Taiheiyo Coal Line will cease operations at the end of March

[katoftw]

KUSHIRO, HOKKAIDO - The only dedicated coal-carrying railroad still running in Japan will cease operations at the end of this month, ending its 94-year mission to support the country’s industrial development.

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/11/business/corporate-business/japans-last-surviving-coal-railroad-end-operations-month/#.XIonf_kzbIU

[Yavianice]

Funny railroad, since it does not seem to be connected to the mainline, but really only goes from the mine to the harbor. Seems to me as a perfect place to make a museum and/or with a small tourist train.

 

The railway is located here: 42.972016, 144.399377

[Nick_Burman]

7 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Funny railroad, since it does not seem to be connected to the mainline, but really only goes from the mine to the harbor. Seems to me as a perfect place to make a museum and/or with a small tourist train.

 

The railway is located here: 42.972016, 144.399377

 

It used to have a mainline connection, but it was torn out ages ago.

 

Cheers NB

[katoftw]

With the line going past that lake and onto a shoreline area.  It could be quite picturesque if the whole area wasn't devoid of all trees.  If they planted pine, plums and cherry trees around the area.  They could have a nice little tourist attraction.  The infrastracture is already in place.  Just needs some trolleys and some simple platforms made.  And they are set.

[Khaul]

12 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Funny railroad, since it does not seem to be connected to the mainline, but really only goes from the mine to the harbor. Seems to me as a perfect place to make a museum and/or with a small tourist train.

 

The railway is located here: 42.972016, 144.399377

 

We’ve quite a few of those mine to harbour railways here in Australia. I would not call them funny. There is nothing quaint about them.

[katoftw]

Disused sections with low usage always get closed down.  Soon the line won't run past Kushiro anyway.

[Yavianice]

8 hours ago, Khaul said:

We’ve quite a few of those mine to harbour railways here in Australia. I would not call them funny. There is nothing quaint about them.

 

Are there a lot in Japan too? Because that's the point, right?

[lighthouse]

The route was connected to Higashi-Kushiro until 1986.

 

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/太平洋石炭販売輸送臨港線

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiheiyō_Coal_Services_and_Transportation_Rinkō_Line

 

[Welshbloke]

I take it there are still other mines in Japan? Preserved steamers will need coal even after the rest of the country has moved on from it. I understand one of the opencast workings in south Wales is doing significant business with the preservation movement, as the coal they're bringing up is exactly what the locos were designed to burn.

[Nick_Burman]

8 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

I take it there are still other mines in Japan? Preserved steamers will need coal even after the rest of the country has moved on from it. I understand one of the opencast workings in south Wales is doing significant business with the preservation movement, as the coal they're bringing up is exactly what the locos were designed to burn.

 

No, this is absolutely the last mine. Whatever coal was coming out of it was going straight to a power plant.

 

It's not just steamers, it's also the cement and steel industries. The coal comes all from abroad.

 

Cheers NB

[Kiha66]

Japan is a huge net importer of coal.  Japan's coal reserves are all deep and expensive to extract, especially compared to huge open pit workings in other countries like the USA and China.  Most of the mines closed between the 1960's and late 1980's, as foreign coal became cheaper and cheaper to import.  Part of the reason Japan loves* nuclear energy is it allows them some sort of longer term energy independence, where a sudden change in fuel prices or soured relations with some foreign power won't suddenly and dramatically increase the domestic cost of electricity.

[Welshbloke]

Yep, I'd guessed coal was hard to get at by the effort put into developing Hashima Island. Creating the closest thing to the single building cities beloved of science fiction in order to support a coal mine on a tiny speck of land off Nagasaki.

[Kiha66]

Kyushu's coal fields were closer to the surface and also closer to the coast, which made production and shipping from them much easier.  However the coal they produced was apparently of much lower quality and the mines were not suitable for mechanization, leaving the mines in Kyushu as the first close.  The mines in Hokkaido had a much more interesting transport network due to their remote locations which once established let them hang on for longer, but they still couldn't compete with foreign production, as well as a political choice to leave the dangerous work of extraction to lesser paid workers in far off lands.  Interestingly a lot of the mine housing and towns in Kyushu remain in use to this day due to their better location, while those in Hokkaido (which were often much more advanced and better built) have been falling into decay and abandonment due to their remote, hostile location.

On that note, the rail line to Yubari will finally close at the end of this month (3/31/19).  Yubari seems to be the poster child for post-coal mining towns in Hokkaido, they've tried practically everything but it seems there's just nothing they can offer that makes up for their remote location.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Kiha66

[ben_issacs]

Folks, 

On a group tour several years ago we visited Yubari, and the amusement park was working then.

It was well done, with some interesting features, but the whole place was too far away from the big cities to be workable.

Saw a recent docuo on that town, the amusement park is decrepit, and the population is mainly old people.

Sad, really, but that's progress!

From brief observations over several years, loco coal seemed pretty variable in quality, some of it looked like briquettes.

Regards,

Bill,

Melbourne.

[scotspensioner]

For a number of years there was a circuit of nuclear rods being sent back and forward from Japan for processing at  Sellafield.

On one occasion the specially built ship was shadowed by Greenpeace.

However I don't know if this trafficcontinues