Tokyo-Osaka bullet train service resumes after all-day disruption

Bullet trains connecting Tokyo and Osaka resumed full service from the first run on Tuesday, after an accident involving railway maintenance vehicles caused an all-day suspension on part of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line a day earlier.

JR Central completed restoration work late Monday night and increased the number of trains in the morning as part of the response to the disruption.

A train service information board at JR Hamamatsu Station in Shizuoka Prefecture shows the resumption of services on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines on the morning of July 23, 2024. (Kyodo)

Long queues of families and foreign tourists formed at ticket counters at various stations in the morning.

“The unexpected stay in Tokyo cost me extra money, and I had to wake up early to make it to school today,” said a 15-year-old high school student who returned to Nagoya on a morning bullet train after going to a concert in Tokyo with a friend.

High-speed train service on the line, which takes large numbers of tourists to Kyoto, was significantly disrupted Monday after a maintenance vehicle rear-ended another on the eastbound track in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, according to JR Central.

The accident left two workers injured and led to the cancellation of 328 train runs, affecting approximately 250,000 people, the company said. Shinkansen trains were canceled between Nagoya and Hamamatsu throughout the day.

JR Central said it plans to conduct an inspection of all maintenance vehicles to avoid a recurrence of the incident.

JR Nagoya Station in Aichi Prefecture bustles with travelers as the Tokaido Shinkansen Line resumes full operation on the morning of July 23, 2024. (Kyodo)

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