MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--Public transportation has finally returned to an evacuation zone close to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, with a bus route that runs through an area with high radiation levels.
MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--Public transportation has finally returned to an evacuation zone close to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, with a bus route that runs through an area with high radiation levels.
East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) started the temporary bus service Jan. 31 that operates in the government-designated “difficult-to-return zone,” where evacuees will not be allowed to return home until at least March 2017.
The 46-kilometer route connects Haranomachi Station in Minami-Soma and Tatsuta Station in the town of Naraha on the JR Joban Line.
Train services between the stations have been suspended since the nuclear disaster set off by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Before the first bus departed Haranomachi Station at 6:50 a.m., Minami-Soma Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai presented a bouquet of flowers to the driver.
“Although the railway line is still discontinued, today is a memorable day in that the operation of the Joban Line is effectively restored,” Sakurai said. “The bus service gives much needed hope for local residents.”
The mayor has requested that JR East restore the train service as soon as possible and operate the bus service as a stopgap measure.
The bus operates two round trip services daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, with no stops along the route. The trip between Tatsuta and Haranomachi stations takes about one hour.
The difficult-to-return zone includes areas of the towns of Futaba and Okuma, which jointly host the stricken nuclear facility.
Thirty-one passengers, including Minami-Soma residents who were visiting their relatives’ homes in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, boarded the first bus, which arrived at Tatsuta Station at 8:15 a.m.
A 62-year-old company executive from Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, who now works at a factory in Minami-Soma, said it previously took six hours to travel between the two cities by taking roadways that circumvent the evacuation zone.
“I appreciate that I now have more options," he said. "But hopefully, they will increase the number of services each day.”