At Shin-Osaka Station, a crowd of people were waiting by the Shinkansen tracks around 6:30PM on April 30.

S/ Reporter/ It has been roughly an hour and a half since the power outage began. Shin-Osaka station is crowded with people waiting for operation to resume.

The power outage that began around 5:30PM affected the Tokaido Shinkansen that travels between Tokyo and Osaka, causing major delays.

S/ Reporter/ Two bullet trains have stopped along the platform at Gifu-Hashima Station. It looks like passengers are onboard.

S/ Traveler/ A (rental) car happened to be available so I’m going to Nagoya now.

S/ Traveler/ I was thinking of changing to a flight from Itami (Airport), but all planes to Haneda are fully booked for the rest of the day. Seems like everyone is thinking the same thing.

S/ Reporter/ Do you have plans tomorrow?

S/ Traveler/ I have work tomorrow. I have to return to Tokyo so I really want to travel.

People were looking for different travel methods due to the bullet train delay.

This is footage from a passenger inside a suspended train.

S/ Public Address/ The power outage between Gifu-Hashima Station ahead of us and Maibara Station continues. We are currently investigating the cause.

According to one passenger, the train from Nagoya Station to Kyoto Station suddenly stopped around 10 minutes after departure.

A “news zero” reporter was also caught up in the suspension on the way to an interview.

S/ Namiki Moka, news zero Reporter/ We didn’t move for around an hour and a half, and the doors remained closed. The power outage did not affect the electricity onboard. The air conditioner was operating, and the lights did not go out. There was no commotion, but those with children walked around the train and some were talking on the phone.

The power outage occurred between Gifu-Hashima Station and Maibara Station.

By 6:30PM, the route heading towards Tokyo experienced delays between Shin-Osaka Station and H amamatsu Station. The route heading towards Osaka experienced delays between Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station.

Good news came around 7PM.

S/ Reporter/ The Tokaido Shinkansen that was suspended due to a power outage is about to resume operation around 7PM.

However, many trains continued to experience delays.

The effect was felt at Tokyo Station.

This couple was planning to return to Nagoya after sightseeing in Tokyo.

S/ Traveler/ I’m looking for a place to stay the night. If I find a place, we won’t go home.

They were planning to ride the shinkansen departing around 9PM, but they booked a hotel due to the uncertainty of operation.

S/ Traveler/ I booked for the 30th. I have work (tomorrow). I can’t go home, so I’m thinking of calling and taking the day off. 

The power outage occurred at the start of Japan’s Golden Week holidays. What was the cause?

S/ Public Address/ The cause of the power outage has been determined to be a short circuit caused by a snake on an overhead wire above the railroad. 

S/ Reporter/ There was a snake on the overhead wire.

S/ Traveler/ What! Is that true? I didn’t know.

S/ Traveler/ I wonder how the snake got there.

The cause of the power outage was a snake that tangled in the overhead wire and caused a short circuit at the railroad in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture.

We spoke with a NTV reporter familiar with railways.

S/ Tagashira Sho, NTV Reporter/ Utility poles carry powerlines that supply electricity to trains. Incidents where a snake climbs the pole and gets inside the circuit that supplies electricity and causes a short happen frequently. It happens once every few years. A snake-caused short circuit causing a power outage and shinkansen suspension has occurred a number of times in the past.
It is currently Golden Week, and although it’s a weekday, there are more passengers than usual. Many special service shinkansen trains were operating as well. The trains were suspended for only around an hour and a half, but the delays continued through the night.

Operations resumed as scheduled on the following morning.