Train Crew Get Lecture on Protective Equipment Usage

July 26, 2018

Tokyo- Train crew got a lecture on how to use protective shields and "sasumata" man catchers in Tokyo on Thursday after a stabbing rampage on a Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train in June.

Some 130 people participated in the event held in a Shinkansen railyard mainly by Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and East Japan Railway Co. or JR East.

A security company explained how to use knife-proof vests, transparent shields and extendable sasumata forked poles, followed by a demonstration by the police.

After that, train crew members practiced how to respond to a situation in which a knife-wielding man was yelling death threats in a Hayabusa bullet train car.

A participant who played the role of a train conductor restrained the man using protective equipment while telling him to calm down.

"It's important to enhance our capabilities to respond to an incident. We hope the protective equipment will become available as soon as possible" in bullet trains, said Masaya Ishida, chief of JR East's crisis management office.

On Wednesday, Central Japan Railway Co. or JR Tokai, announced a plan to equip bullet trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line with shields and sasumatas for use by crew members and security guards from next month.

In the June incident, a knife-wielding man killed a passenger and injured two others. Jiji Press