Photo/Illutration The coupled Hayabusa-Komachi No. 9 leaves JR Sendai Station for Morioka in Sendai on March 14. (Yosuke Fukudome)

For the first time in eight days, coupled runs on the Tohoku, Akita and Yamagata Shinkansen lines resumed on the morning of March 14 after being halted due to a malfunction in Tokyo. 

An Akita Shinkansen Komachi and Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa decoupled while in operation on March 6. Since then, East Japan Railway Co. had suspended the operation of coupled bullet trains.

The Hayabusa-Komachi No. 9, which was the first coupled train after the malfunction to run on the outbound line on March 14, arrived at Sendai Station at 10:15 a.m.

After passengers disembarked from or boarded the train cars, the coupled bullet trains left for Morioka Station without any problems.

Although some Shinkansen services are still suspended, JR East plans to resume the normal timetables on March 15.

Coupling operations on the Tohoku Shinkansen line were suspended after the outbound Hayabusa-Komachi No. 21 bound for Shin-Aomori and Akita stations decoupled while running in Tokyo on March 6.

During the suspension, the Akita Shinkansen Komachi continued running between Akita and Morioka stations, and the Yamagata Shinkansen Tsubasa continued operating between Shinjo and Yamagata and Fukushima stations.

JR East has fabricated metal parts to fix the air compressor switch in the driver’s cab so that the coupler will not inadvertently unlock even if an electrical signal to unlock is accidentally sent.

The company said the metal parts will be installed during the coupling operations.

The company conducted a test run with the metal parts installed and confirmed that the coupling operation was made without any problem on March 12.

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