The world’s most terrifying training day...

JAPANESE rail staff are being forced to sit beside tracks in tunnels as bullet trains pass near their heads at almost 190mph.

It is part of a training programme to impress on maintenance workers how fast the trains move – and how seriously they should take their jobs.

Some have protested to bosses that they did not want to enter tunnels for the terrifying exercise, only to be told: ‘But it’s your turn.’ One employee told the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper: ‘It was a horrible experience.’ Another described it as ‘just like a public flogging’.

Taken down in small groups wearing hard hats and safety goggles, the staff cram into a well at the side of the tracks 3ft wide and 3ft deep. The spot in the tunnel is the point at which the 700ton trains are moving fastest.

About 190 staff have undergone the training. JR West, the firm that runs it, said it has no plans to stop the exercise, adding: ‘We pay close attention to safety.’