700 Train Passengers Walk Along Tracks Due To Power Cut

The Den-en-toshi Line of Tokyu Railways Co. experienced a power outage on the evening of October 20 because of a substation malfunction, forcing some 700 train passengers to disembark their trains and walk along the tracks to the closest station.

Shibuya Station in Tokyo and Saginuma Station in Kanagawa Prefecture services were momentarily halted at around 5:55 p.m. due to an equipment breakdown at a substation at Sangen-jaya Station on the Den-en-toshi Line.

A total of 180,000 people were impacted by power outages on the Tokyu Oimachi Line and the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line between Shibuya and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa stations, which immediately links with the Den-en-Toshi Line.

Approximately 700 passengers got off the train and walked down the tracks to the closest stop following the blackout, according to Tokyu Railways.

About three and a half hours later, the Den-en-Toshi Line resumed regular service, but when people walked home, there were lengthy lineups of office workers and others. A 47-year-old female office worker from Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, walked from Futako-Tamagawa Station to her residence. She just traveled one stop, but because of the heavy traffic on the sidewalks, it took her longer than normal to cross the bridge—about 30 minutes instead of the usual five.

She added, “Everyone appeared to be unable to do anything. The road was crowded with people as well. I was brought back to mind by the Great East Japan Earthquake.”

A 26-year-old male office worker from Yamato in Kanagawa Prefecture claimed that it took him one hour and forty minutes to walk the seven stops from Futako-Tamagawa Station to Saginuma Station.

“I adjusted my perspective and decided that walking would be a beneficial exercise. I overheard two middle-aged guys arguing after bumping into each other “He remembered. 

Source: The Mainichi

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