Employee accused of not being devoted enough to his work.

The punctuality of trains in Japan is famous all over the world, but that level of efficiency doesn’t just happen by chance. It’s the result of a lot of hard work under very strict conditions that some would consider unbearable.

Case in point is the matter of a train driver for JR Hokkaido for “not devoting himself to his work,” as the railway put it. At about 5 p.m. on 7 October, a train was stopped at Otaru Station, when a passenger spotted the driver reading a book and reported it to the company.

This was a “local” train, meaning a train that stops at all stations along a line, as opposed to an “express” train, which only stops at major stations. Because of this system, sometimes local trains will stop for extended periods of time at lesser-used stations while express trains get the right of way to zoom through. In this case, the train was scheduled to wait at Otaru Station for eight minutes before setting off again, so the driver decided to kill some time with a book.

▼ They say you haven’t truly lived in Japan until you’ve been late for something because you got on the wrong kind of train.

Not only that, but the book he brought in to read was about railways. The driver admitted that he had done so before in the past too, and that he takes the opportunity to relax for a moment when he has the time. No incidents or delays occurred as a result, but JR Hokkaido apologized for the concern it caused among passengers.

Readers of the news online were largely defending the driver in their comments and condemning the person who tipped off JR Hokkaido about the reading. However, there were a few who felt what the driver did was inappropriate for a workplace.

“Let him do what he wants when the train is stopped. Why would someone rat on him?”
“People who report every little thing like that are really annoying.”
“There’s no safety issue, so let him read a book.”
“You’re not supposed to read at work.”
“What’s wrong with a train driver reading about trains in his spare time?”
“Nobody cares.”
“He loves trains so much he reads about them while driving them.”
“Does everyone think reading at work is a joke? Do you read books at work?”

It’s probably safe to say a lot of people read books during their downtime while on the job. It seems better that he was engaged in something during that time as well, rather than just staring at his console to make sure it doesn’t fly away.

That being said, in addition to the foibles of certain drivers, JR Hokkaido was hit with an “enhanced safety inspection system” audit by the national transport ministry and Hokkaido Transport Bureau earlier this year. This is a polite way of saying the leash has been tightened on the railway after a string of problems regarding insufficient track maintenance and safety measures were found. Knowing that, it should be no surprise they aren’t taking even the slightest inconsistencies lightly.

Source: HTB News, YouTube/STVニュース北海道
Top image: Pakutaso
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