'Serious' crack found on Japan train

TOKYO - Train operator West Japan Railway Co said on Tuesday that a 16-centimeter crack found in a steel frame of a carriage of a shinkansen bullet train was "extremely serious".

The recent woes that have gripped Japan's train networks are due to structural issues related to aging equipment as well as a lack of young engineers, said Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii on Tuesday.

His comments came a week after a shinkansen bullet train was pulled out of service three and half hours into its five-hour journey because of a crack in an undercarriage and an oil leak.