national

Drone falls onto elevated train tracks in Hokkaido

19 Comments

A small drone fell onto elevated train tracks in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, JR Hokkaido officials said Monday. The incident occurred at around 5:50 p.m. Sunday, the Hokkaido Shimbun reported.

According to police, a man in his 30s was flying a drone on a roadside when the machine suddenly fell onto the train tracks of an elevated bridge. The man's friend contacted JR and about 30 minutes later, a JR worker retrieved the drone from the bridge.

JR Hokkaido said no train services were affected.

The man who had been flying the drone to film scenery from the air, told police, "A strong wind blew the drone out of my control."

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

19 Comments
Login to comment

Really? This should not even be in the news. People are freaking out seeing little toy drones around. It is just a toy! Just like any RC, be careful and avoid crowds!

4 ( +8 / -4 )

@SauloJpn

Really? This should not even be in the news.

Actually, if instead of "elevated tracks" this said "Shinkansen", then this would be pretty bad or even dangerous. Which leads to the fact that someday this might just say "Shinkansen" in which case the entire transportation system would have a major backlog if they had to go out and remove the stupid thing or (looking at what happened last week in Philadelphia) something worse.

Note to any would-be inventor/entrepreeur: want a good idea to make money? Create a drone jamming device that can be spread out along rail lines. Simply making they flying of drones "illegal" around rail lines won't stop a diehard train otaku from trying to get the ultimate photo.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Note to big business: drone delivery = NOT a good idea.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Supey11 must be a big drone to obstruct a shinkansen , even a big camera drone would be smashed to bits it is more a security issue, and because a drone landed on the government building there has been a Drone panic going on.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

At least they warned the authorities, no harm was done. Even if a train ran over, only the drone would have been destroyed. They are made of plastic and foam, so there is little chance to damage anything.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I imagine if the quadcopter (let's save the drone terminology for the Northrop Grumman variety) had impacted a moving train it would have been no laughing matter.

Let's use a bit of common sense here, you know, like not flying a kite near pylons.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Drone laws coming soon. No fly zones over any people or structures, onsens, etc.

Also coming soon "Drones Gone Wild, a voyers dream"

1 ( +1 / -0 )

A.N. Other... Imagine if a small bird were to impact a moving train, because that would be much more likely (and around the same weight/damage).

Kids have been putting rocks and coins on train tracks since forever. Takes a bit more than that to disrupt a 700 ton train

Its the new buzzword though and new things tend to scare people.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

“A strong wind blew the drone out of my control.”

So how many frisbees, remote controlled helicopters, baseballs, tennis balls and other similarly harmless objects have fallen on the tracks over the years?

And how many have caused train accidents? Yup, none.

Honestly this isn't an issue.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Kids have been putting rocks and coins on train tracks since forever. Takes a bit more than that to disrupt a 700 ton train

I was thinking more along the lines of the drone cracking or shattering the windscreen, in the worst case scenario.

Birdies impacting the glass is pretty unavoidable, RC 'copters less so.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It was not a drone. A drone is autonomous. Its was a remote control aircraft. Just because there is has been an upsurge in their use complete with new designs and effective range does not call for a new term. And it certainly does not call for misusing a word that is going to be important in the future when real autonomous craft become common.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Couldn't this have happened with a kite, too?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

A guy was playing with a flying toy and it fell onto the tracks. That's good to know!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Rifles and pistols are registered at the time of sale in the USA. It is time to register drones at the time of sale in Japan. Add knives to it while you are at it. It is important to protect the public.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Unless it's illegal to be flying the things, no one did anything wrong. The man quickly told his friend, who quickly reported it, and it was retrieved with no delays or injury. No big deal. Now, it COULD have caused an accident, which is a little bit more of a big deal if you want to think about it. But then what should be done?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"Drone falls onto elevated train tracks in Hokkaido" is this what they mean about a slow news day!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Oh come on, this is a non-story. If trains can't survive a small light weight toy landing on the tracks then the trains have a problem. This focus on drones seems to be a conspiracy to get them banned thereby protecting industries that don't want to see drone competition.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The increasing use of drones will predictably cause problems from time to time. I therefore have an idea for a new sport; purchase an air rifle and for minimal outlay on plastic or metal slugs you can keep your shooting eye in condition without killing wildlife!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Now we need drone to look after all properties

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites