Photo/Illutration A drill to prevent a stabbing spree is conducted on a Tokaido Shinkansen train between Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama stations on June 13. (Takashi Ogawa)

On a bullet train traveling between Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama stations, train crew and station staff were alerted to a suspicious individual with a knife running wild aboard. 

Multiple emergency buzzers went off.

That was the scenario in a crime prevention drill conducted by Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) on a Tokaido Shinkansen from late on June 13 to the predawn hours of June 14.

Multiple stabbings have occurred on operating trains recently, prompting the training. The drill was to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.

As the multiple emergency buzzers were sounded, train crew understood something abnormal was transpiring. However, they did not immediately stop the train and rather continued to travel to the next stop, Shin-Yokohama Station.

When it stopped, the train’s doors didn’t match up to the correct stopping points equipped with doors on the platform.

But the crew opened the doors and guided passengers to evacuate through the gaps between train doors and platform doors. 

In October 2021, passengers pressed emergency notification buttons in train cars when a stabbing spree occurred on a Keio Line train in Tokyo.

Train crew immediately brought the train to an emergency stop.

However, because the doors of the train cars misaligned with the doors on the platform, these doors did not immediately open, forcing many passengers to escape through the windows.

After that, the central government reviewed safety measures. The new measures urge train crew to stop a train at an appropriate place when they cannot check the situation on train cars even when multiple emergency buttons are pressed.

The central government also changed the measures, suggesting the train crew and station staff open the doors of both train cars and platforms to allow passengers to evacuate.

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