Sanyo Shinkansen halted for 3 hours today

[bikkuri bahn]

OSAKA -- Bullet train services were suspended in western Japan for nearly three hours on Nov. 12 due to trouble with the signaling system, the line's operator said.

 

The trouble affected about 24,300 passengers on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line, its operator West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) said.

 

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111112p2a00m0na002000c.html

 

nhk report w/ video:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20111112/t10013916331000.html

[The_Ghan]

I hope the Chinese are paying attention !!!

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[miyakoji]

Some tech guy is in deep #$%^ right now.  At least there wasn't an accident.  In the Mainichi article it says that this was the longest suspension of service since the opening of the Kyushu extension.  Are they trying to imply there's some relationship?  Bikkuri have you seen anything in domestic Japanese media?

[bikkuri bahn]

I think there is no relationship- the extension was opened just this past March, so it's easy for a delay of a considerable length to become "the record".  Nothing in the media to indicate that this incident goes beyond an equipment malfunction at Shin-Iwakuni station.

[scott]

Heh--JR is down for documented safety reasons for three hours and it makes the news. On Saturday, my Amtrak train was five hours late for no known reason, and it didn't get more than a "it's Amtrak--what else is new?" for a reaction.

[bikkuri bahn]

 

Heh--JR is down for documented safety reasons for three hours and it makes the news. On Saturday, my Amtrak train was five hours late for no known reason, and it didn't get more than a "it's Amtrak--what else is new?" for a reaction.

 

People in Japan get ticked off if their trains are even a few minutes late- if it's an hour or more, poor station staff have to endure haranguing from impatient customers.  If ltd. expresses are more than three hours late, passengers are entitled to have their ltd. express surcharges refunded.

 

*When I was tardy due to a late arriving train while traveling in a foreign country (in this case Korea), I was expecting to get the fifth degree from my significant other waiting at the train station, but instead she said: "it's way OK, this is not Japan, I expect the trains to be late!".