As of this week, long-suffering passengers on Japan's crowded local train lines are still awaiting a satisfactory explanation, rather than an excuse, for why they were overcharged if they followed the posted fare tables. In some cases, the overcharging has continued for more than three years. The reasons being offered by harried railway officials since the fare miscalculations were discovered early last month, while doubtless based on fact, offer small comfort to those beleaguered travelers who were regularly required to pay more than necessary for the dubious privilege of being packed into rush-hour trains crowded almost beyond endurance.

The lines operated by the formerly state-owned Japan Railways have been the worst offenders, with the wrong fares displayed at 747 stations managed by its five regional units. East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) was at the forefront, responsible for fully 46 percent of the stations posting erroneous fare tables. Even worse, at 95 of its stations in the Tokyo area alone, passengers transferring from subway lines were overcharged by as much as 50 yen by the machines intended to show what, if any, additional payment is required. Japan Central Railway Co. (JR Tokai) appears to have been close behind.

Questions are immediately raised by reports that the discovery of the fare miscalculations first arose from a single telephone call to the JR East customer-service center on Nov. 11 from a passenger asking about what he correctly believed to be an excessive fare posted on a display panel. Does that mean no other user of the JR system has ever questioned the cost of a trip since fares were last raised in 1997? The experience reported by many passengers, and the often brusque answers they received from station attendants, suggests otherwise.