JR Joban Line Suspended Due to Power Failure at Tokyo’s Ueno

Tokyo, Jan. 30 (Jiji Press)–Train services on East Japan Railway Co.’s Joban Line were partially suspended for about seven hours Friday after an overhead power line snapped at Tokyo’s Ueno Station. The power outage occurred around 7 a.m. near Ueno Station in Taito Ward, halting local and rapid services on some sections in both directions, according to the company, known as JR East. Four trains that had stopped between stations were evacuated, with passengers guided along the tracks to the nearest stations. The suspended services partially resumed shortly after 10 a.m. But local operations between Shinagawa Station in Tokyo and Abiko Station in Chiba Prefecture, which neighbors Tokyo, and rapid services between Shinagawa and Matsudo Station in Chiba remained halted in both directions until about 2 p.m., when the services were fully restored. The disruption also led to suspensions of services on the Utsunomiya and Takasaki lines. Operations on both lines resumed shortly after 8 a.m., but through services with the Tokaido Line were canceled. JR East had a train service disruption also on Jan. 16, when services on its busy Yamanote Line were halted for about eight hours from the first train of the day due to a nighttime maintenance error. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]