FUKUOKA - Kyushu shinkansen bullet train services will operate as usual on Wednesday, a day after a section of the line between Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures in southwestern Japan remained suspended for a full day due to restoration work following the discovery of damaged overhead wires, the operator said.
JR Kyushu restored services between Hakata and Kumamoto stations at around 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, hours later than initially announced. It decided to keep those between Kumamoto and Kagoshima-chuo suspended for the whole day. About 22,000 people were affected.
The suspension came after a malfunction of a pantograph, the apparatus that connects a carriage to an overhead power line, was detected on a shinkansen that had entered a railyard in Kumamoto on Monday night.
A pantograph component was found to have fallen off, prompting a search and inspection of the overhead wires.
Among passengers affected was Satoko Fuchiwaki, 50, a nutritionist who went to Kagoshima-chuo Station hoping to get on the first shinkansen service of the day.
"I am in trouble because I was planning to go to Kumamoto. I need to tell my workplace and consider what to do," she said.
At Hakata Station in Fukuoka, a female university student returning returning to Kagoshima from Osaka said, "I stayed overnight at a friend's house near the station. I will go home by highway bus now. I have to make it to university."
When services were suspended late Monday, about 10 trains traveling in both directions stopped at nearby stations. No abnormalities were found after checking their pantographs.
