The beauty of transit has never been this dramatic. Amidst its final moments, a girl in Japan gave a train station its last reason to run: to help her finish her studies.
Located in the island of Hokkaido, the Kami-Shirataki train station has been in operation for more than three years. But as time passed by, the number of its passengers drastically went down because of the station’s remote location.
According to CCTV News, the management of Japan Railways had thought of shutting down the station – but suddenly had a change of heart upon knowing the story of their only passenger.
A report said that the girl’s only means of transportation to and from the school is the Kami-Shirataki train station. Inspired with the girl’s situation, the management even made some adjustments to its timetable in order for the student to ride the train according to her schedule.
But the railway station made a statement saying they will keep the train operational up until the girl graduates in March 2016. The netizens were quick to commend the effort of the train station.
Why should I not want to die for a country like this when the government is ready to go an extra mile just for me. This is the meaning of good governance penetrating right to the grassroot level. Every citizen matters, said in one of the comments.
Another comment said “every reasonable government ought to know the academic, economy, political values of a student in her country.”
With Japan’s declining population because of its notoriously low fertility rate, its railroads are only one of the several problems that the country is facing today.