Posts Tagged ‘shinkansen’

Pokemon bullet trains

JR East has launched special Pokemon bullet trains:

At Ueno Station, Pokemon character Pikachu made an appearance and saw off smiling children boarding the bullet trains.

“I was surprised to see Pikachu, but I really like the character so I’m happy,” said one 7-year-old boy who was traveling to Iwate Prefecture with his family on the first day of operation. “It’s a cool bullet train,” he added.

JR East is operating four decorated trains on the Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen lines and one on each of the Yamagata, Akita and Nagano Shinkansen lines.

Graffiti attack forces suspension of bullet train service

With all the extra anti-terror security precautions accompanying the G8 summit, you’d think that JR might have been able to prevent an intruder from entering their storage area at night and vandalizing trains:

According to railway officials, graffiti reading “Hack” in English was found on the side of a carriage of a Joetsu Shinkansen train parked at a train depot of East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) in Tokyo’s Kita-ku at around 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

A driver who was inspecting trains at the depot found the graffiti and reported the incident to Takinogawa Police Station.

JR East suspended a train service on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line as it tried to erase the graffiti on the train that was to be used on the line, affecting about 500 passengers.

Maglev Trains Between Tokyo & Osaka

Ready for ultra-fast maglev trains between Tokyo and Osaka? They’re on their way, but it will take almost 20 years:

A new shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka using magnetically levitated (Maglev) trains, which is expected to begin operations in 2025, will start from either Tokyo Station or Shinagawa Station, Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) officials said.

The company had been considering selecting the starting station of the line from among Tokyo, Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama stations.

Moreover, JR Tokai intends to limit the number of stations in the middle of the new Chuo Shinkansen Line to ensure long-distance passengers can travel in a short period of time. The current Tokaido Shinkansen Line between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka will mainly serve short-distance passengers and will make more stops.

More details on the new Linear Chuo Shinkansen can be found at this site.

JR Employees Afraid of Elderly Man’s “Bullet Train Rage”

A bizarre incident took place today on a bullet train:

TAKASAKI, Gunma — Services along the Nagano Shinkansen bullet train line were disrupted Tuesday after a passenger punched a conductor and hurled souvenirs and sandwiches at him because he didn’t have a ticket for the first-class seat he was in, police and railway officials said.

Police are currently questioning the “bullet train rage” passenger and may arrest him for assault.

The conductor on the Asama 520 bullet train where the incident allegedly occurred was not hurt badly in the clash.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) officials said the conductor asked the man sitting in a “Green Car” first class section to produce his ticket, but instead the passenger flew into a rage, hurling souvenirs and sandwiches at the rail worker and then punching him on the jaw. There were several people in the carriage at the time.

Mainichi’s English language article does not give many details about the fearsome criminal, but I just saw a TV news segment that revealed some interesting information. The angry man that forced JR to halt bullet train service for nearly 40 minutes was an elderly man in his 70′s or 80′s.

Dead Snake Halts Bullet Trains

A snake fried itself on the overhead wire of the Nagano Shinkansen line yesterday, causing a power outage that halted service for about an hour. Here’s a video report on the incident, which includes a close up of the dead snake: