JR Nagoya Station is crowded with passengers on Dec. 18 after Tokaido Shinkansen services were suspended due to a power outage. (Video by Tadashi Mizowaki)

Photo/Illutration The bullet train ticket gate at JR Nagoya Station is crowded with passengers at 4:25 p.m. on Dec. 18 after Tokaido Shinkansen services were suspended due to a power outage. (Tadashi Mizowaki)

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) officials are investigating the cause of a power outage that caused delays and cancellations of the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations on Dec. 18 for up to about four hours.

The outage occurred at around 1 p.m. on both the inbound and outbound lines between Toyohashi and Nagoya stations in Aichi Prefecture, according to JR Tokai.

The inbound line resumed operations 18 minutes later after being sent electricity. The outbound line continued to be suspended.

The inbound line, however, was again suspended at 1:41 p.m. due to restoration work after an overhead line above a wire that supplies power to the trains was found to have been cut on the outbound line in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture.

It’s unclear why the overhead wire was cut. The causality between the cut and the power outage is also unknown.

The suspension was initially only between Toyohashi and Nagoya but was eventually extended to all sections between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka.

As restoration work took time, 74 bullet train services were canceled and 114 trains were delayed up to 4 hours and 28 minutes as of 11 p.m. on the day, affecting approximately 110,000 passengers.

One man was traveling from Tokyo to Maibara Station in Shiga Prefecture when his Shinkansen stopped in a tunnel near Toyohashi Station.

“I was anxious because we were in a tunnel,” he said.

He said many people were coughing since the heating had been turned off and it was cold and children aboard were crying.

A simple toilet was set up, but he had to give up using it due to the long line.

A train bound for Nagoya stopped at Hamamatsu Station in Shizuoka Prefecture.

When an announcement was made at around 2:40 p.m. that it would take more than two hours to restore services, passengers screamed at the long delay, according to those aboard.

“I won’t be able to make it in time for the start,” said a woman who was scheduled to attend the concert of a male idol group in Nagoya. “Now I’m just hoping I can see even a little bit of the concert.”

A temporary bridge was placed from the carriages to the platform at around 3:30 p.m., allowing passengers to temporarily disembark so they could purchase drinks.

Restoration work also began at 3:30 p.m. and was completed about 90 minutes later.

The area near the ticket gate at Tokyo Station was crowded with people carrying suitcases and souvenirs.

A 64-year-old part-time employee from Kani, Gifu Prefecture, who was returning from attending her grandchild’s piano recital, learned of the suspension when she arrived at the station.

She stood in line for more than three hours, worrying whether she could return home by the end of the day.

The central ticket gate of the Shinkansen terminal at Shin-Osaka Station was also temporarily crowded with people carrying their luggage and souvenirs.

Passengers flooded the ticket gate at the Shinkansen exit of Nagoya Station when the bullet train began resuming operations at 5 p.m.

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