Japanese railway vows to evaluate its 'inexcusable' conduct after train pulls out of station 25 seconds too early

Many New Yorkers would give an arm and a leg in order to be inconvenienced by a train departing 25 seconds too early. In Japan, though, such a mistake has West Japan Railways falling over itself to apologize for the error. "The great inconvenience we placed upon our customers was truly inexcusable," the railway wrote after its train pulled away at 7:11:35 a.m. last Friday, rather than the scheduled 7:12 a.m., SoraNews24 reports.

This isn't the first time train management in Japan has had to apologize for a premature departure; last year, the Tsukuba Express line conveyed its sincere regrets that its train pulled out of the station at 9:44:20 a.m., rather than 9:44:40 a.m., as had been scheduled. But in a perfectly punctual Japan, even the seconds can make a difference: "[T]here actually were a few people on the platform who'd been hoping to board the train, and when the conductor didn't notice them and decided to leave, they got left behind," SoraNews24 writes of the latest incident.

West Japan Railways vowed that it would be "thoroughly evaluating our conduct" as to not make such an offensive mistake again.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up