09 November, 2024

Isumi Railway: the safety crisis

Last month, an Isumi Railway train derailed in Chiba Prefecture due to poor track maintenance. The railway has been closed for more than a month, raising concerns about the safety and the future of the railway, but local governments would not allow it just to be abandoned.

NHK reported that a westbound train formed of two coaches derailed between Kuniyoshi and Kazusa-Nakagawa stations at around 8:10 am on 4th October. There were 104 passengers (mostly high school students) and a driver onboard, but nobody injured. The line has been closed since then and replaced by bus. The Japan Transport Safety Board has carried out an investigation and its report is expected to be published within weeks.

According to Asahi Shimbun, decayed sleepers made of wood could not fix the rail. The train company acknowledged the situation and thus planned repair work that would take place in late November, but the accident happened before that. The company initially envisaged reopening the line within four weeks, but according to Nikkei, too many decayed sleepers were found on the entire line so that it would not reopen until March 2025.


Isumi Railway is a 26.8 km (16.6 miles) long railway in Chiba Prefecture, roughly 60 km (38 miles) southeast of Tokyo. It opened in 1930 as Kihara Line, and renamed Isumi Line when the entire line was transferred from JR East to Isumi Railway in 1988. The line and the company have been funded almost fully by local governments since then.


It was anticipated that there would be very low ridership even before the line was constructed, as the area has always been sparsely populated. The Transport Ministry and local governments discussed about "alternative transport" (i.e. road transport) several times since the 1980s. The latest proposal for the permanent closure was made in 2007, but increasing service frequency, building a new station and selling naming rights have succeeded so that the proposal was subsequently withdrawn. In the 2010s, then-president of the company and a railway enthusiast Akira Torizuka introduced old diesel trains, attracting many other railfans that contributed to not only the train operator itself but also the local economy. Isumi Railway looked somewhat a successful rural railway even amid the decline in demand triggered by the depopulation.


However, the company has spent little on track maintenance. The above photograph clearly shows how deteriorated the rail is (click the photo for a larger image). Despite the low speed of just 30-50 km/h (20-30 mph), trains have always been bumpy. The company concentrated on replacing old bus-like rolling stock 200 series, but it has not invested enough in other part of the railway. When there was an almost identical derailment in 2013, the company has decided to replace wooden sleepers with concrete ones, but it has been advancing at a glacial pace due to financial difficulties. There are many rural railways across the country which train operators have been struggling to maintain, but Isumi Railway seems to have been particularly unsuccessful in securing track safety.


Even so, there is also a sign of hope. The Nikkei article refers to local governments willing to support the company, suggesting that they consider keeping the railway open as essential for local communities. The cost of the work could be substantial even if not all wooden sleepers are replaced with concrete ones at once, but they have been positively discussing about subsidies. It implies taxpayers in the area would agree with not just the expenditure this time but also funding other costs that may be necessary in the near future.

26 October, 2024

De-electrification after a disaster

On 18 October, JR East announced that Ou Main Line between Shinjo and Innai (Yamagata and Akita Prefectures) would reopen by May 2025 but as an unelectrified railway. This is another example of downsizing but could be environmentally friendly, as this blog argued in 2022.


The area in question was devastated on 25 July 2024 by a massive torrential rain and landslides. The railway has been closed and replaced by bus since then. According to JR East, the ongoing construction will complete before so-called Golden Week holidays in May 2025. However, to make the railway "sustainable, resilient against disasters and easy to be reopened", overhead wires, poles and other facilities necessary for electric trains will be removed. When the line reopens, GV-E400 series and KiHa 100 series diesel trains will be used instead of 701 series electric trains.


Some people might argue that this is part of JR East's long-term plan to axe unprofitable railways in rural areas. This area has been sparsely populated for decades so that there were just eight trains a day before the torrential rain. According to the statistics, the ridership thereof in 2023 has dropped by nearly 93% compared to that in 1987. However, the decline in population is not the only one to blame, as Ou Main Line had been used by long-distance travellers between Tokyo and other cities in the northeastern region in the past but they have shifted to Akita Shinkansen when it opened in 1997.

The facilities in the area including a substation were built when there were many intercity trains before the privatization of Japanese National Railways in 1987. There were not only regional services but also Limited Express Komakusa (Yamagata – Akita, downgraded to Rapid in 1999). There were up to five Komakusa services a day on each direction. However, it could not justify having large and inefficient facilities after those intercity services were completely discontinued in 2002.

De-electrification does not sound good, but at least it indicates that JR East does not plan to close the line permanently in the near future. As train operators and local governments across the country have been discussing about the fate of rural railways, Ou Main Line's de-electrification might suggest another choice to maintain the rail transport.

12 October, 2024

The Red List of Trains in Japan (Oct-2024 update)

The latest update of The Red List of Trains in Japan includes four new articles (mostly those in Kyushu) as well as nearly 100 articles being up to date. Check HERE for articles with major changes, either newly added or status being changed.

I have a plan to update some articles in late-2024, when details of the next nationwide timetable revision are officially available.

01 October, 2024

About my X account

As I have posted earlier today, I have decided to terminate my X (former Twitter) account on 31 December 2024 unless the widespread disinformation and discrimination that exacerbate division and hatred significantly diminishes, which is extremely unlikely to happen.

