Japanese Train Operators to Equip Staff with Knife-Proof Umbrellas

Illustration of train services in Japan. (Wikimedia Commons/Farrell010427)

JAKARTA - The operator of the western Japanese railway network, JR West, will equip its staff with knife-proof umbrellas, to help staff quickly evacuate passengers in the event of a knife attack.

The initiative comes after a number of knife attacks on trains in Japan, including an incident on one of JR West's airport line services in July 2023, when three people were injured by a man carrying a knife, as quoted by Kyodo News on November 20.

The umbrellas are made of special knife-resistant fabric and have a shaft about one meter long. They are designed to allow flight crews to fend off or slow down attackers, giving passengers time to escape.

The company will install two special umbrellas each on about 600 trains, including express services connecting cities in western Japan such as Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, as well as on lines to Kansai airport in Osaka Prefecture by the end of this fiscal year through March next year.

Although JR West trains are already equipped with plastic shields intended for use in such emergency situations, many crews say they are afraid to use them because they would have to get close to the attacker.

Meanwhile, the specially designed umbrella will have a long shaft and allow train crew to be at a safer distance.

The umbrella was developed by the safety equipment maker at the request of JR West. It weighs about 700 grams, lighter than a plastic shield, so it can be handled easily, taking into account the increasing number of female crew members, according to JR West.

There have been a number of knife attacks on trains in Japan. For example, an attack in 2021 that injured several people in Tokyo on the Odakyu and Keio lines.

In 2018, a man with a machete killed one person and injured two others on a crowded bullet train to Shin-Osaka from Tokyo.