Is that hand strap clean? Tokyo Metro sprays silver to fend off coronavirus
09/07/2020 09:15
TOKYO, July 9 (Reuters) - As global public transport
operators look for ways to keep the coronavirus at bay on
planes, trains and buses, one of Japan's biggest rail firms is
betting on the anti-microbial properties of silver to keep
passengers safe on the world's busiest subway.
Tokyo's labyrinthine rail network of about 900 stations and
roughly 85 lines has seen passenger numbers approach pre-virus
levels since the city's de facto lockdown was lifted in late
May.
This raises the risk of transmission via high-contact points
such as hand straps, hand rails and seats, just as the city's
number of new cases of COVID-19 infection is rising again.
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Tokyo Metro, the city's main subway operator, has begun
spraying its nearly 3,000 cars with a super-fine atomisation of
a silver-based compound, taking advantage of silver's
anti-antimicrobial properties to repel the virus from surfaces.
"Merely disinfecting the carriages only has a short-term
effect, so we were looking for an anti-microbial application to
reassure passengers that our trains are safe," Masaru Sugiyama,
Tokyo Metro's section chief in charge of rolling stock, said at
a demonstration on Thursday.
After the end of daily operations, masked cleaners hauling
motorised atomisers stride through carriages, spraying straps,
poles, seats and windows with a mist of 10 micron droplets,
roughly the size of a grain of pollen.
Tokyo Metro said the anti-microbial compound has been shown
to be effective against viruses including influenza and E-coli,
though has not yet been proven to repel the novel coronavirus.
Other operators are also looking at ways to help Tokyo's
passengers select less crowded trains to increase chances of
social distancing on a network serving 40 million daily trips.
East Japan Railway Co 9020.T , the country's biggest rail
network operator, last month updated its mobile app to offer
real-time updates on capacity by carriage, along with crowd
levels at stations.
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
((naomi.tajitsu@thomsonreuters.com; +81364411078; Reuters
Messaging: naomi.tajitsu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))