Transporting 6.8m commuters a day, and bracing for more

Tokyo

IT'S Monday morning and Tokyo is going back to work after the Golden Week holidays. By 8:16 at Shinjuku station, the world's busiest, lines of waiting commuters overlap with those from the opposite platform. The smell of pastries from a bakery wafts over the stream of people.

As a train approaches platform two on the Marunouchi line, the number 50 appears on a digital sign, indicating the train will stay 50 seconds longer than usual. That's because the following train, due in two minutes, has been delayed and is already packed. Each 12 seconds of delay adds about 80 people and makes a train 10 per cent more crowded, according to Tokyo Metro Co.

The clock begins to count down and assistant stationmaster Takashi Arai steps onto a wooden dais. With just a few seconds to go some desperate commuters …