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July 04, 2026
 

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RAIL

Firefighters and rescue personnel work at the site where at least one person died and four were seriously injured when a regional service train collided with a collapsed wall between Sant Sadurni d'Anoia and Gelida, near Barcelona, early Wednesday.
WORLD
Jan 21, 2026
Barcelona train crash kills one in Spain’s second deadly rail accident in days
The second deadly incident in a matter of days is likely to raise more questions about Spanish rail safety, after a train collision in Andalusia on Sunday killed 42 people.
Members of the Spanish Civil Guard, along with other emergency personnel, work near one of the trains involved in an accident in Cordoba, Spain, on Monday.
WORLD
Jan 19, 2026
High-speed train collision in Spain kills at least 39 and injures dozens
Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters the disaster took place on a straight part of the track, which was completely renovated.
The Amtrak Cascades line provides service along the Pacific Northwest from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Eugene, Oregon.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 19, 2026
Shinkansen vs. Amtrak and the lost art of small talk
After years steeped in the sacred silence of the shinkansen, a Japan Times staffer returns stateside and gets his sea legs with small talk aboard Amtrak.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (center) rides a subway train in New Delhi on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2026
Motegi inspects Japan-backed subway system in New Delhi
Opened in 2002, the Delhi Metro is one of the world’s largest subway systems.
Shimbashi Station in Tokyo's Minato Ward is crowded with commuters on Friday morning following East Japan Railway's suspension of major train lines.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2026
Power outage takes major Tokyo train lines offline during morning rush
The suspensions of the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines affected approximately 673,000 people.
Wreckage at the site where a train derailed after a construction crane collapsed and fell onto its carriages, in the Sikhio district of Thailand's Nakhon Ratchasima province on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 14, 2026
At least 25 killed after crane falls on train in Thailand, police say 
A crane at a construction site for a ‌high-speed rail project collapsed and hit a passing train, causing it to derail and briefly catch fire.
Shunsuke Niwa, president of JR Central, speaks during an interview in December in the city of Nagoya.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 8, 2026
JR Central promotes maglev construction as challenges mount
The line, initially set to connect Shinagawa Station in Tokyo and Nagoya Station, does not have a clear timeline for opening.
While the number of users of the unprofitable local lines is unlikely to recover amid population decline in rural Japan, people living near the lines want the railroad services to be maintained.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2026
JR companies and local governments to continue talks on loss-making railway lines
While the number of users of the unprofitable local lines is unlikely to recover amid population decline, people living near the lines want the railroad services to be maintained.
The 36+3 tourist train offers a unique way of traveling the full breadth of Kyushu.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2026
Seeing Kyushu slowly aboard the 36+3 tourist train
Named for the island’s status as the world’s 36th largest, the train offers a slower way to see some of the region’s rural treasures.
East Japan Railway displays a concept graphic for its Suica Renaissance strategy at the Mass-Trans Innovation Japan event last month at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 21, 2025
Teppay is key to JR East’s growth strategy as Suica e-money loses ground
Data about shopping and travel habits are essential for the company’s real estate and urban development businesses.
Central Japan Railway and five construction consultancies have been found to have colluded to prearrange winners of local government contracts for bridge inspections.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2025
JR Central and 5 other firms ordered to stop bid-rigging
The rail operator and five consultancies colluded to prearrange winners when bidding for local government contracts for bridge inspections, the Fair Trade Commission said.
West Japan Railway’s completed facility to preserve a train involved in the 2005 Fukuchiyama Line derailment, in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2025
Facility to preserve crashed JR West train completed
The April 2005 crash in Hyogo Prefecture killed 106 passengers and the train’s driver.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, will reconsider the route of the planned Hokuriku Shinkansen section between Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture and Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2025
Japan to reconsider route of planned Hokuriku Shinkansen section
The existing plan, adopted by the then LDP-Komeito coalition in 2016, has faced opposition from some due to environmental and fiscal concerns.
The transport ministry may delay the planned fiscal 2026 start of construction on the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture to Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka Prefecture, sources say.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2025
Hokuriku Shinkansen extension work unlikely to start in fiscal 2026, sources say
The expected delay mainly reflects a lack of consensus within the ruling coalition regarding the route for the bullet train’s extension.
Brisk sales of "Myaku-Myaku" mascot at Osaka Expo's official stores helped raise West Japan Railway's profit.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2025
Osaka Expo boosts earnings at rail operators in western Japan
Osaka Metro and JR West are set to pay special bonuses to their employees amid a surge in passengers and expo-related business profits.
Apart from Japan, women-only carriages can also be found in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Mexico and Taiwan, among others.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 26, 2025
U.K. woman’s petition to bring women-only train carriages to London gains traction
Camille Brown, a student in London, said the successful introduction of the measure in cities such as Tokyo creates safer commuting options for women.
Police inspect the site of a blast on railways on the Warsaw-Lublin line in Mika, Poland, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 18, 2025
Poland suspects ‘foreign intelligence services’ involved in rail sabotage
Poland has become the main hub for transporting military and humanitarian support to neighboring Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale military invasion in February 2022.
Workers from Heisei Chikuho Railway replace an old railroad tie with a new one, securing it with heavy-duty nails.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 17, 2025
Railway in rural Fukuoka stands at crossroads as passenger numbers dwindle
If Heisei Chikuho Railway maintains its current train line operations, it is projected to incur an annual deficit of around ¥1 billion over the next 30 years for maintenance.
JR East is retiring the beloved Suica penguin as part of a rebrand to transform the contactless payment platform, used for both transit and retail, into a mobile fintech powerhouse.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 16, 2025
A beloved Tokyo penguin’s end presages Suica’s shift to payments giant
Since Suica’s introduction in 2001, the penguin has featured on transit cards and apps that are used daily by the tens of millions who traverse the world’s largest metropolis.
Mobile Suica is being improved so that it is more useful in an increasingly cashless society.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2025
Penguin-less Suica to take on PayPay in payments with QR codes and higher limits
Balance limits will go from ¥20,000 on the current e-money system to ¥300,000.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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