I just got to the platform at Kasumigaseki and found my train arriving to the sound of a warning buzzer. Not a great sign, but we managed to get moving after a few minutes spent waiting at the station.
I’m now on one of the newer Marunouchi Line trains, complete with TV screens to show ads to the captive commuter eyeballs. Another set of screens give us train-related info, though. I’m attaching a photo of what these screens are displaying right now.
The English translation is crap, as is probably to be expected. (Train dwell time? Really?) But the “OR” in there caught my eye. I wonder if some translator decided to give the Tokyo Metro client multiple options for this text—which basically means “we’re going to sit at this station for a while so we don’t open up a gap between this train and the one behind us or run into the one in front of us”—and the client stuck all the options right into the system.
Not quite as exciting as the spare pricks on the Narita Express, but this is about as titillating as it gets on a Monday evening Marunouchi ride.
(I’m posting this as the very first effort from the WordPress app on my iPhone. If it’s screwy at all this carpenter plans to blame his tools.)
by Brent
12 Apr 2010 at 22:13
OR BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
by Adam Rice
12 Apr 2010 at 23:12
“Dwell time” is the correct English jargon used in public transit for the amount of time a bus or train spends at a stop. It may be a bit inappropriate here in the sense of using jargon outside of specialist circles, but it’s not wrong.
But I love the presence of alternative text. Maybe you can look forward to footnotes in the future.
by Durf
12 Apr 2010 at 23:14
Ooh, look at that, I learned something new today! Thanks for that. Definitely not a good choice for public consumption, though, as you say.
by Alan Siegrist
12 Apr 2010 at 23:22
I think “dwell time” is also used in industrial applications for things on conveyor belts or such that stop at certain stations for a certain amount of time. This is quite analogous to trains on a train track.
by softbanksucks
14 Apr 2010 at 16:35
I think this went live as is, but someone at tokyo metro was supposed to have looked it over and chosen one option. Doesn’t seem that happened, though.
by TKYCraig
04 May 2010 at 08:18
Dwell time is indeed used in industry, and perhaps is not suited to train usage, but then again, I think airlines asking passengers to ‘de-plane’ is the most absurd (non-)English I have ever heard.
As to the new Marunouchi trains in use… any photos? After several years riding them, I seem to have moved away just as the rolling stock is updated.