Photo/Illutration Police officers subdue a knife-wielding man in an emergency drill on a train at JR Tokushima Station in 2018. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

OSAKA--West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) is developing an emergency alert system that can detect unusual noises on trains, such as screaming, and accelerate the process of securing passengers’ safety.

The project was started after a series of attacks on trains, including a stabbing rampage on a Shinkansen.

“We need to give train passengers a sense of security through various ways,” said Kazuaki Hasegawa, the president of JR West. “If (the system) works well, we would like to introduce it in our trains.”

Under the planned system, when microphones installed in multiple locations on a train detect screams, fights, cries for help and other anomalies, an alert will be immediately sent to crew members in their compartments, according to JR West.

The system will allow for a much faster response time than through the conventional method, in which passengers press an emergency button and tell the train staff through an intercom what is happening in the carriage.

JR West and one of its group companies are now in the process of analyzing sounds through artificial intelligence. The company has not determined when the system will be introduced on trains.

JR West said the system will not automatically record and store voice data.

Attacks in trains in recent years have highlighted the need to improve safety on public transportation.

One person was killed and two others were injured when a man went on a stabbing spree on a Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train running in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2018.

In 2021, 17 passengers were injured in a stabbing and arson attack on a Keio Line train in Tokyo, while 10 people were wounded in a knife attack on an Odakyu Line train, also in the capital.

Related News