日火車司機睡著了

Recently the Asahi News reported the following:

２７日朝に東京、秋葉原を出発したつくばエクプレスの快速電車で、運転士が居眠り運転していたことがわかった。運行する首都圏都市鉄道（東京都台東区）が発表した。国土交通省関東運輸局は、２０代の運転士について精密検査を実施し、詳しい原因を調べるよう指示 した。同社によると、居眠りが発覚したのは午前８時２分発のつくば（茨城県つくば市）行き快速電車（６両編成、乗客２００人）。同４５分ごろ、茨城県内の守谷－つくば間（２０．６キロ）を走行中、運転士が居眠りをしているのに乗客が気づき、攜帶電話で動画で撮影してつくば駅員に伝えた。運転士は同社の調査に対し、「８時２５分に南流山駅（千葉県流山市）を出発する前に眠気を感じで窓を開けるなどした。同３７分に守谷駅を出発した後に再び、強い眠気お感じた。特にうとうとしていたのは１～２分程度」などと説明しているという。

In the morning of the 27th a driver of an express train that departed from Akihabara of Tokyo fell into a doze, it was understood, according to the railway organization serving the capital metropolis. According to the Ministry of Transport, a train driver who was in his 20s was now under close investigation, and instruction was given to carry out a thorough check to look for the reason. According to the this company, the incident took place in the morning train departing at 8.02 am for Tsukuba (Tsukuba in Ibaraki prefecture) , being an express train (6 carriages with 200 passengers). At about 45 minute, as it was travelling at a section (26 km) between Moriya of Ibaraki prefecture and Tsukuba, a passenger noticed that that driver was falling into a doze. The passenger used the cellular phone to take some video, and passed it to the staff of the station. This driver in response to the investigation said that "at 8.25 before he left the Minanagareyama station (Nagareyamashi in Chiba prefecture) he felt sleepy and he opened the window of the train. At 8.37 when he departed from Moriya station, he again felt a strong urge to sleep, in particular he felt asleep for about 1 to 2 minutes".

If this passenger did not report the incident, probably no one would know that such a thing had ever happened, except until a serious accident occurred. It seems that railway safety is always a challenge for all the train companies in the world.