Accident on Tokyo Metro

staticsteve · 7 Apr 2016

Interesting to see how accidents unfold in another country.

Tokyo Metro under fire after baby stroller gets caught in train doors

Japan Today

Tokyo Metro has apologized after the conductor on one of its subway trains failed to press the emergency brake button despite being aware of an emergency. An empty baby stroller got wedged in the train doors, and was dragged 100 meters along the platform before being smashed to pieces by a metal barrier.

The incident occurred at around 3 p.m. Monday at Kudan****a station on the Hanzomon line in Tokyos Chiyoda Ward. On Tuesday, media and transport ministry officials criticized Tokyo Metro for not training the conductor properly in emergency procedures.

Transport minister Keiichi Ishii met with the president of Tokyo Metro and instructed the subway operator to provide an action plan for the prevention of similar incidents in the future, Sankei Shimbun reported.

It could have led to a very serious accident. What happened is extremely regrettable, Ishii said after the meeting.

According to Tokyo Metro, a mother holding her baby and accompanied by another of her children entered the train first, followed by the father who was pushing the empty stroller. As he attempted to get on the train, the doors closed and one of the wheels got stuck, leaving him on the platform.

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.

Tokyo Metro said that the trains sensors are designed to sound the alert when an object 1.5 cms or more gets stuck in the door, Sankei reported. This automatically stops the train from moving. However, the shaft of the stroller that got stuck in the door was less than 1.5 cms wide.

Meanwhile, a followup investigation has revealed that the conductor, a woman in her 20s, changed shifts with another conductor at the next station and returned to the Tokyo Metro office in Shibuya. Despite knowing that there had been some kind of an emergency, she was apparently unaware of the stroller incident until being told about it by her supervisor upon her return to the office.

Tokyo Metro said the conductor was hired last year and had been working as a conductor by herself for just 19 days. 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. She also admitted not looking up and down the platform before giving the OK for the train to depart, which is customary procedure for conductors.

RailUK Forums

BestWestern · 7 Apr 2016

And we all tend to look at those frighteningly efficient Japanese railways, with their immaculate and disciplined staff, as the pinnacle. Interesting to read about the same sort of human error that occurs here happening somewhere else as well; particularly somewhere held in such high regard. A rather nasty incident.

NSEFAN · 7 Apr 2016

Was it error, or was the guard just hoping that the problem would go away so that she didn't get disciplined for the delay?

BestWestern · 7 Apr 2016

NSEFAN said:
Was it error, or was the guard just hoping that the problem would go away so that she didn't get disciplined for the delay?

One assumes the initial incident was error; unless you have reason to feel that the doors were intentionally closed on a boarding passenger?

NSEFAN · 7 Apr 2016

BestWestern said:
One assumes the initial incident was error; unless you have reason to feel that the doors were intentionally closed on a boarding passenger?

I don't know if that was the case, although given how manic Japanese railways are about time keeping it wouldn't surprise me if such a thing did occur.

What I find interesting is that the passenger alarms do not contact the driver but the conductor, and appear also to not have any effect on the brakes of the train.

edwin_m · 7 Apr 2016

NSEFAN said:
What I find interesting is that the passenger alarms do not contact the driver but the conductor, and appear also to not have any effect on the brakes of the train.

The second part is true of all passenger alarms on modern trains in the UK, as in most types of incident particularly on Metros it is safest to continue to the next station. However I think London Underground drivers are required to stop if the alarm goes off when any part of the train is in a platform.

NSEFAN · 7 Apr 2016

edwin_m said:
The second part is true of all passenger alarms on modern trains in the UK, as in most types of incident particularly on Metros it is safest to continue to the next station. However I think London Underground drivers are required to stop if the alarm goes off when any part of the train is in a platform.

My understanding was that the driver is notified and has a short time to respond, otherwise the brakes will apply. I'm happy to be corrected though!

BestWestern · 7 Apr 2016

NSEFAN said:
I don't know if that was the case, although given how manic Japanese railways are about time keeping it wouldn't surprise me if such a thing did occur.

What I find interesting is that the passenger alarms do not contact the driver but the conductor, and appear also to not have any effect on the brakes of the train.

It would be helpful to clarify what exactly the role of this Conductor is; the term has different meanings on different railways of course. Did she close the doors and dispatch the train, or did she simply fail to respond adequately to an alarm. Was she actually in a position to see what was happening, or might it have been a similar situation to when somebody sets off the 'Call for aid' in the bog of a British train - almost universally ignored. Passcoms are activated regularly on the UK network, in most cases it is something not requiring an emergency brake application. We must also consider that the Japanese media may be just as full of sh*te as ours, and we all know how accurate rail-related stories tend to be! And Japanese firms do love to apologise!

staticsteve · 8 Apr 2016

BestWestern said:
It would be helpful to clarify what exactly the role of this Conductor is; the term has different meanings on different railways of course. Did she close the doors and dispatch the train, or did she simply fail to respond adequately to an alarm....

