Express Trip Stopped Due to Stowaway Snake on a Train

A high-speed bullet train in Japan made an unexpected pit stop on Monday when a passenger discovered a slithery, less-than-ideal seatmate: a snake. The brown rat snake was discovered curled around the armrest of a seat, AP reports.

The snake’s seatmate apparently spent about an hour happily oblivious to the unusual stowaway until it was spotted by another passenger, at which point the train stopped for railway police to extricate the serpent from its unlikely situation, which only took about a minute. (No heroics from Samuel L. Jackson’s memorable Snakes on a Plane thriller were required in this scenario, fortunately.)

The brown snake was about 12 inches long and was not poisonous, Yahoo reports. No one was injured in the course of its free ride, and no owner has yet come forward to claim it. (Rat snakes are commonly kept as pets.)

According to the AP, the train reached its ultimate destination of Hiroshima on time, despite the interruption — proving that even snakes on a train can’t delay the famous punctuality of Japan’s public transportation system.