British man warned for attempting to ride freight train from Osaka to Fukuoka

OSAKA (TR) – Talk about pushing the limits of the Japan Rail Pass.

Osaka Prefectural Police issued a warning to a 20-year-old male British national who attempted to ride a JR Freight train from Osaka City to Fukuoka Prefecture, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (June 2).

At around noon on June 1, a person using JR Nishikujo Station, located in Konohana Ward, tipped off station personnel after observing the man on a freight car.

The train was halted at Aikawaguchi Station, located about 2 kilometers away. Personnel boarded the train and found the man lying outside a container atop one of the cars with a blue jacket over him.

“I was planning to go to Fukuoka for volunteer work,” he later told the Konohana Police Station. The man, believed to be a tourist, also said that he hitchhiked from the Kanto area to Osaka.

According to West Japan Railway, the freight train departed from a freight terminal in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture. It is believed that the man boarded the train while it was temporarily stopped for a signal near Osaka Station.

The incident caused delays of up to 20 minutes to the Sakurajima and Osaka Loop lines, JR West said.