Tokyo, Jan 1 A train collided with a car at a railway crossing on the JR Utsunomiya Line in Shiraoka City, Saitama Prefecture, on Thursday, police and fire officials said, adding that the train may have derailed after the incident.
The accident occurred at around 2:20 pm local time when the train struck the car as it was passing through the crossing, causing severe damage to the car, according to local authorities, Xinhua news agency reported. One man was caught in the car, and rescue operations were underway, according to the fire department. No injuries among passengers on the train have been reported.
According to JR East, the train driver reported after the accident that "the train may have derailed," and they are currently investigating the details of the incident.
Due to the accident, the Shonan-Shinjuku Line has suspended operations on both the up and down lines between Shinjuku Station and Utsunomiya Station.
Last month, the Bullet train services on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line in northeastern Japan were temporarily suspended after a swan was spotted on the tracks, country's leading newswire Kyodo news reported citing the railway operator.
"At around 10:20 am, the driver of a train travelling between Kurikoma-Kogen and Furukawa stations in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, stopped due to the bird's presence on the tracks. The train did not hit the swan. According to JR East, a total of three trains, including the initially impacted service, were delayed, affecting about 1,300 passengers," the report stated.
Quoting a statement from the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), it added that services were temporarily halted for both tracks from Kurikoma-Kogen to Sendai due to operations to remove the swan and the trains resumed operation about 40 minutes later.
According to JR East, the Tohoku Shinkansen began operating in 1982. It runs between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori, the longest distance of any line operated by JR East. There is also direct service with other lines including the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which runs between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto.
The Shinkansen are renowned all over the world for their speed and exceptional on-time performance.
"The Shinkansen travels at up to speeds of 177 miles per hour. If you were to take the Shinkansen straight from New York to Los Angeles, you could be there in just 14 hours! Engineers achieved this speed through a combination of several ingenious solutions: an aerodynamic design for the train fuselage, a track that cuts through Japan's famously mountainous terrain with minimal curves and a state of the art Automatic Train Control system that keeps trains running at their maximum safe speed for every segment of the journey," states the Japanese high-speed-rail operator.
It mentions that there have been zero accidents resulting in fatalities or injuries to passengers onboard since the Shinkansen operations commenced.
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