1,350 Stranded On Hokuriku Line Trains Due To Blackout Caused By Snow

Above, this is what it's like to be stranded for hours in a train car in Japan. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

More news stories about commuter trains being stranded for hour due to power blackouts from heavy snow are still coming out of Japan.

The latest is from The Japan Times:

KANAZAWA, ISHIKAWA PREF. – West Japan Railway Co. resumed train service Monday morning along the JR Hokuriku Line in northern Niigata Prefecture, where about 1,350 passengers were stranded by a blackout triggered by heavy snow the day before. 

According to JR West, the power outage occurred at around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, leaving passengers trapped in three limited express trains bound for Kanazawa. The trains were halted near Naoetsu and Echigo-Yuzawa stations in Niigata Prefecture.

As regular readers of this blog know, after arriving in Japan at Narita International Airport last February, I was stuck inside a Keisei Line train in Chiba Prefecture due to unusually heavy snow. It took me 22 hours after landing at the airport to finally reach my hotel in Ueno. Thankfully, a fellow passenger called my hotel to let them know of my situation so that they would hold my room.

We had no power problems as the lights and heaters inside the train cars were working.

After that experience, I can empathize with those passengers in the current news stories.

To read more, go here.