Even on the railroads, wearing masks will be at your own discretion from the 13th. Each company will determine the standard during rush hours and congestion. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism releases new guidelines.

On March 7, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) released the “Guidelines for Countermeasures against New Coronavirus Infections in Railway Operations (5th Edition)” and deleted the description regarding the wearing of masks in railroad cars.

The government has stated that “wearing masks from March 13th is an individual decision,” and recommends wearing masks when visiting or seeing a doctor at a medical facility or using crowded public transportation, etc. So far, airline (Japan Airlines Association), bus (Japan Bus Association and Charter Bus Travel Association), cab (National Association of Taxi and Hire Taxi), etc. have announced their stance after March 13th. Railroad companies are also expected to follow MLIT’s guidelines and remove the signage requiring the wearing of masks in stations and trains after January 13.

In the fifth edition of the guidelines, the language regarding the three tightness measures, such as ventilation of vehicles (tightness measures), provision of information on congestion (congestion measures), promotion of the use of empty vehicles and trains, and continued installation of partitions that take air flow into consideration (tightness measures) in the premises, remains, but “masks” are only mentioned at the end of the document, with the following However, only the following notation is left at the end of the document regarding “masks”.

IV Other

In the event of unavoidable circumstances, such as the occurrence of a transportation disruption, the Guidelines may not be applied to that extent.

(2) For infection control or business reasons, etc., users or employees may be asked to wear masks.

Guidelines for the control of novel coronavirus infections in railroad operations (5th ed.)

According to railroad business officials, the official policy is scheduled to be released this week, and as for the part of the government policy that recommends the wearing of masks when using crowded public transportation, etc., the guidelines do not indicate what constitutes congestion or which time of day is considered rush hour, so it is left to the judgment of each company. Since the only basis for requiring the wearing of masks is the above quotation, it may be difficult to require users to wear masks.

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