After the last deadhead run, an umbrella: three lost items that match no ledger on the bay monorail
Since late August, umbrellas whose presence cannot be accounted for have been found on three occasions during end-of-service inspections at the bay monorail depot, it was learned on Sept. 3 — each beneath a left-window seat, and none reconcilable with crew logs, the lost-property ledger, or in-car camera footage. The company treated the matter internally as "ledger management deficiencies" and did not disclose it; the finds came to light through a safety report by the crew union. One case has occurred since the final deadhead run went to two-person crewing on Aug. 20.
By the company's account, lost property is collected during the in-car check after the last revenue run; the train then deadheads to the depot for the end-of-service inspection. The umbrellas surfaced at that final stage — on Aug. 24, Aug. 28 and Sept. 1. The revenue-run inspection records read "no items found," and camera footage shows no umbrella being carried aboard the cars in question. "We have found no gap in the inspection procedure itself," a company official said. "What we can posit are an overlooked item and a recording deficiency. The company possesses no other explanation." All three are ordinary navy long umbrellas. They have been handed to police as lost property, to be held the statutory three months. No owner has come forward.
The union official who filed the report is at pains to frame it: "This is not a ghost story. It is a records story. Three times running, the records and the physical facts disagree. Whatever the reason, a state in which the records are losing to reality cannot be left standing, as a matter of safety." One crew member who worked the inspections added, on condition of anonymity: "The umbrellas are dry. All summer — even on the evening-shower days. Dry umbrellas, accumulating on rainy nights. That's all it is. And somehow it won't leave my head."
The Fukagawa–Kameido stretch of the line is known to carry a mention of "an umbrella on the left window side" in a company newsletter from its third year of operation. The company says there is "no basis for connecting a half-century-old newsletter with the present matter."
As countermeasures, the union requested added lighting over the depot inspection track and a revised end-of-service record form; the company accepted both. Two-person crewing of the final deadhead run continues. The company has reported the facts to the TDA, which replied that "no observed event corresponds to the times and section in question, and the surrounding permeation index is at normal values." Police likewise "find no circumstances suggesting criminality." Which is to say: on no agency's shelf is there a place for these umbrellas. The company repeats that safe operation is unaffected, and from September the inspections use the new form. Beside the column for items recovered, it carries one new, small column: "Items not recovered." So far, that column remains blank.
