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A bullet train scheduled to depart Tokyo for Hakata was delayed on Tuesday after a conductor dropped a 10 yen coin into the the casing containing the accelerator lever.
According to TV Asahi, the conductor was checking his takings at the end of a journey from Hiroshima to Tokyo when the incident occurred just before 2 p.m. The coin could not be retrieved from the gap, which measured 1.3 by 2.4 centimeters.
A Central Japan Railway Co spokesman said that there was a danger the coin could obstruct the lever's movement and cause an accident. It was decided that all of the passengers would be asked to disembark and the entire 16-car bullet train be replaced.
JR said the incident caused a delay of around 16 minutes, affecting around 1,100 passengers.
© Japan Today
14 Comments
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DigitalFunk
That's the most expensive 10 yen coin I've heard of.
badsey3
The curse of the 10Yen Man if you ask me.
songwillem2011
If this weren't real it would seem almost comic. I mean it bears a stark resemblance to old comedy skits where in which a tiny little thing like a coin or a banana peal manages to cause a massive catastrophe.
Xeno23
Must've been a new guy; that's not where the 10 yen goes - there's a slot next to the big green "Start" button...
Seawolf
Comic conductor, yes, but JR efficiency at its best: I mean getting all the passengers out, getting the train out of the way, getting another, clean train to the platform, and no more than 16 min delay! That reminds of how I once witnessed a repair guy dropping a box of screws on an moving escalator. It took 2 weeks to get that thing moving again,lol!
lucabrasi
I bet he'd been tempted to do that for years... just to see what would happen. I know I would have been.
Surf O'Holic
Absolutely the right call, to not just go ahead. Had the coin lodged in the mechanism, the train may have barreled along at speed and unable to be stopped.
cabadaje
It's one of those annoying, aggravating, ridiculously-disproportionate-time-and-effort-needing types of situations that, no matter how unlikely the threat is...You just cannot afford the price of failure.
I think every physical engineer has run into one of those, at one time or another.
Serrano
I agree with Surf. Better safe than sorry.
JonathanJo
Somebody used a 10 yen coin to pay their fare?
BurakuminDes
I can see lawsuits here from some of the more litigious salarymen who lost ゛business deals゛ as a result - the same mob who are filthy when someone jumps on the tracks and they lose 10 precious work minutes.
As for the poor conductor - I'm just glad to have found someone to match me in clumsiness!
ka_chan
Sounds like a modification is needed.
some14some
6-car bullet train (JR East) travelling at the speed of 20km/hr was derailed on 3rd March and now after 10 days a 10 yen coin forces disembarkation of 16-car bullet train (JR Central). looks at West and improve train technology !