Smoke was seen rising from a shinkansen bullet train stopped at Gifu-Hashima Station in Gifu Prefecture on the night of August 15.

Authorities said operator Central Japan Railway notified the fire department shortly after 10 p.m. that smoke started coming out of the Kodama 764 as it was traveling from Maibara Station in Shiga Prefecture to Gifu-Hashima Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen line.

Officials said the smoke came from under the floor of car Number 9 on the 16-carriage train.

After the train was suspended from service, the approximately 250 passengers took the next Nozomi express train.

JR Central later said a device on the train that controls motor output was found to be malfunctioning and that there was also a problem with safeguard equipment that was supposed to respond when the device was not working.

The incident caused delays of up to 52 minutes to shinkansen trains and affected about 3,800 people on August 15.

The train is still stopped at Gifu-Hashima Station as of the morning of August 18 due to issues involving its electrical circuit.