From "Liner" to "Limited Express"…JR East's Own Goal

JR East will change its timetables on Saturday 13th March 2021. Major timetable changes generally aim to encourage more passengers to use trains with more convenient and attractive services, but the next one is to reduce services amid the pandemic.

Moreover, JR East plans to make services even far less useful just like it has been doing for a decade, as this article argues.

 

One of the most important change in March will be a reform of Tokaido line service. 185 series of Japanese National Railways (introduced in 1981-82) on Odoriko and Shonan Liner trains will be taken out of regular service. In addition, JR East is going to upgrade Shonan Liner services to Limited Express Shonan.

 

Shonan Liner consists of three different trains: the genuine Shonan Liner (Tokyo - Odawara), Ohayo Liner Shinjuku (Odawara to Shinjuku) and Home Liner Odawara (Shinjuku to Odawara). They are designed for commuters: in addition to a normal fare ticket or a season ticket, a 520-yen "Liner ticket" guarantees taking a seat. It takes 40-50 minutes between Tokyo/Shinjuku and Fujisawa, or 70-90 minutes between Tokyo/Shinjuku and Odawara, roughly 10 minutes faster than stopping services. Since Tokaido line has been notorious for extreme congestion, Liner trains have been popular.

 

Shonan Liner commenced in 1986 by the JNR. It had been suffering from immense deficit and desperately looking for a new source of revenue. The JNR found that some empty coaching stock moves could be profitable if they were available for commuters who hated packed trains at peak times. After the privatisation, JR East expanded the service with various rolling stock. Today, the JNR 185 and JR East 215 series trains are used on those Shonan Liner services on weekdays.

JR East announced last year that it would completely replace the 185 and 215 series with E257 series, and rebrand Liner trains to limited express Shonan, while journey times remain almost unchanged. The company insists that the new service will be more convenient, comfortable with simpler fare system than the current system. However, the "upgrade" is likely to bring undesirable consequences, rather than improving the quality.

The most serious issue is price. The current "Liner ticket" for standard class costs 520 yen no matter how long the passenger takes the train. On the other hand, the limited express ticket will cost 1,020 yen between Shinjuku/Tokyo and stations beyond Fujisawa (including Odawara). To put it simply, JR East will effectively double the fare. The company will offer a discount of 100 yen (300 yen until 30 Sep 2021) if a ticket is purchased online, but still disproportionately expensive.

Furthermore, the "new" rolling stock is not actually new. The E257 series was introduced in 2001-02 to Chuo line trains, and reallocated to Tokaido line in 2020. They have been refurbished, but they are nearly 20 years old, making it difficult to justify the fare rise.

 

Is the 1,020-yen ticket reasonable compared to rivals? There are two alternatives for the routes. The first one is Odakyu line, and the second one is, surprisingly, a bullet train.

 

Odakyu provides Morning Way and Home Way trains between Shinjuku and Fujisawa or Odawara. All Romancecar trains are used on the service. It takes 53-67 minutes between Shinjuku and Fujisawa, and 76-84 minutes between Shinjuku and Odawara. Odakyu trains take slightly longer than JR East in general, and there are fewer services in the morning, but far more in the evening and late at night. Morning and Home Way trains cost 630 yen (Shinjuku - Fujisawa) or 910 yen (Shinjuku - Odawara), cheaper than new Shonan trains of JR.

 

Another rival is Shinkansen bullet train. It takes 33-36 minutes between Tokyo and Odawara, obviously faster than any other train, but a bullet train ticket (non-reserved standard class) costs 1,760 yen. However, JR Central offers a special deal called "新幹線乗車サービス (Service for those on Bullet Train)" for those having an IC season ticket (e.g. Suica), in which case the bullet train fare between the stations is only 990 yen. Note that the season ticket is valid either on Tokaido line or Tokaido Shinkansen. Almost all passengers use an IC card in these days so that the condition does not hamper "grabbing the deal".

 

To sum up, see the table below regarding the Odawara services:

It is not always easy to make a comparison, but it is no exaggeration to say that Shonan is the most useless choice in terms of fare, journey time and frequency.

