The bereaved families of the victims of the derailment played a significant role in propelling JR West's endeavors to prevent a recurrence. They took part in the review of the accident and were given an opportunity to discuss countermeasures. These unprecedented attempts became a driving force helping officials to dig deep into the railway operator's organizational problems. Efforts to pass down the memory of the disaster are also important. More than 70% of JR West members employed today joined the firm after the accident. The company plans to establish a facility to preserve the derailed train at the end of the year. It is hoped that the facility will be utilized to raise safety awareness among employees. However, other trouble that could have led to major accidents has occurred in recent years. In 2017, a crack emerged in the undercarriage of a Nozomi superexpress bullet train on the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen line, but despite the crew having noticed abnormalities, the train continued to operate. In East Japan Railway Co. (JR East)'s service area, meanwhile, two cars of the Hayabusa-Komachi superexpress decoupled in 2024 and then again in 2025 while running on the Tohoku Shinkansen line. For public transport operators that are responsible for passengers' lives, ensuring safety is paramount. They should constantly inspect the status of their operations and promote both physical and procedural countermeasures. Such efforts have no end point.
