Japan Press Weekly

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2016 August 24 - 30 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP requests Tokyo governor to implement train platform safety features

The Japanese Communist Party Members’ Group of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on August 29 offered suggestions to Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko for measures to prevent train passengers from falling on tracks to be upgraded and that retractable partitions between platforms and tracks be installed.

Their representation came in reaction to a fatal accident that occurred on August 15 in which a blind man fell on a subway track in Tokyo and died. The 17-member Group requested that the Governor propose a concrete schedule to place screen doors or retractable partitions on platforms in collaboration with the state government.

They also requested that surveys of current conditions at all train stations be conducted to ascertain the dangers for people with impaired vision so that train operators can insulate dangerous pillars with rubber and hand out braille brochures on information about danger based on survey results. It would also be very useful to have a tactile paving system in place, the Group said.

A questionnaire survey carried out by the Federation of the Blind shows that about 40% of the visually impaired have fallen from station platforms while the percentage of stations equipped with screen doors or movable dividing railings accounts for only 32% of the 706 stations in Tokyo.

Citing this survey, JCP assemblyperson Shiraishi Tamio said, “For the visually challenged, station platforms are like a ‘bridge without parapets’,” urging the Tokyo Metropolitan government to take necessary steps as quickly as possible.

Past related article:
> Visually impaired subway passenger’s fatal fall reaffirms need for safety improvement [August 17, 2016]