Japanese train departs 20 seconds early ....

[Adlington]

.... and the management of the Tsukuba Express line sincerely apologised for the inconvenience caused.

In a statement, the company said the train had been scheduled to leave at 9:44:40 local time but left at 9:44:20.

The mistake happened because staff had not checked the timetable, the company statement said.
"The crew did not sufficiently check the departure time and performed the departure operation," it said.

It added that no customers had complained about the early departure

I guess "insufficient checking the departure time" is not unheard of closer to home, but has anybody seen an apology for an early departure anywhere?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've had a retrospective apology from a TOC but never on the spot. 20s is probably neither here nor there, but substantially early is effectively a cancellation for some people.

 

[paddington]

20s is probably neither here nor there

In Japan, it may be.

But in this case, unless you had obtained the working timetable and used that to plan your journey, you wouldn't have known the difference anyway

 

[plymothian]

They'll all be sent to correctional school and flogged then.

 

[Adlington]

It's very softly-softly now, seppuku isn't expected...

 

[axlecounter]

Had it happen on my train once. Didn't notice the in-cab clock was 30s ahead, assumed it was in sync with the station clock. So at :00 closed the doors and off I went... In 2 minutes time I had control calling me because someone complained about an early departure. Whoops.

 

[Adlington]

Was it the end of the story as far as you were concerned? Or was there any disciplinary action taken?

 

[axlecounter]

None. I was just told what I already knew: the cab clock does not count, look at the platform one before departing...
I guess the company apologized to the passenger with some standard letter.

 

[WideRanger]

In Japan, for JR trains the authoritative time keeper is the pocket watch (literally an old style analogue pocket watch that the driver and guard carry) which has its own hole on the panel. I'm assuming that they are synchronised with the master clock pretty regularly. When drivers change, they swap out the watch too.

Tsukuba Express is a private (and relatively new company) so may not have the same approach.

 

[175mph]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-inexcusable-25-second-early-departure.html

I know the Japanese are known for perfection, especially when it comes to trains, but maybe this is an example of taking perfection a little too far?

Has anyone here ever had this issue with trains leaving early either here or abroad?

 

[yorkie]

I know the Japanese are known for perfection, especially when it comes to trains, but maybe this is an example of taking perfection a little too far?

Has anyone here ever had this issue with trains leaving early either here or abroad?

Maybe a little, but Virgin Trains at London Euston could learn from them They regularly leave early or at least they used to.

 

[175mph]

Maybe a little, but Virgin Trains at London Euston could learn from them They regularly leave early or at least they used to.

I know someone who missed an East Midlands train from leaving 1 minute early.

 

[Warwick]

I - and other passengers - missed a train in London's Victoria about thirty years ago due to it's leaving two minutes early. A couple of us went to the station office where - naturally - the early leaving was denied. The man eventually backed down when he realised three of couldn't have mis-read the time.
It is I suppose an unusual thing. Trains - especially FGW ones I find - tend to leave and run late rather than leave and run early.

 

[radamfi]

What do they call "departure time" in Japan? When the train actually starts moving or when you can no longer board the train?

 

[YorkshireBear]

I once missed a TPE train which left Dewsbury 3 minutes early. I ran down platform and as the train passed with guard hanging head out of window i pointed at the time and he looked and went white before exclaiming 'F***s Sake, sorry mate'.

 

[Three-Nine]

Those fond of pointing out the "wrong kind of rolling stock" in stock news article photos will note that the train depicted is not the kind used by the Tsukuba Express line but likely a JR East 700 series shinkansen...

It could be said that in Japan there is generally no such thing as "good enough"; like most things about Japan the pursuit of perfection is both a cliche and also something with the ring of truth behind it.

I had the interesting experience of being delayed on a shinkansen a few weeks ago; apparently the "Nozomi" service in front of us was held up for some reason, causing a few minutes delay to my train; I only found out the cause because a Japanese person in front of me was speaking in English to his friend though.

 

[class387]

Those fond of pointing out the "wrong kind of rolling stock" in stock news article photos will note that the train depicted is not the kind used by the Tsukuba Express line but likely a JR East 700 series shinkansen...

It could be said that in Japan there is generally no such thing as "good enough"; like most things about Japan the pursuit of perfection is both a cliche and also something with the ring of truth behind it.

I had the interesting experience of being delayed on a shinkansen a few weeks ago; apparently the "Nozomi" service in front of us was held up for some reason, causing a few minutes delay to my train; I only found out the cause because a Japanese person in front of me was speaking in English to his friend though.

Here's my interesting Shinkansen experience. Hmm...

Shows a Shinkansen departure board, with all three trains delayed by 20+ minutes

 

[trainmania100]

Here's my interesting Shinkansen experience. Hmm...

View attachment 46759

So much for everything running to perfect timing

 

[pemma]

I've been on a Renfe MD service which departed some of the lesser used stations 2 minutes early.

 

[Three-Nine]

It happens. Japanese railway companies are no more immune to various delay causes than any other, and in fact its not unusual whilst travelling around on the Yamanote line in Tokyo to see the in-train video screens display delays for various lines, though the information in English tends to be a bit scanty, with phrases like "Cause: Cable Problem", "Cause: Passenger Injury" and the favourite of mine I saw once "Cause: Bear".

