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Woman gets trapped between train and platform, fellow commuters push to rescue her

Preston Phro Jul 23, 2013
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It’s Monday, which is the worst way to start the week, isn’t it? So, how about some heart-warming news to get things going?

Let’s see, what have we got? Oh, yes, a story about how, while alighting from a train in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, a woman slipped and became pinned between the train and the platform.

Wait, that’s not the heart-warming part!

Around 9:15 on Monday morning at Minamiurawa Station, a woman in her 30s got the fright of her life when she slipped and found herself lodged between the train and the platform, pinned at her hips.

Fortunately, the station staff were paying close attention and caught the problem immediately, quickly announcing, “Someone is trapped!”

According to one Twitter user who was on the scene at the time, the station staff first asked passengers to move to the opposite side of the train, but when it became clear that merely shifting their weight to one side of the car wasn’t going to be enough to pull the unfortunate commuter free, staff called everyone off the train to help.

Fellow commuters then disembarked and pushed the train away from the platform with all their might, allowing the staff to free the trapped woman.

Once she was pulled to safety, the woman was taken to the hospital, though fortunately she had no visible injuries.

If you’re wondering how this could possibly happen, the East Japan Railway Company explained that the gap between the train and platform is about 20 centimeters (7.87 inches). Just enough for someone to get properly stuck, we imagine.

The company went on to explain that the train car weighed about 32 tonnes (about 35 US tons), including its base and wheels. However, thanks to the suspension, pushing on the car only moved the upper body, and didn’t affect the wheels’ placement.

Apparently, even with all this commotion, the train was only eight minutes late! We’re thinking the company should get a new logo, maybe something like: “East Japan Railways: getting you to work and giving you a solid workout!”

Japanese Internet users felt the cockles of their hearts warming:

This is such a great story!

This is really amazing.

I’m glad she wasn’t injured!

What a sense of unity. I wish I could have to been there. I wish I could have helped them push.

It’s a great story, but the photo is so surreal!

All that and only eight minutes late? Isn’t that amazing?

It looks like a festival!

Japan’s not finished after all!

Who the heck took this photo? If you have time to snap pictures, get in there and push!!

There’s always someone who’s got something to grumble about…

This isn’t the first time that someone has fallen from the edge of a platform in Japan. Just last month, a woman fell through the gap at Roppongi Station and ended up lying next to the train as it departed, having been mistaken for dropped luggage. Fortunately, that woman also survived unscathed.

Well, we hope you have a great Monday! If nothing else, you can at least be glad you’re not trapped between a train car and a platform!

Sources: Itai News 2Channel, Yomiuri Online, Twitter