Apology after Japanese train departs 20 seconds early
How does the Japanese system live with the stuff that plagues Western transportation systems?<p>For example in Munich there is nearly every day one or more huuuge delays due to:<p>- people on the track (sprayers, drunkards, people whose phone fell down)<p>- animals on the track, ranging from stray dogs over wolves to deer - and in some cases, entire herds of sheep... one caused an ICE to derail and destroy a huge amount of tunnel track in the progress once.<p>- suicides (1.000 suicides in Germany per year, and that&#x27;s only the successful ones)<p>- accidents on street crossings (okay, that&#x27;s eliminated on the highspeed tracks, but regional traffic and metro rails suffer often enough)<p>- kids letting balloons loose in the underground sections, where they shorten out the power line, sometimes causing major destruction - and occasionally it&#x27;s a bird that does the same and ends up grilled<p>- absolute morons who do not make room for people trying to exit the train<p>- people with disabilities (wheelchair users, but also old people who simply have problems moving!), who sometimes need to be attended by the conductor, e.g. to put out a ramp<p>- technical breakdowns<p>However, in Japan this seems to be nearly unheard of.