Photo/Illutration The decoupled Hayabusa and Komachi trains in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward on March 6 (Yasumasa Kikuchi)

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) suspended operations of coupled Shinkansen following a decoupling mishap on March 6 in Tokyo, inconveniencing passengers on those routes and adding runs to alleviate congestion.

JR East announced on the evening of March 6 that it was suspending the coupled operations of Tohoku, Akita and Yamagata bullet trains until the company determines what went wrong and takes measures to prevent a recurrence.

The decoupling occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on March 6 as an outbound Tohoku Shinkansen made an emergency stop while traveling at about 60 kph in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward.

The automatic brakes were activated on the Hayabusa-Komachi No. 21, which had left Tokyo Station and was bound for Shin-Aomori and Akita stations.

The driver discovered that the coupling between the seven Komachi cars and the 10 Hayabusa cars had separated and the distance between the two Shinkansen was about eight meters.

On the evening of March 6, Hirohiko Ikeda, JR East director-general of the Shinkansen general management department, apologized at a news conference.

“We take this extremely seriously and will do everything we can to find out the cause,” he said.

JR East announced on March 7 that it will operate extra Shinkansen between Tokyo and Sendai stations, as well as between Tokyo and Morioka stations, to ease expected congestion due to the suspension of the coupled operations.

A total of five special Tohoku Shinkansen will be operated between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., as well as between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on March 7.

Two Tohoku Shinkansen will leave Tokyo Station bound for Sendai Station and one bound for Morioka Station. In addition, there will be two Tohoku Shinkansen departing from Sendai Station bound for Tokyo Station. All trains will have seven cars and open seating.

The Akita Shinkansen currently runs between Akita and Morioka, and the Yamagata Shinkansen operates between Shinjo and Fukushima stations and between Yamagata and Fukushima stations.

Because there will no longer be direct service, passengers will need to transfer at Morioka Station and Yamagata Station, respectively.

Customers who have reserved tickets for the Komachi Shinkansen between Morioka and Tokyo stations, or the Tsubasa Shinkansen between Fukushima and Tokyo stations, will need to get a refund or change their boarding plans. 

A similar decoupling mishap occurred in Sept. 19 last year when two carriages of a Shinkansen running between Furukawa and Sendai stations in Miyagi Prefecture suddenly decoupled, bringing the train to an emergency stop. 

It was later determined that metal shavings may have triggered a switch and caused the decoupling. 

The Japan Transport Safety Board recognized the latest decoupling as a serious incident and will dispatch three railway accident investigators.

There was no damage to the coupling parts, but there are signs that an abnormality occurred in the electrical system on the Komachi bullet train, causing the coupling to unlock.

JR East said that no injuries were reported among the 201 passengers on the Komachi and 441 on the Hayabusa bullet trains.

From around 2:30 p.m., both Shinkansen traveled onward to Omiya Station, where the passengers were dropped off and the operation of the bullet trains terminated.

Almost all the Tohoku, Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen lines were suspended for about three hours on March 6, with a total of 111 trains being canceled, affecting more than 150,000 passengers. 

Earlier that morning, there were no abnormalities reported on the Komachi during the coupling process with the Hayabusa at Morioka Station, or during the inbound train operation before turning at Tokyo Station. 

(This article was written by Ayateru Hosozawa and Fumi Yada.)

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