A Japanese bullet train, travelling at 150km/h, was left in the hands of a conductor for several minutes while the driver responded to an urgent call of nature.
Happily, for the 160 passengers on board the Hikari 633, the episode was incident-free.
Senior Central Japan Railway Company official Masahiro Hayatsu told reporters: ‘It was an extremely inappropriate act. We apologise.’
According to the BBC, the 36-year-old driver, who has not been named, had suffered a stomach ache and needed to use the toilet urgently. He called a conductor into the cockpit to man the controls, and then left for about three minutes to use the lavatory in a passenger cabin.
The report notes that Japan’s famously efficient railways are strictly regulated with high safety standards, and rail accidents are rare. The last major incident happened in 2005 when a train derailed in the western city of Amagasaki, killing 107 people.
The Shinkansen, which is Japan’s bullet train rail network, has never had an accident in its 57-year history.
[Image: yuyuyaya76 from Pixabay]