Four workers die after being hit by a train in Japan while cleaning the tracks

Tokyo.- Four workers died this Thursday after being struck by a train while cleaning the tracks at a station in the Japanese prefecture of Tochigi, north of Tokyo, reported the public television network NHK.

The workers were cleaning the tracks when they were struck around 10:45 local time (01:45 GMT) at Shin-Kanuma station, in the town of Kanuma, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri explained.

The four employees were part of a larger group of up to seven workers.

After the collision they were taken to the hospital, where their death was certified, and the police are now investigating the details of the incident.

Following the accident, train service has been suspended between Shin-Tochigi and Shimo-Imaichi stations, both in Tochigi Prefecture.

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These types of accidents are rare in Japan, one of the countries with the highest train density in the world. In 2025, only 12 accidents were recorded in the entire country, according to the count by the archipelago’s Japan Transport Safety Board, most of which were derailments.

Furthermore, since the high-speed trains, known as ‘shinkansen’, began operating in 1964, there has not been a single fatality recorded due to derailment or collision on this type of train, although a 17-year-old youth died in 1995 after his coat got caught in a door.