Security Cameras to Be Mandated for Shinkansen

Jiji Press

10:30 JST, June 14, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The transport ministry plans to require the installation of security cameras in trains on Shinkansen and other lines, it was learned Tuesday.

Security cameras will have to be fitted in new train cars on lines with heavy demand in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan areas, as well as new cars on all Shinkansen bullet train lines, informed sources said.

The plan, which the ministry hopes to present to an expert panel soon, will be realized through a revision of an ordinance linked to the railway business law. The revision will be made by year-end if the government reaches an agreement with railway operators, according to the sources.

Under the plan, operators will have to record security camera footage. The government will not seek other functions on the camera in light of the financial burden on operators and other factors.

The ministry had been considering making security cameras mandatory for all new train cars, following attacks targeting passengers on trains of Odakyu Electric Railway Co. and Keio Corp. in 2021.

Discussions among the ministry, experts and railway operators had been rocky due to disagreements over the effectiveness of cameras in preventing crimes and the shouldering of expenses.