Shinkansen services resumed normal operations Thursday morning following wide disruptions due to a Wednesday power outage that affected at least 50,000 passengers, including 1,500 people who stayed in train cars overnight.
According to JR Tokai and JR West, the outage, which began at around 7:55 p.m., forced the cancellation of 29 trains and caused delays for 144 trains between Kyoto and Hakata stations.
JR Tokai said it found and fixed a severed overhead power line in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture at around 1 a.m. Thursday. The company said it was looking into why the line, which has a diameter of 1.5 cm, was cut. JR Tokai periodically checks and replaces the lines as they wear out from contact with the pantographs of high-speed trains.