Tohoku Shinkansen Services Briefly Halted after Train Car Decoupling

Tokyo, Sept. 19 (Jiji Press)--A coupler of a train comprising Hayabusa cars and Komachi cars on the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train line came undone while the train was heading for Tokyo on Thursday, causing it to make an emergency stop and services on the line to be halted temporarily.

The Hayabusa-Komachi No. 6 train, made up of 10 Hayabusa cars and seven Komachi cars, did not derail, according to East Japan Railway Co., or JR East.

Following the train decoupling incident, services were suspended on both directions for the whole of the Shinkansen line between Tokyo Station and Shin-Aomori Station in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Aomori. Operations restarted around 1:10 p.m.

The coupler came undone shortly after 8 a.m., and the Hayabusa-Komachi No. 6 train stopped at a point some 6 kilometers from Furukawa Station in Miyagi Prefecture, according to JR East. There have been no reports of injuries among around 200 passengers of the Hayabusa cars and some 120 passengers of the Komachi cars.

After the incident, the Hayabusa part of the train and the Komachi part departed for Sendai Station shortly after 11:30 a.m. and shortly after noon, respectively.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]