After Earthquake, Shinkansen Will Be Active Again April 20

Photo by henry perks on Unsplash

JAKARTA - East Japan Railway Co (JR East) will fully resume high-speed shinkansen services around April 20 after it was disrupted by a strong earthquake that hit northeastern Japan last week and derailed a bullet train.

Quoted from Japan Today, Tuesday, March 22, JR East is continuing efforts to resume full operation of the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train connecting Tokyo and the northeast region. They briefly suspended service between Nasushiobara Station in Tochigi Prefecture and Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture after Wednesday night's earthquake.

It will take about five weeks to restart. And this could be the longest suspension of the Tohoku Shinkansen Line since 2011 when operators suspended operations for about a month and a half after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

JR East said it has so far confirmed about 1,000 cases of equipment and infrastructure damage, including about 300 on the railway line and 79 power lines, between Nasushiobara and Morioka stations.

"We apologize (this happened) at a time of high travel demand. We will focus on resuming operations as quickly as possible and offering alternative transportation," a JR East official said.

Many people in Japan travel or move during the spring when the new academic and fiscal year begins in April.

The operator said it would resume service on Tuesday between Nasushiobara Station and Koriyama Station in Fukushima Prefecture, as well as Ichinoseki and Morioka stations, both in Iwate. It will operate between Koriyama and Fukushima around April 2, before continuing the train journey between Sendai and Ichinoseki two days later.

The operator also said Monday that three passengers on a shinkansen train that derailed in Miyagi Prefecture due to the quake were reported injured. None of them were hospitalized with serious injuries.

It is likely the first case in Japan that a passenger was injured in a bullet train derailment accident. No one was injured when an earthquake derailed the Joetsu Shinkansen train in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, in October 2004, the first such accident.

The M7.4 earthquake struck Fukushima Prefecture Wednesday night, leaving three people dead and more than 200 injured in several prefectures.