How often are there delays on Japanese rail?

[Steve4031]

i know that they are legendary for their on time performance. But what happens when things go wrong with the trains?

[Kitayama]

There are disturbances also in Japan. A general rule (with exceptions) is that small delays almost never occurs, but large delays and cancellations can happen.

Major reasons:

- Mother Nature (Snow, Typhoons, Earthquakes etc.)

- Human incidents (suicide etc.)

- Technical problems with the line or the rolling stock

 

I have done 1200 train journeys in Japan (just updating my database with the travel in May...).

I have been delayed once so much that I have missed my (planned) onward connection. The Yakumo from Yonago to Okayama was two hours delayed due to signalling problems. 

[Steve4031]

That's pretty good compared to Amtrak in the United States. And better than Europe.

[bikkuri bahn]

Small delays are kept at a minimum by designing/tweaking the operating timetable, but as Kitayama says, incidents beyond the control of the railway are what cause the big delays.  These happen more often than you may think on networks such as Tokyo's just due to their sheer size and volume of traffic.  The techniques to recover the regular operating timetable can (and do) fill books, a few which you can purchase at better bookstores here.

 

As for international comparisons, the Dutch are very keen on this topic, and have authored a number of studies.  Though this data is quite old, you can see that Japan at the time had the best timekeeping, followed by the Swiss and Dutch.  UK is the worst in Europe.  America is not included (just as well).  Of course, this may have changed in recent years, I reckon some have improved, while perhaps Germany has gotten worse, at least from what I have heard secondhand.

*x axis is railway track utilization (1000 train/track km) and y axis is punctuality in %

source:

http://www.treinreiziger.nl/kennisnet/punctualiteit/punctualiteit_ns_internationaal_vergeleken

[westfalen]

From my trips to the UK in 2010 and Germany in 2008 and 2014 I'd reverse the positions of the two, and maybe even put the UK a bit higher.  I found the British time keeping excellent but I may have just been in the right places at the right times.  During my two visits to Switzerland I've found SBB don't always operate like a Swiss watch either.

 

I agree that few delays I've encountered in Japan stemmed from things beyond the railways control.

[bikkuri bahn]

Perhaps recent timekeeping in the UK is not as bad as some believe, no doubt the reputation is not helped by the British predilection to whinge and parse...

[miyakoji]

Bikkuri, can you recommend a book about how they get back on schedule? Japanese language is fine. Was it on here or on the yahoo mailing list that we discussed JR East's software that generates recovery schedules...

[Steve4031]

There is really only one day of the trip where  a delay might be problematic, and that would be the last day getting from Hakata to Osaka to catch a 2:30 p.m. flight out of Itami airport. 

 

This is the schedule that I have for that last day.  

 

This is Sunday, April 3.  

I intend to get seat reservations for this train 7 days before, or at worst, 6 days in advance.  

Depart Hakata 8:43 a.m.

Arrive Shin-Osaka 11:24 a.m.

 

Depart Shin-Osaka 12:15 p.m

Arrive Osaka ITM 12:40 p.m.

 

Depart Osaka ITM 2:15 p.m  All Nippon Airways 2178

Arrive Tokyo NRT 3:35 p.m.  

 

Depart Tokyo NRT 5:10 p.m. All Nippon Airways 114

Arrive Chicago ORD 2:45 p.m.

[Ochanomizu]

Hello Mr Steve4031,

 

About the human incident: most major stations have the capability of diverting rail traffic to other platforms when there is such an incident.  This step alone can often mitigate much of the delay that would normally be associated with such an event.  Very large stations, such as Shinjuku, Tokyo and Ueno, have permanent medical staff and fire department based at the station especially trained for rail related incidents.

[JR 500系]

Hi Steve4031:

 

Your connections are quite spaced out, so minor delays shouldn't be a major problem. I've not travelled that much, but I'm luckily unaffected by delays for my tight connections which are sometimes like 7mins apart.

 

I guess platform searching is more of a concern for me. I discover big stations such as Tokyo or Shinjuku especially difficult as they are mighty huge and platforms are kinda hard to find, hence as much as possible I try to avoid large stations for transfers.   

[Steve4031]

On the other days where I had transfers I tried to allow 20 minutes to 60 minutes at each transfer. Just makes it easier. In my experience most stations have a similar layout. You have platforms lined up with track 1 at one end and track 20 or whatever at the other end. Some of the stations in Tokyo like shinjuku are more complicated.

[Mr Frosty]

It doesn't help that some UK rail companies classify up to 15 minutes late as still being on time.

One company reprinted its timetable making the journey times longer to help its punctuality figures.

 

Generally, rush hour is where it all starts to go wrong. During the day, it isnt too bad.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Mr Frosty

[bikkuri bahn]

Generally, rush hour is where it all starts to go wrong. During the day, it isnt too bad.

 

Yup.  Off-peak there is enough slack in the timetable that one train being several minutes late has no effect on other trains. OTOH, at rush hour, when you have trains running at 3 min. intervals (for example), a late train will force other trains to become late, this propagating effect is called a knock-on delay.

[bikkuri bahn]

Bikkuri, can you recommend a book about how they get back on schedule? Japanese language is fine. Was it on here or on the yahoo mailing list that we discussed JR East's software that generates recovery schedules...

This book "Tetsudo daiya kaifuku no gijyutsu" (Techniques (art) of recovering railway operating timetables) is one:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E3%83%80%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A4%E5%9B%9E%E5%BE%A9%E3%81%AE%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93-%E9%9B%BB%E6%B0%97%E5%AD%A6%E4%BC%9A%E3%83%BB%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E3%81%AB%E3%81%8A%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B%E9%81%8B%E8%A1%8C%E8%A8%88%E7%94%BB%E3%83%BB%E9%81%8B%E8%A1%8C%E7%AE%A1%E7%90%86%E6%A5%AD%E5%8B%99%E9%AB%98%E5%BA%A6%E5%8C%96%E3%81%AB%E9%96%A2%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB%E5%B0%82%E9%96%80%E5%A7%94%E5%93%A1%E4%BC%9A/dp/4274209148

 

Other books are listed below that one.

Edited June 3, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[bikkuri bahn]

One interesting experience I had a few years back was when I was in Tokyo during one of those freak heavy snowstorms.  Here you could see the different railway approaches to dealing with timetable-disrupting weather.  I was using Keikyu- of course the snow delayed all trains, but all of them were kept running, in order, but at considerably reduced speed.  All the station train info LED boards were shut off.  Though people arrived late to their destinations, they were able to reach them, and passenger flow was not clogged up.  OTOH, JR East uses a practice called "mabiki unten" (thinning or pruning), where for example, every other train in cancelled.  Apparently this is done because there is less chance a train will become stranded, which is more of a problem with the greater distance between stations on JR lines compared with private railways.  The problem with this is that it causes great congestion of passengers at the big stations, such as Shinjuku.