Central Japan Railway Co. said Friday it will reduce services on its Tokaido Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations later this month, due to a plunge in passengers amid the outbreak of the new coronavirus. The company, known as JR Central, will cancel some ...
All shinkansen to have spaces for wheelchairs, Japan ministry says
The transport ministry said Tuesday that all of the country's shinkansen trains would create spaces for wheelchair users. The ministry will conduct tests by summer and work out the details, such as the size required for such spaces. It unveiled the plan as part of a ...
JR East sees drop in revenue due to coronavirus, with worse to come
East Japan Railway Co. said Tuesday that a decline in passenger traffic due to the spread of the novel coronavirus is projected to have pushed down its revenue from railway operations by some ¥11 billion in February. The number of passengers on its shinkansen fell ...
Discovering who's behind Japan's English rail announcements
Tokyo’s train system is considered to be one of the most expansive and most reliable in the world, but it can be pretty intimidating for anglophones trying to navigate the city. Thankfully, announcements in English can be heard on many railway lines, with narrators providing ...
JR Central logs 8% drop in shinkansen passengers amid COVID-19 outbreaks
The number of passengers on the Tokaido Shinkansen line between Feb. 1 and Wednesday declined 8 percent from a year earlier, operator Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central) has said. The decrease reflects low travel demand due to the outbreak of new coronavirus COVID-19, and ...
AI to assist railway companies combat problems with snow accumulation
Japanese railway companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help tackle potential problems for their shinkansen bullet trains caused by snow accumulation. West Japan Railway Co. is developing an AI system to gauge the amount of snow that collects on Hokuriku Shinkansen trains that travel ...
Full services set to resume on Hokuriku Shinkansen route from March 14
East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, said Thursday that the typhoon-hit Hokuriku bullet train line will resume full services on March 14. Services on the line, which connects Tokyo and Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, via Nagano and other prefectures have been reduced since Typhoon Hagibis ...
Japan court finalizes man's life sentence over shinkansen knife rampage
An indefinite prison term sentence given to a 24-year-old man over a fatal random knife attack aboard a shinkansen in 2018 was finalized Tuesday after the ruling was not appealed. The Odawara branch of the Yokohama District Court ruled last month that Ichiro Kojima murdered ...
Tokyo-Osaka shinkansen killer gets his wish — a life sentence
A court Wednesday sentenced a man to life in prison over a random knife attack aboard a shinkansen last year that killed one passenger and injured two others. Ichiro Kojima, 23, had admitted to the charges of murdering 38-year-old Kotaro Umeda and attempting to kill ...
Japan prosecutors seek life sentence for man in fatal bullet train knife attack
Prosecutors on Monday asked a court to sentence a 23-year-old man to life in prison over a random knife attack aboard a bullet train last year that left one person dead and two others injured. Ichiro Kojima began planning the June 9 attack three months ...
Japanese transport ministry to study shinkansen accessibility for wheelchair users
Transport minister Kazuyoshi Akaba said Friday a study group will be set up as early as this month to consider how to make bullet trains more accessible to wheelchair users. The proposed group will include representatives from Japan Railways Group companies that operate shinkansen, Akaba ...
Japanese man pleads guilty to deadly knife rampage on shinkansen
A man pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering a passenger and trying to kill two others in a random knife attack on a shinkansen last year. According to the indictment, Ichiro Kojima, 23, seriously wounded two women in their 20s with a machete on the Nozomi ...
