430 passengers spend night aboard train trapped by heavy snow in Niigata

Nagaoka has a population of 275,000. Niigata City's is 800,000. It's not the middle of nowhere. They are two large cities on the coast.

Though Niigata is known as the "snow country", that's further inland from Nagaoka, the area around Tokamachi etc. Close to the coast, it usually does not snow very much, which will be why this train got stuck.

According to firefighters, five of them -- a man in his 40s and four women in their teens and 20s -- felt unwell and the man was taken to a hospital.

How long were they stuck and why did 5 get unwell? Because of the cold?

All I can say is really, really taihen. Saw this on the news this morning and they were stuck there for several hours and it seemed the train was still stuck...

I have worked in Niigata quite a bit and I can 2nd what kohakuebisu said.

Why did they all get sick? Fumes?

Yet there is no mention of food or drink. The passengers need to be taken from the train.

That is over 100 passengers per carriage. If you had a sat you would be lucky.

The main question is, WHY did they stay inside the train all night??? It was 300 meters from the station! WALK!

The same crazy stuff happens on Japanese Highways as well during snow storms. People just sit in their cars doing nothing, waiting for someone to come to the rescue and freeze to death in the worst case.

This was a complete fail by the train operator and the police / emergency services. The train was at a railroad crossing, which meant there was access to it by road. If the train operator was doing its job, it would have contacted the police, the fire department and the road services department. A snow plow to clear the road, firemen with ladders, etc. to access the train, and police to ensure the safety. Buses could then have transported them to the nearest station.

What a complete and utter failure of emergency management!

Packed commuter train. The article says that because the tracks were hidden under the snow they could not allow the passengers... well read it yourself.

Possibly the driver would not open the doors for them.

TV news last night showed footage of “staff” removing snow from in front of the train. All we were shown, however, repeatedly, was one poor guy with a shovel.