Tokyo metropolitan police are investigating at least six suspicious fires that occurred on JR East lines in Tokyo's Shinagawa, Kita and Nakano wards between Aug 16 and Aug 27.
Police believe a serial arsonist could be responsible for all of these fires which gave caused disruptions to train services, Fuji TV reported Sunday.
According to police, the first fire occurred at around 10 a.m. on Aug 16 by a fence near the Shinagawa electric power substation of JR East. Traces of a burnt newspaper and cotton work gloves were found.
On Aug 23, a burnt plastic water bottle and burnt tissue paper were found near the same substation after another fire. Police said surveillance camera footage showed a suspicious man wearing a cap in the area just before that fire occurred.
In the most recent case, on Aug 27, a power transmission cable was set on fire at two points on the Yamanote line near Ebisu Station, Fuji reported.
© Japan Today
12 Comments
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JeffLee
I'm getting tired of all the disruptions on JR recently. The crowding quickly becomes a nightmare.
khulifi
Again another stressed junk ...
Vernie Jefferies
Seems like a lot of people had to learn alternate routes to get back home lately.
Mu Staff
The arsonist was probably drunk and doesn't remember doing it.
Si Reynolds
maybe it was that weird short monster that shits out gasoline you know who i mean? whats his name..
Raymond Chuang
I really have to openly wonder (in my opinion!) if this has anything to do with the new Yakuza split going on....
Apolitical
There's a chance that the fires were not intentional, but merely a result of a railgrinder being used on the tracks. These machines produce a huge amount of sparks, which may set some patches of grass on fire. There was a time where I noticed several patches of burnt grass by the railroad track I often use (one of them was still burning). It was very weird to me, but after I learned what a railgrinder is, it all made sense.
WilliB
Pretty safe prediction: they will catch the arsonists, and the excuse will be: "I felt so much stress".
LFRAgain
Highly unlikely. Railgrinders have been in use for years, giving off the same sparks the entire time without incidents of the nature described in the story above. It makes no sense that the sparks that come off the rails would somehow become more robust in August 2015 than at any other time in history.
Also, the fires themselves are not occurring alongside actual railway lines, but rather at electrical substations and cable junctions that are up and away from the actual train tracks.
One fire is an unfortunate accident. Two fires is an irritating inconvenience. Six fires however? That's a pattern strongly suggesting arson.
Droopy
Willing To bet it's a current or former disgruntled employee
sensei258
Either that, or "I was stressed out at work and I just wanted to see what using arson to disrupt rail traffic and make people late for work was like"
Beer4me
Only an X employee would know what points will disrupt the rail lines if a fire broke out.