By TAKASHI OGAWA/ Staff Writer
April 6, 2022 at 14:37 JST
Services will resume earlier than expected on the entire Tohoku Shinkansen line on April 14 after a month of disruption following a major earthquake, East Japan Railway Co. announced April 5.
The railway company expected to resume services between Fukushima and Sendai on around April 20, but as it determined that the trains can run safely, it moved up the restart date.
The March 16 earthquake, which struck off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture and registered an intensity of upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7, derailed one Tohoku Shinkansen.
JR East will run the bullet trains at reduced speeds between some sections, and it will adopt a special operating schedule for the time being.
The schedule will return to normal after the Golden Week holiday period in May, JR East said.
Damage was detected at around 1,000 places, including utility poles and elevated bridges, between Nasushiobara and Morioka.
JR East has been restoring the areas and already resumed train operations between Koriyama and Fukushima on April 2, and between Sendai and Ichinoseki on April 4.
The bullet trains are currently running at 50 to 60 percent of normal capacity between Tokyo and Fukushima, and between Sendai and Morioka.
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The derailed cars of the Tohoku Shinkansen are towed in Shiroishi, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 27. (Kazuyoshi Sako)