The typically severe winter weather (the provided image appears to involve the Akita shinkansen; Akita prefecture is in Northern Japan and thus probably more affected by bad weather in winter, was that image taken around then?). and typhoons also tend to affect things most years to one degree or another. What the Japanese term "human incidents" - suicides - are also probably more prevalent, and of course UK railways very rarely have to deal with the consequences of earthquakes. On the other hand, at least on a typical two or three week visit its been my experience that severe delays tend to be very unusual.

 

[class387]

It happens. Japanese railway companies are no immune to various delay causes

Of course. Delays happen everywhere. But I just found it entertaining that my only ride on the Shinkansen happened to be delayed.

 

[MisterT]

Last time I was in Japan, approximately 50% of the Shinkansen trains I took were delayed by 5 minutes or more (over a time period of two weeks, so it was not on one single day). We didn't even get as much as an apology.
Every time I read an article about the 'perfect Japanese railways', I have a good laugh about the writer, who obviously has never been in the real Japan, especially during rush hours

 

[radamfi]

Are there statistics for Japanese train punctuality?

 

[WideRanger]

What do they call "departure time" in Japan? When the train actually starts moving or when you can no longer board the train?

It seems, from experience, to be when they close the doors

 

[Three-Nine]

class387, my "they happen" comment was directed at trainmania100s comment, for some reason it didn't quote properly.

My shinkansen trips when I'm there tend to be once every few days, rather than regular "commuter" style trips, and I don't slavishly keep timings so its quite possible I've been delayed more often than I realised and just didn't notice, compared to someone using them every day for weeks.

The average delay for shinkansen, according to internet figures, is 0.9 minutes per train per year. This includes delays for natural disasters. Its unclear if this figure is for every shinkansen service, or just a particular operator like JR East.

Many impressions of "perfect Japanese trains" often seem to originate in the almost annual newspaper travel article on Japan, one which appears about once a year in different newspapers with only minor differences in writing...

Having said all this, again, in my experience usually the least of my worries when I'm in Japan is actually the train travel. I accidentally booked a shinkansen journey on the same holiday this year with a two-minute connecting time - and still made it! (helped that it was just a case of crossing from one side of the platform to the other, but those who've used shinkansen know you still have to find your coach from up to sixteen!).

 

[WideRanger]

Are there statistics for Japanese train punctuality?

If you are travelling in the main Tokyo Metropolitan systems (including the JR lines) during the height of morning rush hour, most trains will be late, but it won't be highlighted unless there is a big gap in service (such that trains can't run at all for some reason - like technical failure, earthquake, bad weather or suicide).

Platform indicators normally show the timetabled departure time for the train. But when the timetable becomes around 10 mins late, they switch to show the number of minutes until the train is expected. Nobody really cares, because this only really happens when the trains have become bunched up, and therefore coming every minute or so. And it happens most days. It will often be until around 10am before the extra trains have been removed from the system and there is space for the trains to catch up with the timetable.

There isn't so much of an evening rush hour, so there isn't a massive increase in trains in the evening, so it is much less frequent to experience delays then.

 

[Victor C]

Those fond of pointing out the "wrong kind of rolling stock" in stock news article photos will note that the train depicted is not the kind used by the Tsukuba Express line but likely a JR East 700 series shinkansen...

The train depicted is a N700 series owned by either JR Central or JR West (some of them - the 'R' sets - are owned by JR Kyushu, but those have a different livery), not the 700 series (which, just like the N700, was jointly designed by JR Central and JR West).

Interestingly, Tsukuba Express uses a 1067 mm narrow gauge like most of other Japanese non-high-speed lines, whereas Shinkansen lines are all standard gauge (1435 mm), so they aren't compatible with each other. (Loading gauges are also vastly different, of course)

 

[Beebman]

Last year I visited Japan and I made a journey to place called Kurihama which is to the south of Yokohama and which is served by two different railway companies. My outward journey was on the Keikyu Railway and then I walked across to the nearby JR East station for the return leg. I arrived on the platform about 3 minutes before the train was due to find that it wasn't on the departure screen. There was a long announcement on the PA in Japanese which I couldn't understand and there was a number of other people on the platform looking rather p*ssed-off. Presumably the train I'd gone for had been cancelled? Anyway, I wasn't in any particular hurry and the next train turned up on time 20 minutes later. During my trip I had no other delays more than the odd minute or two here and there but I was really surprised when that train didn't turn up at Kurihama.

 

[class387]

Last year I visited Japan and I made a journey to place called Kurihama which is to the south of Yokohama and which is served by two different railway companies. My outward journey was on the Keikyu Railway and then I walked across to the nearby JR East station for the return leg. I arrived on the platform about 3 minutes before the train was due to find that it wasn't on the departure screen. There was a long announcement on the PA in Japanese which I couldn't understand and there was a number of other people on the platform looking rather p*ssed-off. Presumably the train I'd gone for had been cancelled? Anyway, I wasn't in any particular hurry and the next train turned up on time 20 minutes later. During my trip I had no other delays more than the odd minute or two here and there but I was really surprised when that train didn't turn up at Kurihama.

To be honest of all the trains I went on in Japan, Keikyu was the company I was most impressed with. Nice trains (with transverse seating), punctual and frequent.

 

[Three-Nine]

The train depicted is a N700 series owned by either JR Central or JR West (some of them - the 'R' sets - are owned by JR Kyushu, but those have a different livery), not the 700 series (which, just like the N700, was jointly designed by JR Central and JR West).

Yes, poor choice of words on my part, I should have said "possibly", not "likely" and I'll admit I was pretty much guessing.