Japan bullet train stops 'scary' safety drills

[Adlington]

A Japanese railway firm has stopped an unusual training drill that required employees to crouch in tunnels while trains rushed past to "feel" the wind speed. Participants in the safety training would crouch down in a trench, in-between two sets of train tracks, as bullet trains whizzed by.

Squatting in the ditches - which are around one metre deep and one metre wide - allowed the workers to "feel" the strength of the winds generated by high-speed trains, a company spokesperson said. Some 240 trainee mechanics had taken part in the drills, which could last up to 20 minutes.

Trainee mechanics observed the trains which can hit speeds of 300km per hour.

The move to stop the practice, in place since 2016, comes after rising union pressure.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46040056
I, for once, agree with the union (in this case....)

 

[trainmania100]

With the speed which these bullet trains can travel at, they'd be past you before you'd even get a chance to hide in the ditch!

 

[sir_gummerz]

i guess it gives the staff a sence of power of the shinkansen

 

[ainsworth74]

From the article:

It will continue the drills from a new vantage point - employees will now observe the trains from outside the tunnel, behind a fence.

Which seems a much more sensible way of doing this training! I learned to appreciate the speed and power of a train doing 125mph from the relative safety of Northallerton platform whilst waiting for a train home. Hiding in a small ditch, in a tunnel, as even faster trains came by would not have heightened the sense of appreciation for the power on display!

 

[Adlington]

would not have heightened the sense of appreciation for the power on display!

Has anybody had any doubts about the power on display?

 

[ainsworth74]

Has anybody had any doubts about the power on display?

It's doubtful but seeing is believing and all that as it's one thing to have the theoretical understanding and then see it demonstrated in the real world.

 

[Adlington]

A similar experience, though not a part of an "on the job" training:
A drunk man narrowly escaped death after he lay face down on a railway track – and allowed a train to pass over him (includes a video).

 

[squizzler]

I saw news on this a week or so back. It sounds extreme, but this is the culture that brought you such gameshows as Takeshi's Castle.

 

[Ploughman]

This used to be done for new staff on PW at Colton Jcn ECML.
Especially walking south in the UP Doncaster cess.