Thirty-two travellers heading for Japan’s northernmost city got a far longer journey than they bargained for. The Sarobetsu No. 3 limited express, a four-car train running from Asahikawa to Wakkanai on JR Hokkaido’s Soya Line, struck a bear at about 10:50 p.m. on Friday. The animal ended up beneath the leading car, some of its wheels became tangled with the carcass, and that car came off the rails.
Remarkably, nobody on board was hurt, including the two crew members. Getting home was another matter. The train had stopped on an isolated stretch between Teshio-Nakagawa and Toikambetsu, and staff could not safely inspect the scene in the dark, so the passengers spent the whole night inside the carriages. Only around 9:30 on Saturday morning were they able to leave, with taxis ferrying them on to their destinations.
JR Hokkaido cancelled every service on the 130-kilometre section between Otoineppu and Wakkanai for the day, and no date for reopening was given at first. Railway staff and hunters were due to check the track and the train together, because the bear may still have been lying under the derailed car.
The accident fits a pattern that has been worrying Japan for several years. Bears are turning up ever more often near towns, roads and railways, especially in autumn when they roam widely to fatten up before hibernation. Collisions with deer and other wildlife are a familiar hazard on the island’s remote northern lines, but a derailed express train is a rare and striking reminder of how close people and bears now live.
