A coupler connecting the Hayabusa No. 21 and Komachi No. 21 trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train line in eastern and northeastern Japan came undone on Thursday, temporarily halting service.
According to East Japan Railway (JR East) the incident occurred between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Omiya Station in Saitama Prefecture at around 11:30 a.m. after the Hayabusa-Komachi train left Tokyo Station. The double train made an emergency stop.
All 450 passengers in the 10-car Hayabusa train, bound for Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture, and 200 in the seven-car Komachi train, bound for Akita Station in Akita Prefecture, were unharmed, according to JR East.
Following the incident, all operations on the Tohoku, Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen lines were suspended before resuming around 2:30 p.m.
Both the Hayabusa and Komachi trains were restarted, heading again for Omiya Station, about three hours after they detached.
The Japan Transport Safety Board decided to send three railway accident investigators to look into the incident.
A similar incident occurred in Miyagi Prefecture last September on the Tohoku Shinkansen line. JR East said that detachment was caused by a switch problem due to metal shavings.
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