July 2020 flooding

[Kiha66]

I just saw the terrible news about massive flooding in Kyushu.  Photos seem to show the famous Kuma River Bridge used by SL Hitoyoshi has washed away, as have many homes.  Flooding in stations and yards also has covered some DMUs.  

 

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by railsquid
change title as other areas affected too

[railsquid]

Hah, I was just going to post about this.

 

Some pictures showing the course of the Hisatsu line:

 

https://tabiris.com/archives/kumagawa20200705/

 

The Kumagawa Railway, which follows the Kumagawa, is also badly affected.

 

[Yavianice]

I hope they will rebuild it, or a significant portion of joyful trains will be superfluous. I hope people are safe. 

[Kiha66]

The flood level reaching the workshops, with water flooding in.  Hope nothing got too damaged.

 

[Kiha66]

Some pics taken before the bridge was washed away, looks like the water reached well over the rail height.

 

 

Also some photos of the flooded station and maintenance building.

https://www.gameover.com.hk/news/468284

[Cat]

I checked in earlier today with a friend who lived in Kumamoto for a few years; although not in the area of the flooding and their friends are all OK.  Except for one who did lose a house that was completely destroyed.

[katoftw]

Hate to say it but that might kill of the line forever. Between Yatsushiro and Hayato on a recent report was deemed an deficit line.

 

Shame to see a 100 year old New York built bridge with so much history go down the river.

[Yavianice]

Especially since the destruction is most likely much larger than we see it is; probably the whole line (along the Kuma river) and all buildings and bridges need to be reconstructed. It's not like the Hohi line that was destroyed in one particular area. 

 

Then again it would also mean the 7 Stars Kyushu, and 5 other joyful trains will be cancelled or lead to nowhere. Fortunately JR Kyushu isn't as poor as JR Hokkaido so, who knows. 

 

Glad I rode this line in the SL Hitoyoshi when I did back in 2015. Pretty amazing line, too. Would have been upset if I missed that one also besides Kumamoto castle and Aso shrine (the first I actually stood next to several months before the earthquake, but didn't go in because I did not have time).

Edited July 5, 2020 by Yavianice

[Yavianice]

Carnage in central Hitoyoshi town (About halfway of the Hisatsu line)
 

 

[katoftw]

Water levels lowering reveals missing spans. They didnt go far.

 

https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/361121?display=b

[Yavianice]

Heavy rains are now over Oita prefecture. The bridge near Bungonakamura for the Kyudai Main Line has also collapsed.

 

sad thing is that this line also suffered greatly just a few years ago.

 

will JR Kyushu now give it up?

 

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Yavianice

[katoftw]

Another deficit section of track. Hita to Yufuin.

 

This rain is causing mayhem.

[Yavianice]

There is now a heavy rain warning on a line basically stretching from northern Kyushu to southern Tohoku. More people and railway lines might be affected. 
 

there are currently heavy flooding and landslides in the Gifu area near Takayama and Gero. Gero is completely cut off from the outside world. Large areas are being evacuated.

 

Hida river at the time of this writing (also contains a before picture).

 

Many evacuations starting in Nagano prefecture now too.
 

might as well change the title of this topic to “Japan floods July 2020”

 

Dark times ahead for Japanese railway fans....

Edited July 7, 2020 by Yavianice

[railsquid]

and for anyone living/working in the affected areas.

 

This year's tsuyu front is unusually heavy and slow-moving. Windy as well, at least in Tokyo.

[Welshbloke]

On 7/7/2020 at 8:14 AM, katoftw said:

Water levels lowering reveals missing spans. They didnt go far.

 

https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/361121?display=b

It took a few seconds for my brain to recognise that as a real bridge rather than a model. Other than the flooding it looks like someone is halfway through assembling a temporary layout.

[paolo]

I don't understand how this is possible.

Almost every year we are watching some devastating flooding caused by either heavy rain or hurricanes in Japan.

The question is: why do they always create such a mayhem? Is Japan so unlucky that for the past few years it saw some extreme events that happen once in a century, or are they really unprepared?

I live in Italy, and I expect that every year comes Autumn we have some heavy damage caused by rain, but we're in Italy, we pay for our chronicle lack of planning and disorganization.

But how is it possible this happens in Japan, one of the most advanced countries in the world?

Am I missing something?

[Yavianice]

The last few years has seen increasing amounts of excessive rain. You can’t do much about the amounts of rain Japan has been getting, except radical rethinking of mitigation structures. Once in a lifetime flooding is now commonplace and the new normal, and will become even more extreme the longer everyone is ignoring climate change.

[railsquid]

The problem with Japan in particular is that though it's not a small country, most of it (apart from maybe Hokkaido) consists of steep hills and narrow valleys (presumably similar to, but probably more extreme than Italy), so settlement is by necessity limited to the limited space on the valley floors, and the rest consists mainly of alluvial flood plains, so once it rains above a certain amount (like it has been doing in recent years) it will inevitably flood, and no matter how rich/advanced a country is, you can only build the dykes and other flood defences (of which there are a lot) so high. One issue which keeps coming up is that pumping stations behind flood dykes are being rendered ineffective because the amount of rain means they are ending up getting flooded and can't operate, or when they can, the river where they'd pump the water to is at capacity.

 

When acquiring Chez Railsquid I was very careful to check the topography of the wider area, turned out it was literally (in the sense of "literally") on the watershed of the two main river systems in the Tokyo area and is at one of the highest points in the 23-ku, so even after extreme heavy rain the water drains away in an hour or so at most.

