A snake on a high-speed train causes a rare railway delay in Japan
Almost nothing stops Japan's famous bullet trains from running exactly on time, but a tiny snake slithering across a passenger carriage did just that, if only for 17 minutes.
A passenger informed Tokyo Station staff on Tuesday that a 40-centimetre-long snake had been spotted in the car of a train coming from Nagoya, according to the Central Railway Company.
The train was scheduled to leave for Osaka, but was taken out of service as a precaution. It was necessary to assign another train to the route, causing a delay that, although short by the standards of many other national railways, was significant relative to the relentless Japanese service.
No injuries were reported. More than 600 passengers were affected by the delay.
The railway company told CNN the type of snake is unknown and an analysis is being conducted to determine how it got on the plane.
The bullet train, known in Japan as the Shinkansen, is famous for its efficiency and speed of up to 320 kilometers per hour. Japanese passengers expect the train to be reliable.
In 2017, a driver for a service company, Tsukuba Express, had to apologize after leaving 20 seconds early.
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