Japan: Train leaves 25 sec early; operator apologises

West Japan Railway (JR West), a train operator in Japan, has issued a public apology for the inconvenience caused due to a train leaving the station 25 seconds before the scheduled time, on May 11. A passenger who got left behind reported this to the station in-charge and it was escalated to the company top bosses.

At the Notogawa Station, Shiga Prefecture, an express train departed at 7:11:35 am, 25 seconds before its scheduled time. The conductor of the train mistook the departure time to be at 7:11 am instead of 7:12 am. After closing the doors and realising his mistake, the conductor glanced at the empty platform and decided to not reopen the doors, as the time taken in opening and closing the doors again would likely cause the departure to be delayed beyond 7:12 am. However, there were some passengers on the platform who were looking to board the train. These passengers got left behind and went on to inform the station attendant about the early departure of the train.

The next train leaves at 7:19 am and arrives at the destination at 9:20 am - 6 minutes after the 7:11 am train. This would result in a delay to the passengers, especially students and employees. Passengers with onward connections would be further delayed due to missing the connecting trains.

Japanese trains are known for their on-time performance down to the exact second. Train drivers are trained to be able to gauge the exact speed of the train without looking at the speedometer to ascertain the correct speed to reach a destination at the exact appointed time. Additionally, in case of delays over 5 minutes and at times even lesser, and for reasons beyond the operator’s controls, a delay certificate is issued at the station as a valid excuse for running late.

Source - Japan Today