Bullet train services restarted in eastern Japan on Tuesday after being suspended in some areas following the breakdown of a maintenance vehicle early in the morning, their operator said.
East Japan Railway Co. fully resumed operations at around 12:30 p.m. between Tokyo and Sendai stations on the Tohoku and Akita shinkansen lines, as well as between Tokyo and Fukushima on the Yamagata Shinkansen.
A total of 76 trains on the three lines were canceled, and 20 trains were delayed by up to five and a half hours, affecting about 43,500 people, the company said.
An oil leak was discovered on the maintenance vehicle working at Fukushima Station at around 5:05 a.m. when its operators were checking for obstacles on the tracks, interrupting the inspection work, the rail operator said.
The suspension was not due to the strong earthquake that occurred in northeastern Japan areas early in the morning, it said.
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