I therefore encourage X followers once again using other social media platforms, namely Mastodon (or any other ones connected to Fediverse) and Bluesky. My accounts thereof are as follows:

"x years ago today", a series of posts with a train photo I upload at 8:30 pm every Thursday (Japan Time), is also available on those platforms.

My X account will remain even after 1 January 2025 to prevent malicious users using this ID a month after deactivating my account, but I will not log in to it. Therefore, any reply or message will not reach me after that. I may make it a private account when deemed necessary. Your understanding is appreciated.

28 September, 2024

Bullet Trains: the Shinkansen Heroes in the Past

On 1 October, Tokaido Shinkansen marks the 60th anniversary. The first high-speed rail in history opened in 1964, and it is still the most heavily used railway in the world. The bullet train network has expanded in the last 60 years in Japan as well, and there are ten lines in total including so-called mini Shinkansen. This article looks back upon present and past "named" services.

Currently, each line has one or more types of services, depending on destination and speed. There are 19 services in total as follows:

In addition to them, there were a few services that were discontinued in the past, all of which were in eastern Japan.


Aoba

Aoba was introduced when Tohoku Shinkansen opened in 1982. This name derived from Aoba Hills in Sendai city, where Sendai Castle located and later became part of Tohoku University. At that time, there were only Yamabiko fast services and Aoba calling at all stations. 200 series trains were mostly used for them, but a few double-decker trains ran as MAX Aoba.

Aoba dramatically declined when JR East started Nasuno services in 1995, which aimed to attract commuters going to Tokyo. Nasuno calls at all stations as well, but JR East chose not to use the name Aoba as Nasuno does not run as far as Sendai. In 1997, Aoba was discontinued.


Asahi

Asahi was introduced to Joetsu Shinkansen when it opened in 1982. Asahi literally meant "the morning sun", and it was initially used for fast services towards Niigata. In 1997, JR East dramatically rearranged the service patterns, and all services between Tokyo and Niigata were called Asahi regardless of the number of stations they stop. 200 series was used for ordinary Asahi, while double-decker trains were used for MAX Asahi.

However, many passengers filed complaints as they frequently confused Asahi with Asama (Tokyo - Nagano). In fact, Asahi and Asama ran the same tracks between Tokyo and Takasaki, and their pronunciations were similar to each other. Not only passengers but also ticket office staff struggled with these names so that the company changed Asahi to Toki in 2002.


MAX services

MAX stood for Multi Amenity eXpress. JR East introduced two types of double-decker bullet trains in the 1990s and 2000s, namely E1 series and E4 series. These trains could run merely at a speed of 240 km/h (150 mph) but could carry far more passengers than other bullet trains. A 16-car E4 series service could carry 1,634 people, the largest among all high-speed trains in the world.

There were seven MAX services as follows.

MAX Aoba Tokyo ⇔ Sendai  1994-2007 
MAX Asahi Tokyo ⇔ Niigata  1994-2002 
MAX Asama Karuizawa ⇒ Tokyo  2001-2003 
MAX Nasuno Tokyo ⇒ Nasushiobara  1995-2012 
MAX Tanigawa Tokyo ⇔ Echigo-Yuzawa  1994-2021 
MAX Toki Tokyo ⇔ Niigata  2002-2021 
MAX Yamabiko Tokyo ⇔ Morioka  1994-2012 

MAX Asama is the least known one among all MAX services. It ran during high seasons (mostly summer holidays) between July 2001 and September 2003, only from Karuizawa to Tokyo. The double-decker trains were heavier than other bullet trains so that they generally could not run steep gradient between Takasaki and Karuizawa on Nagano Shinkansen (now Hokuriku Shinkansen), but four out of 26 E4-series units were compatible with the line. Nevertheless, MAX Asama did not last long as JR East later feared that the train would be too heavy to climb the mountain when it was full of passengers so that there had only been few services from Karuizawa.

MAX allowed far more people than before to take the bullet trains. Passengers used to dress up until the 1980s, but the double-decker trains made the journey relatively cheaper so that commuters and students started using the bullet trains. In other words, the E1 and E4 series contributed to make Shinkansen, once recognised by citizens as luxurious or for elite, a casual mode of transport.

However, these double-decker trains were so slow and uncomfortable that JR East decided not to make a successor train to them. When the E4 series retired in 2021, the MAX brand was discontinued as well.


Finally, this article focuses on a service that is likely to disappear in the near future, Hayate. It means a (sudden) high wind, but it also implied a turbulent weather that potentially causes famine or infectious diseases in the region so that it was highly controversial. Hayate was introduced in 2002 when Tohoku Shinkansen was extended to Hachinohe, and it was once the fastest service running between Tokyo and Hachinohe by E2 series, running at 275 km/h (170 mph) and mostly non-stop between Omiya and Sendai.

However, when the line was extended again to Shin-Aomori and E5 series entered into service in 2011, JR East introduced much faster and more expensive Hayabusa service that runs at 320 km/h (200 mph). As more E5 series trains were delivered, Hayate significantly declined. It was a type of semi-fast service in the first half of the 2010s, but all regular Hayate to and from Tokyo were upgraded to Hayabusa by 2019.


Today, there are only two Hayate on each direction between Morioka or Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, all of which run either in the morning or at night. Most people must have forgotten that Hayate was once running at the highest speed between Tokyo and the Northeast region. It is hard to find reasons to have Hayate in such an inefficient way today so that it is likely to be discontinued within a few years.