Translated with AI
Japan's Shinkansen high-speed trains on the busiest line between Tokyo and Osaka were temporarily suspended after a snake became entangled in electrical wires, the BBC reports.
A meter-long snake has wrapped itself around an overhead power line, short-circuiting the grid. It reportedly crawled up a pole and died trying to crawl along the high-voltage wires.
The incident occurred between Maibara and Gifu-Hashima stations at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Kyodo reported.
According to passengers, the trains continued to have electricity, including lights and air conditioning, but the trains themselves did not operate.
According to Kyodo, there were long queues at ticket machines at Tokyo stations. Train service was restored around 7 p.m.
Japan is celebrating the so-called Golden Week, which combines four national holidays at once, and because of this, airports, train stations and other transport hubs are especially busy.
The Shinkansen is a high-speed rail network in Japan; the first line opened between Tokyo and Osaka on October 1, 1964, for the Summer Olympics.
Japan was the first country in the world to launch regular high-speed service, following the success of the Shinkansen in 1981, when the first French high-speed TGV train line was launched between Paris and Lyon.
Shinkansens have always been famous for their comfort and punctuality.
"I use the shinkansen several times a month, but this is the first time I have experienced service suspension due to a power outage," Satoshi Tagawa, 46, told Kyodo.
"I feel relieved," Kazutoshi Tachi, 26, told the agency after learning that train service had resumed. "But I'm fed up with these problems [with the shinkansen]. I want them to run on time."
