Trapped outside the shutters and the train left… Due to some oversleeping staff?

JR Kobe Station. December 2005 Japan Tour. (Admin)

Article from Yomiuri News.

当直の駅員寝坊、始発に８人乗れず…ＪＲ関西線

大阪市東住吉区のＪＲ関西線東部市場前駅で１８日、午前５時前になっても駅出入り口のシャッターが開かず、同４時５９分発の王寺発難波行きの始発電車に客８人が乗れなかった。

シャッターは同５時過ぎに開き、客は約１５分後の後続電車に乗ったという。

ＪＲ西日本によると、同駅に当直勤務していた４８歳と２１歳の男性駅員２人が寝坊したため。当直駅員は同４時２５分に起床し、４５分までにシャッターを開けることになっていた。同駅を管理する天王寺駅からの起床確認の電話も約２５分遅れたため、２人は同５８分に目を覚ましたという。

（2010年1月18日12時34分 読売新聞）

8 passengers missed the first train at 459 am from Ōji to Namba due to a closed shutter at Tōbushijōmae station, JR Kansai Line.

The shutter opened after 5 am and the passengers took the next train which came 15 minutes later.

JR West says that two staff aged 48 and 21 who stay-over at the station overslept. The staff are supposed to wake up at 425 am and open the shutters at 445 am. The station’s managing department at Tennōji station made the confirmation wake-up call 25 minutes late, and the staff woke up at 458 am.

☆

Hilarious right? This is not the first time some staff overslept and caused passengers to miss the first train. The previous one that I could recall and made to the news was last year involving a JR Tokai staff. But JR West is a notorious company for ill staff treatment so expect this two oversleeping staff and the wake-up call fellow to be assigned to reform lessons… Zzz.

~

The time when I met sleep-over staff (who is not oversleeping) at a station in Japan is at Engaru, where I snapped a picture of the Kiha 40 featured in this post. The express train (Express Okhotsk 9, midnight service run now withdrawn) from Sapporo reaches the station slightly before 4 am and the station staff (at least two of them) in thick pajamas and company coat comes out to check tickets and check the train (standing on the platform and do safety recognition) upon turn-around. They went back to sleep after the train left, but have to wake up again after 530 am for the first train out of the station. Although the station is rural and not of big importance, the staff hold pride in their job and wake up before dawn to serve passengers and ensure safety in sub-zero temperatures.