All aboard: the art of sampling Japan's railways
In the rest of the world, trainspotting is something of a niche hobby, but in Japan it is much more mainstream. Combine a natural predilection for hobbies with a massive proliferation of railways and you naturally get train enthusiasts. It's easy to see why. Japan ...
German police find Islamic State flag and Arabic text at site of railway sabotage
German police said on Tuesday they had found a flag of the Islamic State (IS) militant group near the site of a suspected attack on a railway track in Berlin and that investigators were examining whether the perpetrators had any political motives. It is still ...
Reopened Baghdad-Fallujah railway a tentative sign of progress in Iraq
The newly revived railway between Baghdad and Fallujah snakes across the western Iraqi desert, through a landscape of burned-out tanks, abandoned cars and collapsed buildings. For the last month, Capt. Imed Hassun has taken pride in once again driving the route between the capital and ...
Tokyo train departs with visually impaired man's guide cane caught between doors
A white guide cane of a visually impaired man walking on a station platform was caught between the doors of a departing train in Tokyo earlier this month and remained unnoticed until it arrived at the next station, officials of railway operator Tokyu Corp. ...
JR West derailment case has victims calling for legal reforms
The acquittal of former presidents of JR West over a tragic 2005 train derailment has prompted calls for legal reforms that would enable prosecutors to hold corporations criminally liable for causing large-scale accidents.
Section of East Japan Railways' Joban Line, suspended since 2011 quake, partially reopens
A 23-km-long section of East Japan Railway Co.'s Joban Line reopened Saturday, some five years and nine months after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck. The reopened section runs between Soma Station in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, and Hamayoshida Station in Watari, ...
Kyoto lobbies to be destination on Hokuriku Shinkansen Line
Kyoto officials pressed their case this week for routing the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line via Maizuru on the Sea of Japan Coast, a decision that would take the train through Kyoto as well as all Fukui Prefecture towns that host nuclear power plants. About 200 local ...
Japan intensified its shinkansen sales pitch in Singapore on Friday, hoping to acquire an edge in its bid for the Malaysia-Singapore high speed rail project. Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii discussed the bullet train system at a meeting with Singapore Senior Minister ...
The aging Sanyo Shinkansen Line will undergo major renovations from 2028, the line's operator said Wednesday. The work on bridges, tunnels and embankments will take a decade. West Japan Railway Co., known as JR West, estimates the total cost at ¥155.7 billion, part of which ...
Japanese transport minister visits rail projects in Thailand
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii visited Japanese rail projects in Thailand while en route from Laos to Japan on Tuesday, a Thai official said. During an unofficial two-day transit stop in Bangkok, starting Monday, Ishii was scheduled to meet Wuttichart Kala-yanamit, the ...
A laser beam was apparently aimed at the driver of a waiting shinkansen bullet train in late November in western Japan, an official of West Japan Railway Co. said Saturday, following similar incidents targeting flying aircraft in Okinawa and elsewhere. A Kodama train halted at ...
