It’s modern, comfortable, incredibly fast – and usually extremely punctual: the Shinkansen, Japan’s high-speed train, connects the regions and cities of the Asian country at a speed of up to 270 km / h.
Delays are not welcomed by passengers or the train company Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). The pressure on the staff to adhere to the specified departure and arrival times is correspondingly great.
This was also the case last Sunday morning on the journey between the two cities of Atami and Mishima in the Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka: It was shortly after 8 a.m. when the 36-year-old driver of the Hikari No. 633 has to take an urgent toilet break. In order to be able to adhere to the tightly timed timetable, however, he does not decide to make an emergency toilet stop at the next train station. Instead, he simply hands over the driver’s cab of the Shinkansen to his conductor on the train – at 150 km / h!
The train driver suffered from stomach ache
The engine driver disappears for about three minutes. Around 160 passengers are on the high-speed train at this time, which is controlled by a conductor who is not at all trained for it.
The daring maneuver finally ends well and the Hikari No. 633 reaches the next train station on schedule. But the incident could have consequences for both the train driver and the conductor. JR Central has already reported the events to the responsible authorities and apologized to the rail customers. In addition, they want to train the employees even more in the existing rules and sensitize them to the problem.
And the 36-year-old train driver has also apologized for using the toilet during the journey. He suffered from severe building pains, but did not want to arrive too late at the destination under any circumstances. (cat)