My experience of railways in Japan is that the conductor remains in the rear cab throughout the entirity of the train's journey.

Their main role appears to be to ensure the safe dispatch of the train. As far I've seen, this usually involves opening the rear door of the train to stand half on the platform, and then to return to the cab, and close the train doors with their head poking out the rear cab window.

Usually, they keep their head poking out the window the whole time the train is exiting the station.

Also, on Japan Railways (JR) trains, I've noticed that they appear to be very observant, and are willing to pop the doors open and shut again for somebody dashing for the train.

BestWestern · 8 Apr 2016

I've also seen a video of two chaps on a platform, pointing in unison all the way down the side of a train and back again, during dispatch. That was Japan also, I believe.

plcd1 · 8 Apr 2016

staticsteve said:
My experience of railways in Japan is that the conductor remains in the rear cab throughout the entirity of the train's journey.

Their main role appears to be to ensure the safe dispatch of the train. As far I've seen, this usually involves opening the rear door of the train to stand half on the platform, and then to return to the cab, and close the train doors with their head poking out the rear cab window.

Usually, they keep their head poking out the window the whole time the train is exiting the station.

Also, on Japan Railways (JR) trains, I've noticed that they appear to be very observant, and are willing to pop the doors open and shut again for somebody dashing for the train.

What you have described above is pretty much what I observed in Tokyo when using the Subway system.

This video shows a pretty typical dispatch at busy times. This shows a KEIO commuter train serving the platform although it is part of the subway system (inter running is normal).

This NHK Video gives a good overview of Japan's Subway systems although there is a bit of "corporate speak" in it (as you might expect). NHK do produce some good shows on railways.

axlecounter · 8 Apr 2016

BestWestern said:
And we all tend to look at those frighteningly efficient Japanese railways, with their immaculate and disciplined staff, as the pinnacle. Interesting to read about the same sort of human error that occurs here happening somewhere else as well; particularly somewhere held in such high regard. A rather nasty incident.

What will be maybe very different are the consequences for the conductor involved.

NY Yankee · 12 Apr 2016

BestWestern said:
And we all tend to look at those frighteningly efficient Japanese railways, with their immaculate and disciplined staff, as the pinnacle. Interesting to read about the same sort of human error that occurs here happening somewhere else as well; particularly somewhere held in such high regard. A rather nasty incident.

Not to sound racist, but you know how Japanese people are about punctuality. She probably didn't want to stop the train because she was 30 seconds behind schedule. And the Tokyo Metro is known for dangerous overcrowding. Perhaps that was a factor as well.

I hope this doesn't discourage the Tokyo Metro from hiring more female employees.

anme · 14 Apr 2016

NY Yankee said:
I hope this doesn't discourage the Tokyo Metro from hiring more female employees.

Why on earth would it do that?

NY Yankee · 15 Apr 2016

They would feel that a female conductor is less competent than a male conductor due to this incident.

Flying_Turtle · 15 Apr 2016

As someone pointed, this is a typical case of fear compounded by inexperience. Railway culture, like aviation culture is very specific and it takes sometime to get it hardened, especially on strongly hierarchical asian cultures.
South Koreans are much worse...

upnorth71 · 15 Apr 2016

NY Yankee said:
They would feel that a female conductor is less competent than a male conductor due to this incident.

Seriously doubt it. There are other railways with plenty of female guards/conductors as well as drivers who perform their duties professionally. Not hiring women due to one incident (which may just as well have been done by a man) would be foolish- the fact is many railways are in great need of new staff regardless of gender, as the mass retirement of baby boomer employees in recent years, and a dearth of veteran middle-age employees (in their 30's and 40's), due to short-sighted hiring practices in the 1990's and early 2000's, has led to this. Also, many young men in Japan are more interested in careers like hairstylists or web app developers than old fashioned things like a career driving trains that their fathers (or rather grandfathers) aspired to.

I reckon the guard in question is due for retraining and possibly temporary if not permanent removal from operational duties.

Accident on Tokyo Metro

staticsteve

Member

RailUK Forums

BestWestern

Established Member

NSEFAN

Established Member

BestWestern

Established Member

NSEFAN

Established Member

edwin_m

Veteran Member

NSEFAN

Established Member

BestWestern

Established Member

staticsteve

Member

BestWestern

Established Member

plcd1

Member

axlecounter

Member

NY Yankee

Member

anme

Established Member

NY Yankee

Member

Flying_Turtle

Member

upnorth71

Member