East Japan Railway Co. suspended operation of its newest train on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo after multiple malfunction warnings went off in the driver's compartment during its first day in service, company sources said.
Investigators started examining the new model E235 train at a maintenance yard in Shinagawa Ward on Tuesday after the warnings sounded when it came to a halt Monday night at Otsuka Station in Toshima Ward before it reached the designated stopping point.
It was replaced by an older train and scheduled operations were not affected, the sources said.
JR East was to decide whether to bring the new train back into service Wednesday after reviewing the findings of the investigation.
The train came to a halt at Otsuka at 10:50 p.m. Monday about 1.5 meters ahead of the designated stopping point when the driver used the manual brakes because the auto braking system felt too soft.
It was at this point when the monitor in the driver's compartment started showing multiple warnings, the JR East sources said.
The driver moved the train forward to the correct position, opened the doors to let about 700 passengers leave the train and then took it train to the maintenance yard.
The train also experienced minor trouble earlier Monday. It made its debut at Osaki Station at 3:18 p.m. and was scheduled to go round the loop line seven times, but it was forced to halt operations during the seventh circuit. It also had door-related trouble, according to the company.