Woman gives birth on train at Tokyo’s Ikebukuro Station

5 p.m. Rush hour. Not a good time for a woman in late term pregnancy to be on a train in Tokyo.

Not a good time for a human in any condition to be on a train in Tokyo.

lovely story, congratulation!

nice, congratulations.

I hope mother and baby are OK.

A woman gave birth on the Tube last month, so not an uncommon thing around the world.

Well, for me, this is one situation for which I will forgive the trains being late.

About the only time that I would want a train to be delayed in japan for "Human Factors"

I believe it is only a call for an attendant to come check the situation.

I found this with some Googling:

非常停止ボタンを押すと駅から半径100m以内程度の信号が全て赤に変わり周りの列車全てに停止を促すことを知らせます

ただ、ボタンを押しても列車はすぐには止まれませんので線路に降りたりしないようにしてください

My rough translation:

When the emergency stop button is pressed, all indicators within 100m of the station turn red and tell all trains to stop.

Note that even when this button is pressed, trains may not be able to quickly stop, so please do not descend down to the tracks [after pushing the button].

Link: https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q10164309740

I agree it's a lovely story.

However many people were upset for delays and they don't think it was sweet and kawaii. I think people don't have imagination those days, she should be staying home or hospital if the pregnancy is so advanced.

Is that SOS button a 'stop' button - or does the driver communicate over the intercom and then decide to stop or not, and where?   I had assumed the latter.

Not a good time for a human in any condition to be on a train in Tokyo.

Lots of worse situations all around the world. Looking at the whole scale, a train in Tokyo is not that bad. I think most people feel better knowing the trains were delayed for this reason than another suicide jumper.

I recall during Birthing classes it was always discussed on what to do if you were in a Taxi... but never a Train!

The passenger pushing the Stop button midway between stations may not have taken the best of actions - perhaps pressing it when you're at the next station would have been better ? Any views ?

Is that SOS button a 'stop' button - or does the driver communicate over the intercom and then decide to stop or not, and where?  I had assumed the latter.

I believe it is only a call for an attendant to come check the situation. With the tight schedules, I doubt they would automatically stop a train because some random passenger pressed a button without checking first.

A woman gave birth to a baby girl on a train at JR Ikebukuro Station

Concerned citizen:

Was it a boy or girl?

First line in the article: "A woman gave birth to a baby girl"

Keep those hard questions coming.

The one time train stoppage is not so bad.

Congratulations to the happy and healthy family. I’m sure that’ll make for a fun story for years to come.

Also, I checked your link and I believe the question being asked is "What happens if I press the emergency stop button at the station?" and referring to this button, located on the train platform:

http://hereandtherejapan.blogspot.com/2006/11/emergency-button.html

As the train started moving, inside the car, the mother and another passenger pushed the emergency alarm button at least three times, but the conductor did not alert the driver to apply the emergency brake. After about 100 meters, the stroller smashed into the railing at the end of the platform. No one was injured in the incident.

She has reportedly said that she became very nervous and failed to press the emergency stop button and alert the driver, despite knowing she should have.

There are indeed two buttons, but a little different from what you describe. I posted a link describing what happens with the button on the platform. There are also SOS buttons on the train. While looking to find out what happens with the button on the platform, I found another post (in Japanese) where the poster said they pushed the button on the train. The person said that after pressing that button, about 1.5 seconds later a speaker popped up and the conductor asked if the button was pressed on purpose, through a little speaker and mic on the button. This is the button referred to in the quote above.

So that delayed the arrival at the station AND the arrival of emergency personnel to the train. Wrong move. Totally wrong move.

Well, you declared it the wrong move based on incorrect information. The button pushed would have been on the train, and would not have delayed other trains nor the arrival of "emergency personnel." It would have alerted the driver that someone had pressed the SOS button on their train, after which the driver would decided how to proceed - whether to continue to the station or not.

I just realized that I probably caused confusion by mistaking which button was being asked about, when I posted my response. For some reason, I thought the button that had been pushed was on the platform. My own mistaken assumption.

5 p.m. Rush hour. Not a good time for a woman in late term pregnancy to be on a train in Tokyo.

Congratulations to the happy family and well done mum, that must have been a tough way to give birth.

Was it a boy or a girl?

So who gets lifetime free ticket pass on that particular train? Mom or Daughter? Why not both?

Anyway, little girl should be named 'Ikuro' or 'Ikee'

@WilliB

First line in the article: "A woman gave birth to a baby girl"

Keep those hard questions coming.

Ha ha! Thanks for pointing the obvious.

When the emergency stop button is pressed, all indicators within 100m of the station turn red and tell all trains to stop.

So that delayed the arrival at the station AND the arrival of emergency personnel to the train. Wrong move. Totally wrong move.

@strangerland

My rough translation:

When the emergency stop button is pressed, all indicators within 100m of the station turn red and tell all trains to stop.

Note that even when this button is pressed, trains may not be able to quickly stop, so please do not descend down to the tracks [after pushing the button].

Link: https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q10164309740

I'm genuinely curious now...

I think now that there might actually be two buttons and the 'emergency stop' button is a different one than the 'SOS button', one for passengers and one for the conductor.

I found this in an old JT article where an empty stroller was caught in a train door and dragged down the platform:

https://japantoday.com/category/national/tokyo-metro-under-fire-after-baby-carriage-gets-caught-in-train-doors

As the train started moving, inside the car, the mother and another passenger pushed the emergency alarm button at least three times, but the conductor did not alert the driver to apply the emergency brake. After about 100 meters, the stroller smashed into the railing at the end of the platform. No one was injured in the incident.

She has reportedly said that she became very nervous and failed to press the emergency stop button and alert the driver, despite knowing she should have.

It sounds to me like the SOS button signals the conductor who has to make the decision to press the emergency stop button. If anyone knows better, I'm curious to know how the system really works.

based on incorrect information

That should have read 'based on incorrect assumptions.'

I just realized that I probably caused confusion by mistaking which button was being asked about, when I posted my response. For some reason, I thought the button that had been pushed was on the platform. My own mistaken assumption.

No worries, I think we're all on the same page now and I now know what all the emergency buttons do.

Beautiful, what a blessing!

lovely story, congratulation!

Not so lovely for everyone that got delayed. Then again, if it was a JR train, they usually are delayed for one reason or another.