Rail service at Shinagawa station was back to normal Aug. 7, 2023, two days after an accident on the Tokaido Line of the East Japan Railway Co. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
TOKYO – A train scheduled to accommodate a fireworks display near Tokyo crashed over the weekend, trapping hundreds of passengers without air conditioning for hours, according to the East Japan Railway Co.
The Tokaido Line train traveling between Ofuna and Fujisawa stations in Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, hit a concrete power pole at 9:24 p.m. Saturday, according to a release on the JR East website Sunday.
Three passengers and the driver of the train sustained minor injuries, such as cuts, and nine people felt sick, some suffering heatstroke, JR East CEO Hitoshi Suzuki said during a televised news conference on Sunday.
Another 150,000 riders were affected by delays caused by the crash on a busy night for travel, according to the company. The trapped passengers eventually walked to nearby stations, Suzuki said.
Another train passed the site about 10 minutes before the accident, but the driver saw no problem; a regular inspection on Wednesday found no issues.
On Saturday night, “the driver of the train suddenly saw an electrification pole in front and then (the train) crashed,” Suzuki said.
“We are investigating into why that electrification pole was there,” he said.
The accident damaged the train, breaking the front glass window on the first car and causing the ceiling to fall, according to the release.
The accident caused a power outage, trapping passengers in the train cars without air conditioning for hours, according to Suzuki. The accident also suspended operations on other lines until 4:17 a.m. Sunday. The Tokaido line resumed service at 8 a.m. Sunday, the release stated.
The train that crashed was temporarily operating Saturday night to serve additional passengers anticipated from a nearby fireworks festival and other events, Suzuki said during the news conference. The end of COVID-19 restrictions in Japan earlier this year means more people are riding the trains, he said.
The company will inspect similar power poles in its service area and investigate the cause of the accident, Suzuki said.
