Japanese Bullet Train Almost Speeds Off With 200 Passengers Left Behind

The train made its departure at around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, but did not let the 200-or-so passengers get on the public transportation, leaving them all confused, according to Huffington Post Japan, as translated by SoraNews24.

As soon as the train left the platform, one station personnel noticed the mishap and immediately pressed an emergency button on the platform to make the speeding train come to a halt. After relaying the error, the train quickly reversed back 20 meters (about 66 feet) to the platform to let all the stranded passengers aboard before it departs again.

Japan Railways offered an explanation after the incident, saying that the driver checked and saw the doors were already closed, so the operator assumed the passengers had already boarded the train.

But it turns out that the conductor actually hadn’t opened the door yet for the passengers to board the train. Officials are currently conducting an investigation to prevent a similar incident from ever happening again in the future.

Japan’s railways are known to be reliable and very strict about its rules, especially when it comes to punctuality. A separate incident occurred on Nov. 14 when a train departed 20 seconds earlier than usual, which led to the company to issue an apology even though other commuters did not find the letter to be necessary.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / Mstyslav Chernov/Unframe/www.unframe.com (CC BY-SA 3.0)