Japanese bullet train company no longer running 'scary' safety drills

West Japan Railway Co. has stopped running bullet train safety drills that required employees to crouch in tunnels

A shinkansen (AP)

The West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), which runs ultra fast shinkansen, or bullet trains, on the largest of Japan’s islands, has called a halt to safety drills designed to enable employees to feel the rush of trains passing at up to 300km per hour.

The drills, which saw JR West employees crouching down in the trench area between two sets of parallel railway tracks as bullet trains passed on either side overhead, were described as “scary” by participants, according to the Mainichi newspaper. A photo of the drill published by the Asahi Shimbun shows several employees lined up wearing hard hats and protective goggles crouching in a trench inside a tunnel; the trenches in question measure just 1m high by 1m wide.

The Asahi Shimbun reported that 240 trainee bullet train mechanics took part in the training before it was discontinued earlier this month. The drills began in February 2016 following an incident in August 2015, during which a passenger was injured when a piece of aluminium fell from a train. They were intended to underline the importance of thorough safety checks to ensure such an accident would not be repeated.

The West Japan Railway Workers Union repeatedly called for an end to the practice, concerned for employees’ safety and doubtful of the effectiveness of the unorthodox method. Speaking to the Asahi Shimbun, a senior union official suggested that “workers have been forced to undergo the training programme as a sort of punishment for the accident.”

One of the trainees who took part told the the Mainichi newspaper that “the wind pressure was enormous. I felt as if I had been pressed down from above, and it was scary. I wonder what the meaning of such training is.”

JR West has now called a halt to trench safety drills, though it denies the change is as a result of outside pressure. Trainees will now observe passing bullet trains from behind a fence, outside the tunnel.

Japan’s shinkansen network is one of the safest rail systems in the world, with zero passenger fatalities since bullet trains began operation in 1964, and accidents of any kind are reassuringly rare. However, there have been a number of suicides resulting from people throwing themselves in front of passing trains.