Tokyo, June 2: In a bizarre incident, at least 14 passengers were injured at a railway station in Japan after a driverless train went in the wrong direction. According to details by Japanese police, the driverless five-car train in suburban Tokyo went in the wrong direction and crashed into a buffer stop.  Akihiko Mikami, president of the train operator was quoted in an AFP report saying that the train hit the buffer stop at Shin-Sugita station after travelling the wrong way for about 20 metres (65 feet). Japan Tests Driverless Buses at Haneda Airport! (Watch Video). 

According to reports, the several passengers suffered injuries and were taken to the nearby hospital for treatment. The local media reported that the injuries appeared to be serious but non-life-threatening. The railway station is a terminal of the self-driving Kanazawa Seaside Line in the port city of Yokohama. This is the first time in 30 years that such an accident involving an automated train has come to light in Japan.

Following the incident, the operator shut down the line and it was uncertain when services would be resumed. Automated trains have a relatively long history in Japan. There have been reports of accidents but there were self-driving cars and collision involving an autonomous vehicle.

The first fully automated driverless mass-transit rail network is the Port Island Line in Kobe, Japan. The second in the world (and the first such driverless system in Europe) is the Lille Metro in northern France.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 02, 2019 02:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).