Maibara Station and It's Station Master, 1964

[Jcarlton]

Another of those old movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rGVOujt5s

Edited October 19, 2016 by cteno4
Fixed YouTube embed

[westfalen]

It's certainly changed a bit in 52 years but down on the platforms late at night you can imagine yourself back in the 1960s.

 

[cteno4]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=VdOlA8Zvdq0&ebc=ANyPxKp3sCPyGglwlp8WcA0iMBL7C9ifECaa9Z70DY0jIrrUYmRNjVB1kmm8kWvT8Aepupm-8p5dgYhbMykAW0CGM0Q5c-k4Og

[Sacto1985]

I'd like to know why Maibara is such a huge station in terms of passenger platforms even now--complete with Shinkansen station! Understandable back in the days before the Shinkansen, but not now.

[miyakoji]

I think because of its significance as a junction between the Tokaido and Hokuriku main lines.  It was a passenger transfer,  maybe they took on water, coal, and bento...

[Sacto1985]

I think because of its significance as a junction between the Tokaido and Hokuriku main lines.  It was a passenger transfer,  maybe they took on water, coal, and bento...

 

I think the size of Maibara Station would be understandable back in the days of slower passenger trains and because it was the start of the Hokuriku Main Line (this was way before the Kosei Line was built). But now, do they really need all platforms, unless it's to accommodate being a division point between JR Central and JR West in addition to turning around many commuter trains there.

[westfalen]

I think the size of Maibara Station would be understandable back in the days of slower passenger trains and because it was the start of the Hokuriku Main Line (this was way before the Kosei Line was built). But now, do they really need all platforms, unless it's to accommodate being a division point between JR Central and JR West in addition to turning around many commuter trains there.

During our recent trip we hung around the platforms a couple of nights, mainly watching the freights, and the normal procedure would be that a JR Central train arrived on one side of a platform and the JR West one was waiting on the other or vice versa.  This would take up an island platform in each direction, factor in a fairly frequent mix of rapids and locals in the JR West direction and Ltd Expresses passing through plus locals heading up the Hokuriku Line and you have enough trains to require a few platforms.

 

Maibara is one of those places around the world where the size of the railway station is out of proportion to the size of the town only because it was the convenient place to locate a junction.

Edited October 20, 2016 by westfalen

[Densha]

Two days ago I cycled to Maibara (just 30 minutes from where I live right now), and I was completely astonished by such a small town having such an enormous oversized station. There's not only a JR cape gauge station, but also a Shinkansen station. Not to forget that Ohmi Railway also has it's terminus at Maibara.

 

The JR cape gauge station is actually not that large. It only has three island platforms and two through tracks for freight and such. Considering that almost all trains terminate at Maibara, 6 platform tracks is actually not that much. There's at least one track needed for the terminating JR Central local to Ogaki and beyond, and one track for a terminating Hokuriku Line local. Then there's only 4 tracks left for JR West Tokaido Line trains. These usually seem to use the yard west of Maibara station for changing direction, but if you want to make transfers between trains it's really convenient that there's two platform tracks available for each direction. Not to forget that before the Kosei Line was built many more trains went through this station. Here's a good drawing of the tracks at Maibara: http://senrohaichi.blog51.fc2.com/blog-entry-89.html

 

I think there may be multiple reasons as for why Maibara got a station on the Tokaido Shinkansen. The first being that Maibara was the gateway to the Hokuriku region because the Kosei Line did not exist at the time. Another reason may be sought in the many rather large towns south of Maibara, such as Hikone. Looking at the geography of the area, having the Tokaido Shinkansen led via, for example, Hikone would be practically unfeasible if you want to keep running at high speeds. Hikone is also not that big of a city to make such a detour worth it in any way. Still, there's about 100,000 people living in Hikone, and also quite a lot of people in other nearby municipalities. Making a Shin-Hikone station on the eastern outskirts of Hikone would make no sense either, because then you would have no connection to the Tokaido Mainline, which means that even with 'relay' bus or train* services the travel time would probably exceed that of a simple transfer from Shinkansen to cape gauge train at Maibara. If you take into account that Maibara makes more sense as a gateway to eastern Shiga than Shin-Hikone, and that it also makes possible transfers to the Hokuriku Main Line, it's actually not that strange that the Tokaido Shinkansen got a station in Maibara.

 

Maibara station does still look strange to the eye though, considering that towns like this in many cases don't even have more than an unelectrified single-tracked line with two platforms and a passing loop.

 

*Via the Ohmi Railway Taga Line.

[bobbodaclown]

Thanks for the link to the map Densha. We are off to Japan tomorrow and we are spending four nights at Hikone. For a few years now I have planned to model Maibara station for the very reason that it is the junction of JR West and Tokai and that it has a Shinkansen station as well. From an operational perspective and with the variety of rolling stock that stops there it is an ideal location.

[Densha]

Not completely related to this topic, but it was on the news yesterday that the options for the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tsuruga to the Keihanshin area has now been reduced to two. The Hokuriku Shinkansen will be extended either from Tsuruga via Obama to Kyoto, or from Tsuruga via Maibara to Kyoto. This means that there is a possibility that Maibara station will become an even larger and more important transfer station that it is already nowadays.

 

Map: http://www.sankei.com/west/news/161111/wst1611110082-n1.html (red line via Obama, green line via Maibara)

Edited November 12, 2016 by Densha

[Densha]

We are off to Japan tomorrow and we are spending four nights at Hikone.

If you have some free time and feel like meeting up, just send me a PM. I'm staying there now after all. ;)

[Sacto1985]

If they accept the plan to route the Hokuriku Shinkanen from Tsuruga to Maibara, I REALLY hope they seriously consider quad-tracking the Shinkansen line at least from Maibara to Kyoto.