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Commuter chaos at Shibuya Station after glass window breaks on door of crowded Japanese train

Oona McGee Dec 12, 2018
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Crowds came to a standstill at rush hour as staff inspected the damage.

With millions of commuters making their way through stations around Tokyo every day, the key to managing crowds and ensuring passengers have a safe and easy commute is punctuality, with trains running on time at regular intervals to help whisk crowds of people off to other destinations.

When one train runs late, platforms begin to fill up and carriages quickly become overcrowded, and when there’s a major delay, the city’s massive population of daily commuters clearly becomes evident as stations fill to overflowing and crowds come to a standstill.

That’s what happened this Monday at Shibuya Station, and it was all due to a shattered glass window on the door of a Tokyo train.

ガラスを割れ!　渋谷駅 pic.twitter.com/AcWb2oTyWA

— reiwa_20 (@jyohochef) December 10, 2018

Commuter and Twitter user @ohnoemi was able to capture a clear image of the broken window and crowded carriage, saying:

“The window on the door of a packed train at Shibuya shattered. I wonder if it was due to a crack in the glass. The train can’t depart so this is going to cause a lot of trouble. That means I’ll have to give up trying to get on board.”

渋谷発の満員電車でドア窓が割れた😲💨
亀裂入ってたのかな。。。こんなんじゃあ電車出発できないから大変だぁぁ。というわけで、乗るのを諦めたアタイ。🙏💨#田園都市線 #渋谷 #窓割れた pic.twitter.com/uTSf9OqJ3f

— NoemiTajima (@ohnoemi) December 10, 2018

She wasn’t the only commuter unable to board the train, as the platform quickly filled up with even more commuters, who shared their own pictures of the incident online.

https://twitter.com/45aya818/status/1072056033932013568 https://twitter.com/TKK_8606/status/1072067614854176770

The break occurred on the fourth carriage of a train on the Denentoshi subway line at Shibuya Station during rush hour just after 6 p.m.

田園都市線渋谷駅にて
衝撃映像 pic.twitter.com/55kFP3ERSR

— C (@Chiidoon) December 10, 2018

▼ Staff eventually cleared the train to investigate the damage.

https://twitter.com/detima_dal_tk/status/1072068108930535426

As commuters on the entire train were forced to disembark onto the already crowded platform, it left them with such little room to move that they were dangerously close to the train when it departed. This Twitter user shows just how close they were to the edge of the platform when the train took off (seen at 1:50 in the clip).

https://twitter.com/kamiyamah_jong/status/1072061766887071744

The incident caused major delays on a number of subway lines, including the Hanzomon and Fukutoshin lines, as the station became packed with commuters trying to get home via different routes.

半蔵門線渋谷駅
ガラス破損があったようで大変混んでいます。渋谷駅入線時速度を落としているのと列車間隔調整で遅れが見込まれます。
半蔵門線利用の際は注意して下さい。 pic.twitter.com/D6DHgUrusa

— ひまメトロ (@himametro) December 10, 2018

#田園都市線 #渋谷駅 #車両 #窓ガラスが割れて入場規制。#ホームはご覧の通り。 2本は待つ模様。。。18時半時点。 pic.twitter.com/IXL21gu5UK

— 安倍宏行 (@senorbarba) December 10, 2018

Commuters outside of Shibuya Station were also affected, as this image shows the Hanzomon Line delayed in both directions in and out of Shibuya, with no time given for the next train’s arrival, even at 6:57 p.m.

半蔵門線
渋谷駅にてガラス破損のため時間が表示されていません。
渋谷方面・押上方面ともに。 pic.twitter.com/gn1C31tsFD

— ひまメトロ (@himametro) December 10, 2018

Train services returned to normal later that evening, with no injuries reported from the incident. According to reports, this is the second time a glass panel has shattered on a Denentoshi Line train, with a window broken in 2016 after a student hit his head on the glass. As a result, Tokyu Corporation, the operators of the line, increased the thickness of the glass from three to four millimetres (0.12-0.16 inches).

Tokyu is currently investigating Monday’s incident, with no word yet on what actions will be taken to ensure this type of accident doesn’t happen again.

Source: Matomedane
Featured image: Twitter/@ohnoemi