SKIBADABOMSKI
8th December 2014, 16:17
I was on a train today heading for Nippon TV in Tokyo as I was scheduled to do a show at 6pm. I was on the train heading for Tokyo station at around 4:20pm and I was located at the very front of the train. I like to stand here as I can watch the driver and see the platforms ahead and I always listen to my headphones and thats basically how I spend my train journeys.
This journey would turn out to be one I won't forget.
I'm standing and looking out the windows at the front of the train and the driver does his strange pointing his finger at the station and then at some time table at the side of him (this is something that all drivers do before arriving at a station) and as we arrived towards the platform I noticed a man walking fast to the platforms edge and he practically threw himself into a belly flop landing on the tracks and then he vanished from my view as we rumbled over him and the driver pulls the train to a screeching halt.
The way the train halted made it very clear to everyone what had just taken place. Many people raced to the front of the train to see. Everyone on the platform was racing in front of the train and looking at the trains front and holding their mouths in horror. We on the train however can only watch the people watching under us.
The train wouldn't let the doors open and kept us in the dark for a short time and then the driver was trembling as he spoke over into the trains speakers that someone has just jumped under the train.
Kids that were going home from school raced to the front of the train where we were standing and I could hear their whisperings as they said " wow I felt the rumble.. where's the blood? Blood is where? " then something quite odd happened. A man in a suit that was brown arrived and eased passed everyone and knocked on the window to the drivers cabin. The driver opened the emergency door and let him in and before the door shut he was heard saying " don't worry, everything will be fine from here on, I will take care of everything " maybe he was a an experienced retired worker but he looked quite young. All the train workers in Japan wear blue and he was in a brown suit, like a light brown suit. Thats what made it strange for me and he looked younger than the driver.
Anyway eventually the let us off the train and because the driver had halted so quick there were still people stuck on the train at the very back and everyone had to get on one doorway and most people had been escorted off the platform. I guess it must of been pretty bad as usually the train will just continue and stop where it's meant to stop and then they report it. The pro's come out and blue sheet the view and 4 or 6 workers go and collect all the body parts and bag it and they have all this done in say 30 minuets. But he was still under the train so this would cause a huge delay.
Incidentally before I leave off.. the misses rarely tells me her dreams and she dreamed of a bus crash and someone was dead underneath me but I was fine. Yes that was a cheerful chat over breakfast and as she dropped me of at the station she said " don't stand at the front of the train like you always do"
The vision of that mans last steps played through my mind all day. Of course this happens all the time in Japan but today was the first time I witnessed it. There had been another suicide earlier in the day on the trains.
My misses told me that if someone jumps in front of a train that the family gets the bill from JR and it runs into amounts like 300,000 USD and if it happens at rush hour that price can be tripled. 4:20pm is rush hours starting time.
Anyway just thought I'd share that with you all.
Ski-
This journey would turn out to be one I won't forget.
I'm standing and looking out the windows at the front of the train and the driver does his strange pointing his finger at the station and then at some time table at the side of him (this is something that all drivers do before arriving at a station) and as we arrived towards the platform I noticed a man walking fast to the platforms edge and he practically threw himself into a belly flop landing on the tracks and then he vanished from my view as we rumbled over him and the driver pulls the train to a screeching halt.
The way the train halted made it very clear to everyone what had just taken place. Many people raced to the front of the train to see. Everyone on the platform was racing in front of the train and looking at the trains front and holding their mouths in horror. We on the train however can only watch the people watching under us.
The train wouldn't let the doors open and kept us in the dark for a short time and then the driver was trembling as he spoke over into the trains speakers that someone has just jumped under the train.
Kids that were going home from school raced to the front of the train where we were standing and I could hear their whisperings as they said " wow I felt the rumble.. where's the blood? Blood is where? " then something quite odd happened. A man in a suit that was brown arrived and eased passed everyone and knocked on the window to the drivers cabin. The driver opened the emergency door and let him in and before the door shut he was heard saying " don't worry, everything will be fine from here on, I will take care of everything " maybe he was a an experienced retired worker but he looked quite young. All the train workers in Japan wear blue and he was in a brown suit, like a light brown suit. Thats what made it strange for me and he looked younger than the driver.
Anyway eventually the let us off the train and because the driver had halted so quick there were still people stuck on the train at the very back and everyone had to get on one doorway and most people had been escorted off the platform. I guess it must of been pretty bad as usually the train will just continue and stop where it's meant to stop and then they report it. The pro's come out and blue sheet the view and 4 or 6 workers go and collect all the body parts and bag it and they have all this done in say 30 minuets. But he was still under the train so this would cause a huge delay.
Incidentally before I leave off.. the misses rarely tells me her dreams and she dreamed of a bus crash and someone was dead underneath me but I was fine. Yes that was a cheerful chat over breakfast and as she dropped me of at the station she said " don't stand at the front of the train like you always do"
The vision of that mans last steps played through my mind all day. Of course this happens all the time in Japan but today was the first time I witnessed it. There had been another suicide earlier in the day on the trains.
My misses told me that if someone jumps in front of a train that the family gets the bill from JR and it runs into amounts like 300,000 USD and if it happens at rush hour that price can be tripled. 4:20pm is rush hours starting time.
Anyway just thought I'd share that with you all.
Ski-