The Tokyo metropolitan subway system is notorious for being incredibly crowded at rush hour, with commuters packed into narrow train carriages like sardines in a can. You’re probably familiar with images of white-gloved train conductors literally pushing people onto trains in an attempt to squeeze just one more body on before departure.

It can be very scary being squished into a mass of people like that, and this particularly holds true in case of sudden incidents such as the one that occurred this week when the window of a train literally broke due to the pressure of all of those heaving bodies. Join us after the jump for images of crushed glass and scenes of utter chaos! Okay, it’s actually only a few cracks, but still…

In the following tweet uploaded by user _Jiro70, you can see the aftermath of the incident – a Tokyo metro employee is hastily taping up the cracked glass to avoid any injuries.

https://twitter.com/_Jiro70/status/534647830137159681

▲ “Window of the Tozai line is broken due to overcrowding. They’re rushing to patch it up.”

It’s thought that the incident occurred as a result of the carriage being seriously over capacity due to an unusually high number of commuters using the Tozai Line that day.

Here’s another photo of the cracked glass from the outside of the train.

▲ “Broken window on the Tozai line.”

Netizens took to Twitter to register their shock after seeing the results of the crowded conditions:

“Is this what crowding on the Tozai line has come to?”

“Okay, so everyone knows the Tozai line is crowded, but to this extent? Too much pressure I guess?”

“I ride this train every day, but the thing that really shocks me is that this hasn’t happened before now.”

“So even though the trains are over capacity, they still have staff pushing people onto the trains. Of course the glass is gonna break.”

While it’s a relief that no one was hurt in the incident, it makes us wonder how safe it is to travel by train during the Tokyo rush hour. Unfortunately, for most of Tokyo’s commuters, there’s no other choice.

Source: Iroiro
Image: Scalar.usc.edu