34,000 commuters inconvenienced after man run over by train on JR Chuo Line
Some headlines are just so strange, you can’t possibly make it up. Take the one here for instance. The Mainichi Daily is reporting that 34,000 were inconvenienced because a guy was nearly killed! (Geeze louise, those pour commuters!)
Now don’t get me wrong because I love my ON TIME trains in Japan. But if a guy is nearly killed well then hell, shouldn’t we show a bit more pity for him?
A man was seriously injured after being run over by a train in Tokyo early Friday morning, delaying numerous trains by up to 50 minutes and inconveniencing about 34,000 commuters, police and the railway operator said.
At about 5:30 a.m. on Friday, a local train bound for Tokyo from Toyoda ran over a man lying on the tracks at Higashi-Nakano Station on the JR Chuo Line in Nakano-ku, local police said. He suffered serious injuries to both of his legs.
Following the accident, 20 trains were cancelled and many others were delayed by up to 51 minutes during morning rush hours, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) said.
Tokyo Keizai University, situated near Kokubunji Station, delayed the start of its entrance examination for six of its departments by one hour. Hosei University also delayed the beginning of its entrance examinations at its Ichigaya, Koganei and Tama campuses by 30 minutes.
Police are trying to identify the injured man, who appears to be in his 20s to 30s. (Mainichi)
I live on the Chuo line. I swear there must be a jumper on that line every week.
February 10th, 2007 at 11:41 pmWould it cost them ever so much to, oooh, perhaps put a retaining barrier at the edge of the platform of these stations?
February 11th, 2007 at 12:07 amUsing the Japanese style of logic, the powers that be would say that the folks willing to jump (which on Chuo line I agree they do WAY too much) would just scale the bars and jump anyways…
Of course the effort to do something to prevent it seems lost on city hall…
February 11th, 2007 at 12:12 amWell they wouldn’t if the platform were entirely enclosed with no access to the tracks. London Underground has such a system at all new stations. Automatic doors at the platform that only open in tandem with train doors.
February 11th, 2007 at 12:20 amWell they wouldn’t if the platform were entirely enclosed with no access to the tracks. London Underground has such a system at all new stations. Automatic doors at the platform that only open in tandem with train doors.
Yeah. I believe Singapore and Hong Kong has the same as well.
The only thing I’ve seen like this in Tokyo was on the Namboku line.
February 11th, 2007 at 2:39 am“Well they wouldn’t if the platform were entirely enclosed with no access to the tracks.”
Then they would just jump off buildings, possibly landing on YOU. If someone wants to kill themselves, they’ll find a way to do it.
February 11th, 2007 at 3:10 amTrain station door barriers - here’s a link to show what Ray means:
http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune/Jubilee.htm
(from the Julibee line extension)
But then what fun is there is trying to guesstimate where the doors while jockeying for position during rush hour?
Damned suicide jumpers - they take the fun out of everything… .
February 11th, 2007 at 7:17 amPat,
My Tokyo base of operations is also on the Chuo Line and I agree with you, except that I sometimes feel as if saying only once a week is a bit conservative.
February 11th, 2007 at 10:40 amIt’s my understanding that most of the suicides take place not at train stations but at a crossings. I know a few years ago they installed huge mirrors at some of the more -ahem- popular suicide spots under the theory that people would see themselves and think twice. Anecdotal data seems to support it. So why don’t they install more?
But really — why are the trains allowed to cross over so many busy streets in super densely populated areas? They should be elevated. It may take 50 years, sure–so why not start now??!! And bury all those ugly electrical and telephone lines while you’re at!
And the guy lying down on the tracks at Higashi-Nakano? Maybe he had a health problem and lost consciousness but I suspect another suicide attempt. The families of dead jumpers are charged x million yen (JR won’t say exactly how much)–will he be charged too?
Sunday morning rant finished.
February 11th, 2007 at 10:53 amAnd P.S. — those 34,000 late people? They were all on MY TRAIN. Talk about crowded.
February 11th, 2007 at 10:54 amA little off subject, but does anybody have any links to sites that talk about why suicide is so ‘popular’ in Japan?
February 11th, 2007 at 6:57 pm