The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) published an "Overview of the survey results on the state of maintenance of acoustic guidance systems on station platforms" on  January 28, 2022.

The guidelines on facilitating smooth transportation standards state that, among other considerations, acoustic guidance systems on station platforms installed to assist visually impaired persons’ direction should be oriented towards the long axis of the platform (parallel to the railway tracks).

However, on November 11 last year, it was reported in the press that the voice guidance speakers for the visually impaired on the Saikyo Line platform at JR Shibuya Station were not facing parallel to the tracks and thus could cause the visually impaired to fall into the tracks.

In response to the report, JR East conducted an investigation. Then, it announced the results on  November 26 that a total of 112 units had been installed in an improper orientation at 59 stations in 11 prefectures, including Tokyo, Kanagawa, Miyagi, and Fukushima. Furthermore, the MLIT investigated the installation of acoustic guidance systems maintained by railway operators across Japan.

Consequently, in November last year, there were 238 units at 113 stations requiring a refit, of which 166 had been refitted  by the end of December last year, and the remaining 72 units will be refitted by the end of this fiscal year.  (Of these, 36 units are scheduled for refitting by the end of February 2022).

For more information, please visit the website below (in Japanese only):
https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/content/001461512.pdf