TOKYO -- On a cloudy morning last week, every bus stop on the road leading to Tokyo's Shibuya district had at least 30 people waiting in line. A bus would come from time to time, but of course there was no room for a single passenger to get on.

The unusual sight was the consequence of the Den-en-toshi Line, a heavily traveled commuter line running directly under the road, stopping for four and a half hours Wednesday due to an electrical issue.

The rush hour stoppage drew a flurry of tweets by frustrated riders.

"Again? Enough of this!" one fumed.

"The line here is longer than you see at popular theme park attractions," another joked.

Though famed for punctuality, Japanese trains are seeing an increase in delays. In the past, delays were typically caused by accidents or severe weather. In recent months, however, electrical malfunctions have become a growing problem.

The Den-en-toshi Line, operated by Tokyu, also suffered a power outage on Oct. 19. In other rail trouble, damage to a substation caused delays Sept. 5 on East Japan Railway lines including the vital Yamanote Line, which loops through central Tokyo. A power outage halted service Sept. 12 on the Tokyo Monorail serving Haneda Airport.

Mind the skills gap

Though the responsibility in each case lies with the railway operators, some place indirect blame on a lack of qualified personnel working on the electrical infrastructure. Railway companies are popular employers, but the businesses that handle such tasks as building and inspecting electrical equipment have trouble attracting young people to take on what is seen as grueling work.

"Not enough talented people" go into such maintenance work, said Ryo Takagi, a professor in the electrical engineering department at Tokyo's Kogakuin University. "And students who join those companies show gaps in their knowledge."

Meanwhile, veteran workers are leaving in droves as they reach retirement age. This creates a demographic cliff that hampers the passing down of important technical know-how from one generation to the next, leading to a slew of rookie mistakes.

Many note a serious lack of motivation among young people in the field. "It used to be par for the course that they'd aim to pass certification exams and go into supervisory positions, but now there're a growing number who don't even plan to take the exam," said a manager at an electrical contractor based in the greater Tokyo area.

The number of people passing the certification test required to supervise substation inspections, for example, slumped from a peak of 13,008 in fiscal 1998 to 7,336 in fiscal 2016, according to the Fund for Construction Industry Promotion, which administers the exam.

The trend has spurred some in the industry to action. Shinsei Technos, part of the Nagoya-based Central Japan Railway group, hopes to entice more new graduates with nationwide internships and other opportunities. It has also touted cutting-edge work related to its magnetic-levitation train project.

But fierce competition with other industries for talent leaves it unclear whether contractors can get the workers they need to maintain the safety of Japan's transportation infrastructure.

Parcel delivery drivers sometimes have to work 16-hour shifts with little rest.

The issue is not limited to the railway sector. On Thursday, regional carrier Air Do announced it will scrap 26 flights between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and New Chitose Airport, near Sapporo, next February due to an acute shortage of pilots.

The budget airline was hit with a wave of pilot retirements in August and October, and it cannot train personnel fast enough to fill the vacant captain's seats.

Harsh reality

In manufacturing, roughly half the companies that go out of business today do so despite being in the black. They are simply unable to find successors.

The torrent of closures could rob Japan of about 6.5 million jobs and 22 trillion yen ($194 billion) in gross domestic product by 2025, according to the government's calculations.

Drivers of trucks, buses and taxis are saddled with longer hours due to staff shortages. In the parcel delivery business, in particular, some start at 4 a.m. and work 16-hour shifts with little rest.

Safety and punctuality were long the hallmarks of Japanese transport. Those qualities are quickly wearing away as a harsh demographic reality sets in.