Photo/Illutration Passengers are forced to spend the night inside Shin-Chitose Airport due to JR train cancellations. The photo was taken at 12:40 a.m. on Feb. 24. (Shuji Shida)

CHITOSE, Hokkaido--More than 3,000 passengers were stranded at Shin-Chitose Airport here through the early morning hours on Feb. 24 as heavy snowfall brought the region’s train services to a grinding halt.

Hokkaido Railway Co. (JR Hokkaido) on Feb. 23 suspended its railway services on a widescale basis, including trains bound for Sapporo, capital of the northernmost prefecture. The railway company could not remove enough snow to give the green light as heavy snow continued falling.

A little after 3 a.m. on Feb. 24, JR Hokkaido began operating extra trains from Shin-Chitose Airport Station to Sapporo Station.

But more than 600 people remained at the airport and were forced to spend the night there.

On Feb. 22, all flights were canceled at the airport, and on Feb. 23, the runways were finally cleared and operations could be resumed.

However, the snow clearance efforts were delayed in some sections on JR train lines bound for Sapporo. The railway company continued suspending train services in those areas through Feb. 23.

JR Hokkaido aimed to resume the service from the night of Feb. 23, but it was forced to abandon the timetable. 

Long lines of people were seen at a bus stop at the airport.

Hokkaido Airports Co., the airport operator, opened the terminals for passengers and handed out sleeping bags, food and drink.

JR Hokkaido ran six special trains bound for Sapporo from the airport after 3 a.m. on Feb. 24. A total of 3,390 passengers rode those trains.

The first special train arrived at Sapporo Station a little after 3:30 a.m. on the day. “I finally arrived!” a passenger said.

Hibiki Katahira, 18, traveled from Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, to take his entrance exam at Hokkaido University in Sapporo but was stuck at the airport.

“I could not sleep well at the airport because of the noise and lights, and passed the time by reading textbooks,” Katahira said. “Two women next to me offered encouragement, telling me, ‘You can pass your exam.’ It was a nice encounter.”

JR train lines connecting Shin-Chitose Airport Station and Sapporo Station resumed operations from the scheduled earliest train on Feb. 24. But JR Hokkaido is operating the train services on curtailed or delayed schedules.

(This article was written by Shuji Shida and Sakura Kawamura.)

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