A Night on the Tracks: Hokkaido Express Derails After Hitting a Bear, and Everyone Walks Away

Late on Friday night, deep in northern Hokkaido, a train journey turned into an unplanned overnight stay. The Sarobetsu No. 3 limited express, a four-car train running from Asahikawa to Wakkanai, struck a bear at around 10:50 p.m. between Teshio-Nakagawa and Toikambetsu stations.

The driver hit the emergency brakes, but the collision was enough to push the front wheel set of the lead car off the rails. Remarkably, none of the 32 passengers or the crew were hurt. With the line blocked and the area remote, passengers spent the night aboard before being taken onward by taxi. JR Hokkaido cancelled part of its services and arranged replacement buses.

Japanese media described it as the first time a collision with a bear had derailed a train. JR Hokkaido apologised at a press conference and said it did not believe there had been any problem with how the train was driven.

A collision of two worlds

The Soya Line runs through some of Japan’s emptiest landscapes: forest, wetland and long stretches without towns. For bears, the tracks are just another path through their territory. Collisions with deer are a familiar nuisance on Hokkaido’s railways; a bear heavy enough to derail a carriage is a sharper warning about how close wildlife and infrastructure now live.

For travellers, the lesson is practical. Rural Hokkaido rail journeys in autumn are spectacular, but delays from wildlife are part of the deal, and services can be suspended at short notice. Checking the operator’s updates before setting out, carrying snacks and a charged phone, and allowing spare time for connections to Wakkanai are sensible habits.

And for 32 passengers, Friday night became a story they will tell for years: the night their express met a bear, and everybody got home safe.