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Video by Saikyo Memories Very interesting in that the schedule is pretty full, there are named services that don't exist anymore, and there are some long haul locals. A few things stood out to me: the first train and the first long distance local, a 5:20 departure for Nagoya. Several more plus one or two for Ogaki. at 8:54 the unusually named First Izu Express (daiichi Izu kyuko) for Izukyu-Shimoda/Shuzenji. The video says that at this time, there were 2 expresses and 8 semi-expresses (junkyu) daily, the expresses being named Oku-Izu and First Ideyu (daiichi Ideyu) 11:00 departure for Kagoshima, the night express Kirishima arriving at 13:35 the next day! similarly, the 14:35 Takachiho for Nishi Kagoshima arriving at 19:53 the next day. I hope it was comfortable. The 20:10 Sanuki night express arriving at 9:10 the next day in Uno, Okayama. I don't think the train was actually put on the Uko train ferry, but as Uno was the Honshu side for the Uko ferry and Sanuki was the old name of Kagawa, I assume this made a good connection with the ship. Another one for Uno, the 21:00 Seto This channel has a few other videos like this including one for trains north out of Ueno in 1980, which looks like an utterly packed timetable.

In order to squeeze more capacity out of the railway network, infrastructure operator ProRail will begin to use a 6 second increment working timetable from the 2020 timetable revision, down from one minute timepoints. As many here know, this has long been a common practice among Japanese railways, though 6 seconds is very ambitious (depending on the railway or service, it typically ranges from 5 to 15 seconds in Japan). https://railway-news.com/prorail-increases-capacity-for-2020-timetable/

Interesting development: http://www.firstpost.com/business/freight-push-now-indian-railways-plans-time-table-goods-trains-2385308.html

Relating to the post about delays, here is a paper co-authored by Tokyo Metro sujiya Mr. Kohei Ushida, who was profiled by NHK in their Professionals TV documentary. He is the inventor of the chromatic diagram, which gives a better idea of how delays develop in the running timetable. Though it doesn't cover the process of timetable recovery after accidents and bad weather etc, it does give you an idea of how timetables are managed and modified to make train run on time, or at least reduce delays. http://www.railway-research.org/IMG/pdf/f1_tomii_norio.pdf

http://railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1492482

Those visiting Japan around this time of the year (there seem to be a few forum members who are/will do so) may be interested in buying a copy of the current JTB timetable. The cover feature is the 103 series, which is marking its 50th year of service. It may become a collectible, and certainly will be a nice souvenir of your trip. http://www.rurubu.com/book/recomm/jikokuhyou/