Private Railway Service Patterns

[Guest bill937ca]

For the most part Japan’s 15 major private railways operate double track mainlines but the operation of these mainlines differs quite a bit from North American practice.  Traffic moves on the left like a two lane road with no wrong direction traffic unlike CTC operations.  Headways between trains can be very short, as short as 2 ½ minutes perhaps a reflection of the tram line and interurban origins of many of these lines.

 

The link below shows the English language Meitetsu (or Nagoya Railway) timetable for weekday service from Shin Gifu to Shin Nagoya.  The Meitetsu system has been described as the last of the world’s great interurbans.

 

http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/english/timetable/timetable/tt311721.html

 

http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/english/transport/line_e01/index.html

 

Like most Japanese trains, the Meitetsu trains have several different classes of train service. Between Gifu and Nagoya Meitetsu operates 7 classes of trains:

 

?Rapid Limited Express,

?Limited Express (All First Class Cars),

?Limited Express (First Class Cars with Ordinary Cars),

?Rapid Express,

?Express,

?Semi Express,

?Local.

 

Through the day Meitetsu operates a Rapid Limited Express once an hour (at 19 minutes past the hour), one Limited Express per hour (at 33 or 34 minutes) with an additional Limited Express from 1700 to 2200 hours (at 03 minutes), two Express trains an hour (at 08 and 38 minutes), two Semi Express trains per hour (at 26 and 56 minutes and 5-6 local trains per hour in between.  Generally there is a Rapid train about every 10 minutes throughout the day with locals scattered in between.

 

The faster trains require payment of a surcharge and this is explained on the page below. Trains with a surcharge may include forward facing seats instead of the bench seating in the local coaches and in some cases reserved seats.

 

http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/english/surcharge/index.html

 

How does Meitetsu operate seven different types of train service on a double track mainline? Local passenger stations are spread all along the line at close intervals.  These stations have high side platforms. At key traffic points along the line there are four track stations where the slower local trains pull into a siding and stop at the island platform while the fast trains speed through the station on the track across the platform.  For riders on the local trains this stop and wait process would be repeated numerous times.

 

Scheduling is often very tight on the Major Private Railways, as seen here on the Keio Railway near Tokyo:

 

 

 

Occasionally there will be larger stations where branch lines feed into the mainline or at the end of commuter service zones and the rider will find six or more tracks in the station.

 

Both Kato and Tomix offer station sets that will allow the modeler to create a four track station where rapid trains can overtake local trains on your layout.  Often the various types of trains operate different types of equipment.  Double track viaduct sections offered by Kato and Tomix will quickly create lines very similar to those operated in and around Tokyo by the private railways.

 

The Keikyu Kyuko Dentetsu (or Keihin Express Electric Railway) is another example of this pattern of operation as explained in these About Keikyu articles from the Japanese Railway Society web site:

 

http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/oliver/kky/kkym.htm

 

http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/oliver/kky/kky1.htm

 

http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/oliver/kky/kky2.htm

[Mudkip Orange]

Having the two trains switch on and off essentially the same track at the same time is pretty cool.