Bullet train services between Tokyo and Kanazawa in central Japan fully resumed Friday about two weeks after a powerful typhoon caused widespread damage to trains, rail tracks and signal equipment.
The resumption of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train service between Tokyo and the popular tourist spot in Ishikawa Prefecture is among the first signs of recovery of the devastated area.
Service between Nagano and Joetsu-Myoko stations on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line had been suspended since Oct. 12, when Typhoon Hagibis made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu.
However, the Kagayaki bullet trains, the fastest service linking Tokyo and Kanazawa, operated about 90 percent of pre-disaster schedules with 10 inundated trains taken out of service. The slower Hakutaka trains operated as before, according to East Japan Railway Co. and West Japan Railway Co.
For the Asama bullet trains, linking Tokyo and Nagano on the shinkansen line, 11 services were reduced from 34 pre-disaster. For Tsurugi trains, between Kanazawa and Toyama, one service was cut out of 36 pre-disaster, the two companies said.
Asama and Tsurugi trains stop at more stations than Kagayaki and Hakutaka.
At Tokyo Station, many travelers were seen lining up at the shinkansen platform on Friday morning.
"I thought getting to Toyama would be impossible after seeing images of the trains submerged in water, but I'm glad that they've resumed operations," said Takehisa Hatano, 40, who was on his way to his home prefecture of Toyama, central Japan, to take part in a marathon event there on Sunday.
(Bullet trains at a flooded rail yard on Oct. 13, 2019)
According to JR East, the 10 trains, totaling 120 carriages, became submerged in water at a rail yard in Nagano as the season's 19th typhoon swept across huge swaths of the country. Before the disaster, 24 out of 30 trains in total had been in service.
Another passenger at Kanazawa Station said she canceled her plans to fly to Tokyo and opted for the shinkansen as services were resumed.
"I didn't think they'd resume this quickly," said Shinobu Fukushima, 40, heading to Tokyo on a Kagayaki train. "I'm happy because it's a hassle to get to the airport."
"We deeply regret the inconveniences to passengers" caused by the typhoon, transportation minister Kazuyoshi Akaba said Friday. "We have instructed JR East to fully investigate why it failed to evacuate (the submerged) trains."
The transport ministry has been checking the preparedness of railway companies across Japan for flooding after the major damage caused by Typhoon Hagibis. "We will conclude the examination on such countermeasures for shinkansen as soon as possible," Akaba added.
Approximately 51,300 passengers used the Hokuriku shinkansen per day between April and September this year, with seat occupancy rates hitting around 60 percent.
Typhoon Hagibis killed more than 80 people, left some 2,400 homes heavily damaged or destroyed and inundated at least 25,000 hectares on the country's main island of Honshu, according to government data.
(Japanese inn representatives welcome passengers arriving at Nagano Station)
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