Long rail transport from Kita-Kyushu to Hokkaido for Shinkansen line construction

[bikkuri bahn]

150 meter long rails arrived in Oshamambe, Hokkaido today after a 2100km journey by rail.  These will be used in the Hokkaido Shinkansen construction from Shin Hakodate Hokuto to Sapporo.  Formerly rails arrived in 25m sections shipped by sea, and transfered to flatbed truck.

 

STV news report:

 

The train passing through Totsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on the Tokaido Line:

 

[cteno4]

Again always amazes me 28 pieces of rail will bend so well on the transports! Even though my brain knows the physics part of my brain says thats just not right!

 

jeff

[Express691]

To think this journey started in Kyushu:
https://railf.jp/news/2025/04/19/051000.html

It looks like it took about 4 days to complete the trek.

[miyakoji]

On 4/21/2025 at 2:34 PM, cteno4 said:

Again always amazes me 28 pieces of rail will bend so well on the transports! Even though my brain knows the physics part of my brain says thats just not right!

 

jeff

In the first video that Bikkuri posted, it says that the yellow bracket thing in the middle of the formation is the only place that the rails are fastened to the flatcars.  In some of the aerial scenes you can kind of make out that the ends of the rails, right behind the loco, are off center as it goes through curves.

 

I especially like the off loading scenes at the end.  There is a similar operation now at Kasadera, albeit for shorter rail.  This was opened in the last couple years since JR Tokai's materials center at the end of the JR Freight Nagoya Minato Line has been shutdown, along with the line itself.  If I understand correctly, the rail comes by ship and is transported from the dock to Kasadera by truck, which is objectively wrong.

[cteno4]

Yes the rails must slide around in order not to pop the cars off the tracks! It just is amazing that these rails can bend and slide like this thru the curves. One fastened rail on the tracks is basically forcing the 14 rails on the train to bend. Trick is the pressure is applied spread out and not just at a few points, but still amazing.

 

jeff

[kuro68000]

I do enjoy things like that where your everyday experience of materials is challenged. Swaying skyscrapers are another example.

[Kamome]

Weirdly, I think I drove past this as I was heading to a meeting wondering what the fuss was all about. There's a rail siding along the mainline near Yahata, parallel to the by-pass. It is very close to the rail manufacturing section of Nippon Steel. I saw a long track train and a lot of people standing around near to a couple of temporary marquees. It was probably the stainless steel EF81 that drew my attention. 

 

Watching the videos of these trains traversing curves and point-work is something of beauty.