Bullet train services between Tokyo and northeastern Japan were suspended for more than five hours Tuesday after a not-in-service train ground to a halt between stations, JR East said.
The bullet train stopped in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, around 11:25 a.m. Service between Tokyo and Sendai stations on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line resumed at 5 p.m.
According to JR East, 80 trains on the Tohoku, Akita, and Yamagata shinkansen lines were canceled, affecting around 54,700 passengers.
Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a passenger transferring from a shinkansen (R) to another bullet train using a gangway in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, on June 17, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
The defective train, which is a new type that debuted in the spring of last year, departed Ueno Station in Tokyo at 10:36 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Morioka Station in the northeastern prefecture of Iwate at 1:14 p.m.
However, it came to a stop between Utsunomiya and Nasushiobara stations due to a malfunction, forcing two other trains to stop between the stations.
Following on-site repairs, the defective train was able to travel to Nasushiobara Station at around 4 p.m.
The railway operator said 682 passengers aboard one of the two halted trains were transferred via a gangplank to another train.
The other halted train, carrying 480 passengers, returned to Utsunomiya Station, with passengers given bottled water after getting off. The temperature in Utsunomiya reached 35.0 C, the hottest day of the year so far, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
“I felt really anxious thinking about whether the air conditioner would stop,” said a woman from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan.
An electronic sign at JR Sendai Station in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, notifies passengers of the temporary suspension of services in both directions on the Tokyo-Sendai section of the Tohoku Shinkansen Line on June 17, 2025, following a malfunction that saw a train stop between stations. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Photo shows a crowded JR Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture after the Tohoku Shinkansen Line suspended services on June 17, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
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