S/ Kise Yoichi, President, East Japan Railway / We take seriously the situation in which we have caused inconvenience for our customers and express our deepest apologies.

The head of JR East apologized for congestion at its ticket offices during peak travel periods such as the change of fiscal year that begins April 1 and the Golden Week holidays from late April to early May.

To deal with the issue, JR East officials said they will halt their plan to reduce ticket offices for the time being.

The company said in 2021 that it will promote ticketless travel and cut down its ticket offices in the greater Tokyo and surrounding areas from 440 to 140 by 2025.

But as many customers have complained about congestion during high travel season, JR East decided to keep the current ticket offices at 209 stations open.

The officials said they also plan to reopen some closed ticket offices during busy periods.

They said they will also work on ticketless travel using smartphone apps for foreign nationals.