The spread of the COVID-19 forced commuters to shift to remote working, resulted in the sharp fall of the number of passengers. It is far from understandable why has JR East decided to dramatically raise the fares in spite of the recent circumstances. The replacement of Shonan Liner with Shonan limited express shows another example of JR East being incompetent to figure out the demands that exist in the market.

 

Finally, I point out an option that JR East is likely to do…reduce stopping services during rush hours so that commuters would have no other choice but to purchase the ticket for Shonan. It actually happened on Utsunomiya line in the mid-2010s when Home Liner Koga and Home Liner Konosu were discontinued.

Ueno Zoo Monorail: the demise of the first monorail in Japan

Ueno Zoo Monorail is a 0.2 mile-long monorail operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, connecting west and east areas of the Zoo. This is the first monorail in Japan, which was opened in 1957. The line lies almost entirely within the Zoo, but the line was constructed in accordance with former Regional Railway Act 1919. Even today, the line is operated and maintained on the basis of Railway Business Act 1986, which means that this Monorail is registered as a genuine railway despite it looks a kind of amusement ride.

Ueno Zoo Monorail was built as a test line of "alternative means of transportation" which must be more efficient and punctual than trams. It is based on German Wuppertal Suspension Railway system with some modifications. However, it became clear that monorail is not always suitable for the city of Tokyo, as it is expensive to build while it is capable to have only limited number of passengers. The Bureau decided not to make any new monorail, and instead started expanding underground and bus networks.

In January 2019, the Bureau announced to suspend the operation of the Monorail from 1st November, as the current rolling stock got old. Its future is bleak as it costs 1.8 billion yen (approx. 17 million USD) to introduce a new fleet. The Bureau intends to have discussions with specialists, visitors and local residents, but the Monorail is likely to be closed permanently.

Currently, one unit of 40 series (built in 2001) runs every 7 minutes during opening hours of the Zoo. It costs 150 yen for an adult and 80 yen for a child, but note that admission fee is required to get into the Zoo. It takes about 90 seconds from east to west areas and vice versa. The last service is scheduled to be held on 31st October.

The last loco-hauled train in regular service

Sapporo, 29 Aug 2013

In Japan, there is no regular train served by coach. Japanese National Railway adopted the Modernisation Programme in 1960, aimed for more efficient and less costly train services. It decided to replace coaching stock with EMUs and DMUs, resulting in the decline of locomotive-hauled train. After the privatisation of JNR, all JR companies continued the Programme until 2016, when the last train Hamanasu was withdrawn.

Aomori, 2 Nov 2011

Hamanasu was a night express train which ran daily from Aomori to Sapporo (approx. 300 miles, 7.5 hrs). Hamanasu was introduced in 1988 when Seikan Tunnel was opened and ferry services were discontinued, and it was regarded as an alternative means of transportation.

It consisted of seven coaches in off-peak season; two Class B (standard) berth coaches, one "carpet coach" for passengers sleeping on the floor and four standard-class seated coaches. More carriages were added in peak seasons by up to 14 coaches in total.

Sapporo, 29 Aug 2013

All carriages and locomotives were built in 1970s. The train was hauled by Class ED79 electric locomotive (between Aomori and Hakodate) and Class DD51 diesel locomotive (between Hakodate and Sapporo). Coaches were mixture of 24 series (berth) and 14 series (seated).

Hamanasu had been well known as the last loco-hauled train and the last "express" among all JR regular services. In 2010s, many railway enthusiasts predicted that they would soon meet its demise as conditions of locomotives and coaches were deteriorated. Furthermore, night train is no longer popular among Japanese people so that it was inevitable to be discontinued. The last day of the service was 21st March 2016, several days before a new bullet train line was opened.

Urawa - Akabane (near Higashi-Jujo station), 26 Mar 2013

It should also be noted that the Programme is still ongoing. JR Central had already demolished all locomotives and JR East will follow it by 2025. These facts suggest that even coach trains for tourists (including preserved trains) cannot last long.