Study looks at drunken commuters falling on tracks

Most of the drunken train passengers who fall from platforms in Japan do not stagger along and topple off, but they rise from an alcohol-induced slumber on benches and walk headlong onto the tracks, a study has found.

The finding has sparked a review of the placement of benches, with seats in one large station rotated 90 degrees to face along the platform instead of toward the tracks, in the hope that alcohol-fuelled sleepers will come to no harm.

Japan's late-drinking "salarymen" - suited city workers - are well-served by extensive urban train networks that whisk them back home at the end of the night.