Train Line Power Outage on Forces Thousands to Spend Night at Expo Site; Disruption Caused 8-Hr Suspension, Heatstroke Cases

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:23 JST, August 14, 2025

OSAKA — Thousands of visitors to the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo were forced to spend the night at the venue after a power failure disrupted services on the train line offering direct access to the site.

Osaka Metro’s Chuo Line suspended operations from about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday until about 5:25 a.m. Thursday due to the electrical system malfunction. According to the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition and other sources, about 30,000 people were stranded at the Expo site and its surrounding areas as of 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, and many stayed overnight. Thirty-six people were taken to hospital after feeling unwell or showing heatstroke symptoms, but all reportedly were mild cases.

According to Osaka Metro, the outage occurred on a power transmission rail inside a tunnel between Osakako Station and Cosmosquare Station, which is next to Yumeshima Station — the closest to the Expo site. Operations were suspended for about eight hours.

At a press conference Thursday, a senior Osaka Metro official apologized for the incident. “We caused a great deal of inconvenience to many Expo visitors and other people due to the prolonged suspension of the line’s operations,” the official said.

The Expo association opened up facilities at the site and also asked pavilion operators to let the stranded visitors stay inside.

Forty ambulances had been dispatched to the site as of 8 a.m. Thursday to help people who had felt unwell, according to the Osaka Municipal Fire Department.