Photo: PAKUTASO
crime

Man arrested for opening door and jumping off bullet train in motion

15 Comments
By Dale Roll, SoraNews24

We’ve all had that moment at the train station. You hear the music or the sounds that signal the doors are closing, and you think, “Shoot! I need to get on!” So you dash in between the closing doors, only to realize that you’ve boarded the wrong train and are now heading in a completely wrong direction.

Most people would just wait for the next stop and get off, right? Even if you’re riding the bullet train, which might take you several hours out of your way? Not one Japanese man, apparently. After he realized he got on the wrong train, it seemed important for him to get off as soon as possible, so instead of waiting for the next station, the unemployed 54-year-old man, who is from Osaka, chose to jump off of a moving bullet train that had departed from Shin-Osaka Station.

At approximately 11:11 on Sunday morning, a few minutes after the train had left Shin-Osaka Station for Hakata Station in Kyushu, and shortly after it had entered Hyogo Prefecture to the west, he apparently used the emergency latch to open the door of a reservation-only Green Car, and then, as the train began to make a sudden stop, hopped off with what we can only assume was the intention to return to the station via the tracks.

Luckily, the train was stopping and had likely already been moving slowly, which kept the man from getting gravely injured. West Japan Railway Co officials detained him and brought him back on to the train, and 45 minutes after stopping the train resumed its course. At the next stop, Shin-Kobe Station–which, by the way, is only 12 minutes from Shin-Osaka Station–the man was arrested by police for obstructing the operation of the train.

The man has admitted to his crime, saying, “I was in a hurry and got on the train, and then I realized it was the wrong one!” When police investigated, they found he had, indeed, been in possession of a ticket going in the opposite direction, from Shin-Osaka Station to Tokyo Station.

For safety reasons, while JR West officials were arresting the man on the tracks, electricity on the rail lines in the area had to be turned off, and train service going in both directions was suspended. In total, 25 trains were affected with a delay of up to 45 minutes, affecting approximately 14,000 people. The man also suffered a broken leg from his jump from the train car, though he was lucky not to have experienced worse injuries.

Source: Kyodo via Hachima Kiko, FNN Prime via Hachima Kiko

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Man crosses Japanese drinking culture line by taking mug of draft beer onto train

-- Woman kills self jumping onto train tracks, delay causes conductor to jump off tracks at other station

-- Drunken salaryman’s solution to barely missing the last train: Ride on the outside of it

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

15 Comments
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Reckless - Takes some balls to do that. Glad he wasn't hurt

Its just a shame his balls are bigger than his brain. A broken leg will give him a few weeks in plaster and on crutches to ponder his logic.

20 ( +20 / -0 )

Not the sharpest pencil in the box.

22 ( +22 / -0 )

I have ridden on bullet trains for decades and until this incident did not have a clue doors could be opened by passengers or rather JR staff. This guy is a total idiot

17 ( +18 / -1 )

zichi-san: Most trains have easy-to-open doors for emergencies. Similarly, albeit, surprisingly, with airplanes and jets, as well. The take-away is not that exits are public-accessible, it's that a moron cost hundreds, if not thousands, of people time and money, when he could have, simply, waited, until the next stop (it's a bullet train; how long would he have been delayed; a half-hour, tops? Just tell the boss the dog ate your computer!). ;)

5 ( +6 / -1 )

What an idiot. Broke his leg, delayed 14,000 people, and gets arrested. Hope he gets a huge fine and learns to check what platform he's supposed to be on.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

West Japan Railway Co officials detained him and brought him back on to the train, and 45 minutes after stopping the train resumed its course. At the next stop, Shin-Kobe Station–which, by the way, is only 12 minutes from Shin-Osaka Station–the man was arrested by police for obstructing the operation of the train.

I thought it was a Nozomi from Shin-Yokohama bound to Osaka, since the next stop (Nagoya) is a good 80 minutes away, so a u-turn would likely take almost 3 hours total.

But it was only Osaka to Kobe! A u-turn would only take 30 minutes max...

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Selfish little brat he is.

And I wonder where he was in such a hurry to go despite being unemployed. I bet it wasn't a job interview.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The bill from JR will be massive, since he in unemployed his rich parents will pay.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Tuck and Roll, Tuck and Roll.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I would be furious if I was on the train, and this man's stupidity made me late to work. Of course, I will demand big compensation from him, and I think 14000 people will.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I understand that this man was using a different part of his body than the brain for judgement...

What I don't understand, why the train operators used not their brains to design a train going at 300 km/hour without automatically and securely locking the doors? Why the government hires naive fools that inspect and allow such trains with such unsafe doors?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Mission impossible he can be a Tom Cruise double

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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