Bullet Trains In Japan Halted By A Snake
A rogue snake brought Japan’s famously punctual bullet trains to a halt by short-circuiting a power line between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima.
Well, here’s a turn-up for the books. Japan’s famously punctual bullet trains—those sleek, futuristic marvels of modern transport—were thrown completely off track this Wednesday. And what, you may ask, was the cause of this commuter kerfuffle? A snake. Yes, you read that correctly. A proper, live, and rather crispy snake.
At precisely 5:25pm, somewhere between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima stations, a metre-long serpent decided it fancied a bit of high-speed adventure. Instead of buying a ticket like everyone else, it chose to shimmy up an electricity pole and onto a power line. Big mistake. Not only did it meet a rather shocking end, but it also managed to short-circuit the entire system, bringing the Tokaido Shinkansen—Japan’s busiest high-speed line—to a screeching halt.
Cue widespread dismay. Hundreds of passengers, who were presumably just hoping to get home, visit nan in Kyoto or nip over to Osaka for the Golden Week festivities, found themselves stuck mid-journey. Lights and air-conditioning stayed on, which is more than can be said for Railways on a good day, but the bullet trains weren’t budging.
“I use the shinkansen several times a month, but this is the first time I’ve experienced this sort of thing,” said one clearly bemused passenger. Frankly, mate, you’re lucky. In India we’ve had entire lines shut because reasons sillier.
Now, you might imagine this sort of disruption happens regularly. It doesn’t. The Tokaido line is a model of efficiency, with bullet trains that typically run to the nearest second, carry over 430,000 passengers a day, and haven’t caused a single injury in over 60 years of operation. Yes, that’s right—no injuries, no fatalities, just an exemplary record and the occasional rogue reptile.
This isn’t the first time a snake’s thrown a spanner in the works, either. In 2009, another hissy fit on the power lines caused delays, and last year, a smaller 40cm intruder was spotted slithering about inside a carriage headed from Nagoya to Tokyo. The staff couldn’t find it (perhaps it fancied the bento cart), and the whole carriage had to be swapped out, delaying the service by 17 minutes—a national scandal, no doubt.
This latest incident, though, couldn’t have come at a worse time. With Golden Week in full swing and the Osaka Expo pulling crowds like moths to a lantern, the snaky stowaway caused a ripple through the normally smooth-running machine of Japanese travel.
Power was finally restored just after 7pm. The snake, it goes without saying, did not survive the encounter. Authorities haven’t said what species it was, but one thing’s for sure—it won’t be trying that again in a hurry.
All told, it’s a reminder that even in the most clockwork of societies, nature occasionally slithers in with a cheeky grin and throws the whole timetable out the window. As they say : you can plan all you like, but sometimes life just throws you a snake on the power line.
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