Road, railway and air transportation in Tokyo returned to near normal Friday, with only a few delays and minor trouble remaining after the season's heaviest snow paralyzed traffic the day before.Police attributed three deaths and 400 injuries in the capital and its eight neighboring prefectures during the two days to the snow, which was measured at 16 cm in central Tokyo.In Yamakita, Kanagawa Prefecture, a tractor-trailer rig failed to get through a slippery railway crossing on the Gotenba Line on Friday morning and was subsequently hit by a six-car passenger train. Six passengers were slightly injured.A section of the Chuo Line between Takao Station in Hachioji, and Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, remained closed as trees toppled by snow fell across tracks and cut overhead electrical lines. Another Chuo Line section between Kisofukushima and Shiojiri in Nagano Prefecture was also closed.Some 1,200 passengers on the line spent Thursday night on the train or in nearby hotels, railway officials said. East Japan Railway Co. said some 2,400 train runs were canceled Thursday. The number of snow-related cancellations was a single-day record for the region's main railway company.Tire chains were still required Friday on key highways in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and sections of the Chuo Expressway remain closed because about 600 cars were trapped on the snow-covered roads. The snow indirectly forced 40 domestic flights from Tokyo's Haneda airport to be canceled Friday; the direct culprit was a shortage of airplanes due to the huge number of cancellations Thursday, airline company officials said.
