Platforms

Have you ever stood at the head of lines on railway platforms when it is overcrowded? If not, you image that you are waiting for the next train you are supposed to get on. You have full of people on a very narrow platform behind you. In the situation the moment when the train is coming into the platform, what would you think about it? More specifically, if the persons behind you fell down to you and you were pushed strongly by them, it would be freighting just to image the scenes. But it could happen to you.

I can't resist thinking that there is such a risk on railway platforms although some passengers stand 50cm away from the edge almost unconcernedly. There are full of people every morning in the weekday on some of the Japanese platforms to such a extent that commuters form long lines waiting for at least a couple of trains. Japan is notorious for overcrowd in trains. Especially in Tokyo, businesspersons commute to the centers of Tokyo almost at the same time in the morning from the suburbs. It's not avoidable as long as Tokyo is too much concentrated.

It's pretty easy to deal with the risk. You just don't stand at the head of lines. Furthermore, you better stand at the second or third position from the head to avoid the risk of being late for work. I mean that you will never get on trains, always standing far back for fear of standing at the head. However, there are the situations where you have to stand there. That happens when you are the last in the waiting line to get on a train because there is no more space in the train. You have to wait for the next train standing at the risky head of lines. You give the position to the person just behind you. If you are still feeling it risky, you better slide laterally a little from the line while you are keeling the top position of the line. If so, you can be careful of the movements behind you because your views reach the back side.

The risky situations on platforms are not only in the morning but also evening. Recently there have been accidents that passengers fall down to railways from platforms. Symbolically, a drunken salaryman slipped and dropped onto the railways from a platform at one of the busiest Tokyo stations at evening in Federally 2001. Two guys bravely jumped into the railways almost at the same time to rescue the drunken man before a train came in. Unfortunately, all of the three were run over by the incoming train to death. This is an accident arising out of the fault on the side of the drunken person, rather than the platform itself. The platforms at the Japanese platforms, however, are still risky because of the over capacity against passengers. At evening too, there are, of course, full of commuters, this time who go back home. Here is another hazard added to the risk. Some of commuters drink after work. In addition to the risky situation on the platforms, you have to be more careful when you are high as I mention the recent accident of the downfall. Some of the stations in the subways started equipping guard fences along the edges of platforms. The fences open just when trains come into the platforms. But most of the stations don't have such protections. What protects you is all the same yourselves.