 

[Yavianice]

JR Kyushu announced that due to the destruction of the Histatsu line, the Joyful trains "Kawasemi Yamasemi" and "Isaburo Shinpei" will run as one 4 car train between Hakata and Mojiko station selling regional items from Hitoyoshi and Kuma (the regions that have been affected the most by the floods). Between August 8 and August 31 only in weekends.

 

http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/common/inc/news/newtopics/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2020/07/29/200729kawayamaisashintokubetuunkou.pdf

Edited July 29, 2020 by Yavianice

[katoftw]

[katoftw]

2021.1.15
All lines on the Kyudai Main Line will reopen!
Suspended by heavy rains in July 2020, the Bungo-Mori Station to Shonai Station routes on the Kyudai Main Line will reopen.
Timetables and details will be released when finalized.

〇Reopening Routes and Dates
　1. Yufuin Station to Shonai Station: First train departing on Feb. 13 (Sat.) 2021
　2. Bungo-Mori Station to Yufuin Station: First train departing on Mar. 1 (Mon.) 2021

　The reopening of above lines means all Kyudai Main Line routes from Kurume to Oita are opened.
　*Weather may affect construction and scheduled reopening.

[SL58654号]

3 hours ago, katoftw said:

2021.1.15
All lines on the Kyudai Main Line will reopen!
Suspended by heavy rains in July 2020, the Bungo-Mori Station to Shonai Station routes on the Kyudai Main Line will reopen.
Timetables and details will be released when finalized.

〇Reopening Routes and Dates
　1. Yufuin Station to Shonai Station: First train departing on Feb. 13 (Sat.) 2021
　2. Bungo-Mori Station to Yufuin Station: First train departing on Mar. 1 (Mon.) 2021

　The reopening of above lines means all Kyudai Main Line routes from Kurume to Oita are opened.
　*Weather may affect construction and scheduled reopening.

That is good news. I'm surprised that though the damage to the Kyudai line included at least one bridge washed out, it'll reopen soon. With that line's recovery soon to be out of the way, some municipal governments in Kumamoto expressing willingness to help the Hisatsu Line recover, and the Yunomae Line expressing intent to help rebuild (it wouldn't make too much sense for that line to lead to nowhere once it reopens to Hitoyoshi Onsen) I have hope that the Hisatsu Line will open once more, and the SL Hitoyshi will steam once again to the town of its namesake. 

[Yavianice]

On 1/16/2021 at 11:15 AM, SL58654Gō said:

That is good news. I'm surprised that though the damage to the Kyudai line included at least one bridge washed out, it'll reopen soon.

Apparently only the bridge was flushed away, but the bridge supports remained relatively intact. They had a spare bridge from “another line” that they transplanted for use on the Kyudai line, which explains the quick reopening.

 

The Hisatsu line is a whole different story, apparently it was damaged in 450 places (90% of them along the kuma river) and 2 bridges need to be replaced. For these 2 bridges, not only don’t they have a spare bridge lying around, some of the bridge supports have been completely destroyed, necessitating a complete reconstruction and foundation besides having to reconstruct the bridges themselves. That alone, according to experts, will take 4-5 years. And then you have another 448 places where track needs to be fixed or replaced.

 

Afaik the repairing of the Hisatsu line is still up in the air. I’m guessing JR Kyushu, besides being broke (also because of corona), is also looking at the bigger picture whether it is feasible to reconstruct the line and not having it be washed away again in the near future. Personally I don’t expect them to reopen it, I wouldn’t blame them, although it would be a damn shame. The Hisatsu line is a beauty and it will surely be missed.

 

source for the line damage status: https://kumanichi.com/news/id96044

[katoftw]

With the Kagoshima main line aka Hisatsu Orange Railway line still intact. And with overhead power lines. There is a strong case not to rebuild.

[SL58654号]

On 3/28/2021 at 4:40 AM, Yavianice said:

Apparently only the bridge was flushed away, but the bridge supports remained relatively intact. They had a spare bridge from “another line” that they transplanted for use on the Kyudai line, which explains the quick reopening.

 

The Hisatsu line is a whole different story, apparently it was damaged in 450 places (90% of them along the kuma river) and 2 bridges need to be replaced. For these 2 bridges, not only don’t they have a spare bridge lying around, some of the bridge supports have been completely destroyed, necessitating a complete reconstruction and foundation besides having to reconstruct the bridges themselves. That alone, according to experts, will take 4-5 years. And then you have another 448 places where track needs to be fixed or replaced.

 

Afaik the repairing of the Hisatsu line is still up in the air. I’m guessing JR Kyushu, besides being broke (also because of corona), is also looking at the bigger picture whether it is feasible to reconstruct the line and not having it be washed away again in the near future. Personally I don’t expect them to reopen it, I wouldn’t blame them, although it would be a damn shame. The Hisatsu line is a beauty and it will surely be missed.

 

source for the line damage status: https://kumanichi.com/news/id96044

I'm closely following the news of the state of things on the Hisatsu Line. I believe that JR Kyushu at least don't want to abandon the line, as they know people from all parts of Japan and elsewhere come to see it. The upcoming reintroduction of the SL Hitoyoshi between Kumamoto and Tosu is the second effort on their part thus far (according to their publicity material for the train) to support the line. As of March they've announced that inspections to determine the cost of restoration would commence soon. I'm not a business man nor an economist, but I believe that there's still hope yet. If any place in the world wouldn't give up on a rural, tourist railway, Japan would be it. I'm writing about the SL Hitoyoshi to Tosu in the JRS "Bullet-In".

 

P. S. I don't want to make rumors spread, but my local Kumamoto train & hobby dealer told me KATO are planning on releasing an SL Aso Boy (followed by an SL Hitoyoshi) in Spring 2022!